Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 pounds crumbled sausage, sweet or hot
1 large bell pepper, chopped
3-4 slices canned artichoke hearts
1 (28-ounce) jar tomato sauce
1/2 cup dry red wine

15 ounces part-skim ricotta (about 2 cups)
1 large egg
12 lasagne pasta sheets
12 ounces part-skim mozzarella
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a heavy kettle cook onions and 3 cloves of garlic until softened. Add sausage and bell pepper and cook 2 minutes, breaking up sausage. Add tomato sauce and red wine and remaining garlic. Simmer 10 minutes.

In a bowl lightly beat egg. In another bowl stir together ricotta, egg, salt and pepper. Grate mozzarella.

Pour 1 cup sauce into a baking dish, 13 by 9 by 2-inches (sauce will not cover bottom completely), and cover with 3 lasagne sheets, making sure they do not touch each other. Spread about 2 cups sauce over pasta. Drop 1/3 of ricotta mixture by spoonfuls onto sauce and gently spread with back of spoon. Sprinkle 1/4 of mozzarella over ricotta mixture. Make 2 more layers in the same manner, beginning and ending with pasta. Spread remaining sauce evenly over top, making sure pasta is completely covered, and sprinkle with Parmesan and remaining mozzarella.

Cover dish tightly with foil, tenting slightly to prevent foil from touching top layer, and bake in middle of oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake lasagne 10 minutes more, or until top is bubbling and golden. Let lasagne stand 5 minutes before serving.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 (6 to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in halves and pounded thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups sliced mushrooms
3/4 cup Marsala
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped chives, for garnish

Instructions
In a shallow bowl or plate combine the flour and chili powder and stir to combine thoroughly. Quickly dredge the chicken breast halves in the seasoned flour mixture, shaking to remove any excess flour.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and cook the chicken breasts until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter to the pan and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are golden brown around the edges and have given off their liquid. Add the Marsala wine and bring to a boil, scraping to remove any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When the wine has reduced by half, add the chicken stock and cook for 3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Lower the heat to medium and return the chicken breasts to the pan and continue to cook until they are cooked through and the sauce has thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes. Swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, add salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with chopped chives and serve immediately.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon brown mustard
1 tablespoon hot water
1 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon creme fraiche
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper

Combine ingredients and shake well to emulsify.

Ingredients
1 cup water
1 one-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 lemon zested
2 firm pears cut into thin wedges, core removed
vanilla ice cream
Candied ginger
Ground cinnamon

Instructions
In a saucepan, bring the water, fresh ginger, sugar, and lemon zest to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the pears and simmer until soft when pierced with a knife, about 12 minutes. Drain and spoon into bowls. Serve with ice cream and garnish with a light dusting of cinnamon and a few crushed pieces of candied ginger.

Okay, the day finally came. Time to make the Garbage Plate that Scot is pining for. I've written quite a bit about the garbage plate.

But to recap:
Macaroni salad
Hash browns
Two cheeseburger patties with white American cheese
Yellow mustard
Chopped raw onions
Garbage Plate Sauce (recipe below)

The ground beef for the sauce has to be triple ground. This is the second grinding.


Onions, jalapenos, and garlic


The spices


Browning the beef after sweating the veggies


Spooning the onions on the patties


The Nick Tahou's original garbage plate

Our homemade version

Really, if anything, we were guilty of too much sauce. But the sauce is the best part. Scot's only criticism was "the hash browns were too small and the onions were too large. But other than that, it's perfect."

You'll notice in the following pictures there are two chairs empty. I'm taking the pictures and Chris declined the garbage plate. Here is the full (unedited) text of his emailed RSVP.

James:

I'm in but out for the garbage plate. I just can't do it (said with unmanly shame).

Chris

So for Chris, I made a nice quiche and a white wine spritzer. He showed up with an empty Wendy's bag. Coward.


We're just starting to dig in. Butch and Scot are laughing at Stephan because he was a little too generous with the Dave's Insanity Sauce. Greg, Scot and I went the more traditional - and sensible route - Frank's Original Hot Sauce.


