Book of Yum

As you may know, we will be moving to another apartment later this month, and I’ve been going through our stuff sorting and packing like CRAZY. One thing I needed to do something about was our scary, scary freezer. I have a habit of making extras of things and then packing up meals and labeling them to be stored in the freezer. It’s great to be able to pull out a homemade loaf (or even a slice) of gluten-free bread and have it right away, or to have tofu meatballs at the spur of the moment with no prep time at all. One of my most precious goodies in the freezer is the small batches I store of Bette Hagman’s wonderful bean flour pasta, and the last time I went through the freezer I found a precious, precious sealed bag with sheets of homemade GF lasagna. I put it on my menu for early July, and made a lasagna that turned out better than I ever expected. I found halfway through the process that I didn’t have any prepared pasta sauce, so I ended up making a classic pasta sauce from scratch (well, starting with canned tomatoes and tomato paste), and I was surprised at how much I liked it, especially with the fresh herbs I added from my garden. I had made a bunch of grilled pattypan squash for another recipe but had lots left over, so I decided to make it a spinach-grilled pattypan squash lasagna. You know what? Even though DH doesn’t like squash much, and hates spinach, he ate every bite and snuck off to the kitchen for seconds. Apparently the cheese makes all the difference. For those of you who can’t tolerate dairy, I recommend

my pine nut cheese recipe
OR
a tofu vegan ricotta recipe

as excellent substitutes- I think the recipe would be just as good with un-cheese! If you can, do make homemade pasta, because in my opinion, that’s what takes this dish from tasty to sublime. Somehow homemade silky soft, tender gluten-free pasta just sings on the tongue with the other ingredients, and even though it’s a little bit of trouble, it’s well worth it in the end.

Want more pattypan recipes?
Try my grilled pattypan on tortillas recipe
or
my Soy-free Fried Rice with Petit Pan grilled squash recipe.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Vegetarian Grilled Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Main Course  Alternative Grains  Italian

Ingredients Tomato Sauce: 2 14 oz cans chopped, unseasoned tomato 1 tbsp. tomato paste 1 tbsp. GOOD olive oil 1 onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves fresh oregano, thyme, and basil Italian seasonings 1 tsp sugar or honey freshly ground pepper Grilled Pattypan Squash: 4-5 pattypan squash (pref. combination of yellow, green, zucchini type) your favorite oil (I like sesame oil) your favorite seasoning blend, esp. mesquite or italian seasoning type Gluten-Free Lasagna noodles (homemade or purchased, Tinkyada or Debolles) 1 small bunch Spinach Mozzarella Cheese, grated (3 oz or more) [OR your favorite dairy substitute- tofu ricotta, pine nut un-cheese, or soy cheese] asiago or other sharp, hard cheese, grated 2 tbsp. or more Directions Tomato Sauce: Combine 1 whole can of chopped tomato in a blender, including pieces and juice. Strain tomato pieces from other can and reserve, discarding juice of second can. Heat olive oil in a cast iron pan or dutch oven. Sautee chopped onion and garlic until transluscent. Add fresh herbs and italian seasonings and combine. Add your blended can of tomato and stir. Throw in your strained tomato pieces from the second can and let simmer. Add sugar or other sweetener to taste. Let simmer while you get the rest of your ingredients ready. If needed, boil your GF lasagna noodles. (No-bake GF lasagna won’t need to be boiled.) Clean and slice your pattypan squash horizontally so you have circles of squash. baste with a little sesame oil (or your favorite oil) and season generously with your seasoning blend. Grill on a REAL GRILL if possible until marked on both sides with grill marks. When done you can cut into bite sized quarters or leave as is. Now, layer your lasagna in a pan with 1/4 of your tomato sauce, pasta, grilled squash, cheese, and fresh, clean spinach leaves. Repeat until all ingredients have been used, ending with pasta, any extra veggies, tomato sauce and ending with cheese. Bake in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, covered in aluminum foil. Remove foil after thirty minutes and bake for another 15 minutes or until top is golden brown. (If you use no-boil GF lasagna like debolles, follow directions- usually 1 hr. covered). Let cool slightly before you cut and enjoy!

Rating:  8 Original Source:  The contents of my brain. Do not replicate anywhere without my permission. Recipe ID:  1262 Added:  June 30, 2008 Last Modified:  July 1, 2008

I wasn’t exactly intending to blog about tonight’s dinner, honestly. I mean, how many pizza recipes does one need? We’ve already had some pretty fancy pizza recipes here at the Book of Yum. But this week, due to a chaotic household, it just seemed better not to use the oven, and so when I was planning the menu I thought I’d try a new pizza technique- grilling the pizza crust. It’s a technique I’ve heard about many times but never tried myself, and I thought it was high time. It’s perfect, really, especially in hot weather when turning on the oven seems like cruel and unusual punishment. (Granted, it hasn’t been all that hot here… but it should be!) I have a lot of Chebe mixes left from the last bulk order I did with them, and during busy weeks, there’s nothing I love more than the “open the package and dump it in the bowl” style of baking. This time I made two small ones from the mix because I just love making more than one topping but still having separate pizzas. Then it was time to grill. I’m big into the propane grill, baby. Supposedly it is the DH’s, but I use it about 10 times more often than he does- I’m always grilling veggies or tofu or something because it adds so much flavor to everything. But what could a grill do to a pizza crust? The answer? A lot. I was worried that the crust might stick to the grill, but happily, it didn’t. And it baked so fast- far quicker than if you had baked it in the oven. Just a few minutes and one side of the pizza looked DONE, and even had sexy grill marks to prove it. I turned it over, let it grill for another few minutes, and then went happy with my toppings. To be honest, I had something of a little problem- largely, no pasta sauce in the house whatsoever. I did have half of the juice from a can of chopped tomatoes, and some tomato paste, so I made a very basic red sauce base. To my surprise, it worked just fine and actually tasted great. Then I grilled up a portabella mushroom basted with olive oil, garlic, and seasoning, and did the same to my sweet red pepper. With the addition of some sliced calamata olives and cheese, I had a great basic veggie pizza that matched my taste buds perfectly. But I still didn’t have enough red sauce for the second pizza, so I decided to go all out and try something I’d never had before- marguerita pizza. According to online sources, this is one of the first official pizzas and was produced by Italy’s Royal chefs in honor of Queen Marguerita in 1896 when she asked them to make her an assortment of pizzas resembling the bread pizzas she had enjoyed among commoners. Traditionally, the marguerita pizza contains “fresh sliced tomato, mozzarella, fresh basil, fresh garlic, onion and a hint of Romano (no tomato sauce).” (source: In Mama’s Kitchen) Sounded good to me! And in fact, it was absolutely delicious. I’ll definitely be making BOTH of these pizzas again, and I have a feeling that my grill is going to be even busier this summer baking up a slew of yummy pizzas. Oh, and since there was cheese AND grill marks involved, the DH loved this recipe too.

This pizza would be perfect for an Independence Day party, or just for a quick dinner before you see the fireworks. Looking for other gluten-free fourth of July recipes?

Try my Recipe for Grilled Sesame Vegetables
with this accompanying Ginger Peanut Sauce (Complete with pics from our 4th of July last year)
My World-Famous Grilled Sesame Tofu Recipe
a classic Gluten-Free Macaroni Salad Recipe
Japanese potato salad Recipe
Grilled Kabocha and Sundried Tomato Pate
GF Lemon Blueberry Muffin Recipe (Add raspberries and white frosting for a red,white and blue treat!)

Want another yummy pizza recipe?
Try my favorite Grilled Veggie and Smoked Cheese Pizza Recipe
Allergen Free Gluten-Free Pizza Recipe (with crust recipe)
Or this unexpected Zucchini Crust Pizza Recipe

Hope this helps you get some ideas for your Fourth of July Celebration! If you have links to your favorite recipes for the forth of July, share in the comments and I’ll add them to the list!

Gluten Free Grilled Chebe Marguerita Pizza and Grilled Veggie Pizza Recipe Main Course  Alternative Grains  Italian

Ingredients Pizza Dough: 1 pkg. Chebe pizza mix 2 eggs 1 tbsp. oil 4 tbsp. your choice of “milk” (dairy or non-dairy) Marguerita topping: Grated nonfat mozzarella cheese (1/4 packaged ball) or favorite non-dairy substitute 1 medium organic tomato Handful fresh basil salt Traditional topping- Tomato sauce: 3 tbsp juice from can of chopped canned tomato 1 tbsp tomato paste 1 tsp. olive oil sprinkle of sugar and salt Veggies: 1 portabella mushroom 3 peeled garlic cloves 1/2 sweet red pepper 8 kalamata olives nonfat mozzarella cheese, grated (or favorite nondairy cheese substitute) Directions Combine Chebe pizza ingredients according to package instructions and knead dough into a ball. Separate into two balls. Take a gallon sized ziploc bag and place your chebe dough inside the bag and flatten it out (pressing on the OUTSIDE of the bag so your hands don’t get icky) into a nice circle in about 1/4 or 1/8 of an inch thick. Remove dough from bag and place on a plate, and reserve. Now make your second pizza. Turn on your grill to medium high heat and place your pizza crusts on the grill (without toppings) letting it cook with the lid open for a few minutes. You may wish to rotate the dough if your grill cooks unevenly. Turn your pizza crust over when that side has nice grill marks and grill the other side for another few minutes. Remove from grill and cover with toppings.* Grill for a few minutes on low, covered. When cheese has nicely melted, remove from grill and cut into pieces. Yummy! *For the marguerita pizzas, top the pizza with mozzarella cheese, tomato slices, a sprinkle of salt and a handful of basil. Drizzle with a little high quality olive oil and finish grilling. *For the traditional veggie pizza, crush your garlic cloves and put them in a small bowl with a tablespoon of high quality olive oil and your favorite pasta/italian seasoning herbs. Baste your portabella mushroom and red pepper and grill, turning when each side is done. Remove from heat and chop into pieces. Also mix your tomato sauce ingredients in another bowl. Top your pizza with tomato sauce, grilled veggies, and cheese, adding olives on very top. If you like, after the pizza has baked with toppings, you can broil it in the oven so the cheese gets all brown on top. Be careful not to burn!

Rating:  9 Original Source:  Grilling technique from chebe site, toppings my own creation. Please do not replicate anywhere without my permission. Recipe ID:  1263 Added:  July 1, 2008 Last Modified:  July 1, 2008