Scot raised his hands in triumph - he actually finished his. Butch looks like he's in pain. We found out later how much pain he was in.


Scot and I are very satisfied with the authenticity of this recipe. This is the one I'll continue to use - if I ever make this again. The quantities below are suffiencient for 2-3 garbage plates. Today, I tripled this recipe to make the five plates. I had leftovers.

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
1 med white onion
2 cloves garlic
3 fresh jalapenos
1lb triple ground beef
.75 Quart water
1 T chili powder
1 t white pepper
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1/2 t cayenne
1/2 t dry mustard
1/2 t garlic powder
salt to taste

Instructions
Finely chop onion, garlic, and jalapenos. Saute in oil. Add meat and cook until brown. Drain most of the grease. Add the water and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the spices. Simmer medium-low until liquid is reduced by half 45-60 minutes.

Mango, Black Bean, Green Onion Salsa
2 mangoes
1 cup cooked black beans, or canned beans, rinsed and drained
2 green onions, finely sliced
1 tablespoon serrano pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Corn Salsa
16 oz. corn, canned, drained
4 oz. green chilies, canned, drain
1 jalapeno chile, seeded, finely chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup green onions w/tops, sliced
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 tsp. salt

Chunky Salsa
4 Large tomatoes, seeded, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 large jalapeno peppers, seeded, chopped
1 chili (Hungarian or Anaheim), seeded, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced
juice of 1 lime
salt, to taste

Don't make this. It was good. I really liked it. But, it's a waste of the wonderful artichokes. Any artichoke recipe should have three tablespoons of butter and half a lemon for every artichoke - minimum. The delicious sausage overpowered the flavor of the artichokes in this recipe. These were really good artichokes - and cheap. Five artichokes for two bucks. I would have been even more dissapointed with this recipe if I would have paid two bucks for each one.

Tomorrow night is salsa night. I've already made all the salsas. So, I put a pretty good dent in the fruit and veggies that I bought at the market yesterday. This is what I have left. If those two avocados ripen by tomorrow, they'll be guacamole. I need to figure out something to do with those jalapeños.

Ingredients
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
4 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 lemons, halved
2 quarts water
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 whole artichokes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound chicken sausages
3 tomatoes
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Instructions
Put the parsley, garlic, bay leaves, wine, and 1 of the halved lemons in a wide pot, add 2 quarts of water, and bring to a simmer. Season the broth with salt and pepper.

Wash the artichokes under cold water. Using a paring knife, trim the bottom end of the stem and shave the stem down to expose the tender, inner part of the artichoke. Snap or cut off the outer petals until you reach the pale green, soft leaves in the center. Cut 1-inch off the top of the artichoke. Repeat with the remaining artichokes.

Place the artichokes in the steaming liquid. Cover and simmer on medium-low for about 20 minutes, or until there is no resistance when a knife is inserted into the base. Remove the artichokes from the poaching liquid with tongs. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the hairy choke from the center and discard. Slice the artichokes in half.

Place a large deep skillet over medium heat and coat with 2 tablespoons of the oil. When the oil is hot, add the sausage and cook for 5 minutes to render out the fat and brown the sausage slightly; they should not be fully cooked through. Take the sausage out of the pan and slice it up. Cut the tomatoes in half and then squeeze them into a bowl to hand crush; drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of oil and a pinch of salt. Toss the sausage slices back into the pan and pour in the tomatoes, along with any juice that has accumulated in the bowl. Cook for 3 minutes until the tomatoes start to break down and soften. Add the artichokes and season with salt and pepper. Add the butter and let it melt, give a squeeze of lemon juice, and serve.

Today, Judy, Ashley, Alex, Nick, and I visited the West Side Market in Cleveland before visiting my dad at the Cleveland Clinic. I bought a few veggies. This is the take after I unpacked them when we got home.

Here's the cool thing - all this was eighteen bucks. Alex wanted veggie stir fry tonight and we're having "Salsa Night" Monday.

The stir fry had red and yellow pepper, red onion, yellow squash, Asian eggplant, broccoli, garlic, and snow peas. For the sauce:
3 T cream sherry
4 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
1 T honey
2 T fresh grated ginger
1/4 t black pepper
1 t corn starch


This was pretty good.

Most who have read this have heard of the garbage plate. If not, read here. I promised Scot, that after I had an authentic garbage plate, I'd try again to make one for him. That day's coming and I thought I'd get the sauce worked out before we make them. I found a few more garbage plate recipes. So, with my experience of making a garbage plate "blind," and eating the real thing, and with five different recipes, I'm ready to try again to make something that will transport Scot back to his retrobate* youth. This recipe is adapted from a few others and it was certainly closer to the real thing than my first effort.

The main problem with my first one was the texture. My sauce was MUCH thicker - almost like thick sloppy joe. Authentic sauce is much thinner and the hamburger is triple ground so it has a very fine texture. I bought regular 80% lean ground chuck and ran it though my meat grinder twice more to get the finer consistency. Much better. I think I could serve this and Scot would be sated. But, I have a few tweaks to do with the seasoning before I'll be satisfied.

Here's a refresher on the cheeseburger garbage plate.
A pile each of macaroni salad and hash browns
Two cheeseburgers (no buns)
Yellow mustard
Chopped raw onions
Garbage plate sauce over everything
Serve with bread and butter and liberal amounts of Franks Red Hot Sauce

Instead of cheeseburgers you can use various substitutes. Here's Nick's menu.

Hots & Potatoes
Hamburger
Cheeseburger
Sausage
Chicken
Fried Ham
Fish (yes, fish!)
Egg (Garbage Plate breakfast?)
Veggie (I have no idea what kind)
Grilled Cheese

Tonight, I made these with white hots instead of cheeseburgers. White hots are pork and veal hot dogs. And, since this was only a test-run, and I don't want to have an early heart attack, these garbage plates were exactly half-size. Alex even ate all of it. He was pretty skeptical but he thought it was really good.

More developments are to come.


* Of course, "retrobate" is not a word. I did not catch my error - Steve did. He pointed out that it was a "nice portmanteau" and I shouldn't correct it. How could I disagree?

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
1 med white onion
2 cloves garlic
3 fresh jalapenos
1lb triple ground beef
.75 Quart water
1 T tomato paste
1 T chili powder
1 t white pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste

Instructions
Finely chop onion, garlic, and jalapenos. Saute in oil. Add meat and cook until brown. Drain most of the grease. Add the water and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and spices. Simmer medium-low until liquid is reduced by half 45-60 minutes.

I would not think of making this dish if not for the Mohoning Valley Restaurant in Youngstown. MVR is deservedly well-known for their Linguini with White Clam Sauce. However, I've strayed from that and had their Linguini with Greens. It's wonderful. I've asked my waitress several times what greens they use and she has dutifully asked the cook each time. Each time the answer has came back, "Just greens, you know?"

For this, I used kale and chard. It turned out deliciously. A little spinach would work too. I only had two small shallots and I would have liked to have more. The lemon flavor really cuts the bitterness of the greens. I served it on wheat pasta but MVR uses perfect semolina linguini. I love this dish.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons Olive oil
2 Shallots, finely chopped
4 Scallions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Fresh thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons Parsley, fresh, chopped
2 ounces Prosciutto, chopped (1/2 c)
1 cup Chicken stock
2 Tomatoes seeded, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon Grated lemon zest
1 pound Kale (1 large bunch)
2 tablespoons Lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan or asiago cheese,
1 pound Pasta

Instructions
In a large skillet, heat oil, add shallots, scallions, thyme, and parsley; saute until softened. Add prosciutto and cook, stirring, for 1 more minute. Add chicken stock, tomatoes, and lemon zest, and boil uncovered until the stock is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add kale and lemon juice, stirring until kale wilts. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta and sprinkle with grated cheese.