Eat Your Veggies!

These days it feels like you can't turn around without seeing or hearing about "juicing." I love buying freshly-pressed juice from the food stands that pop up along Portland's boulevards. But I'm also not interested in "juicing" at home for a couple of reasons:

--juicing machines remove the pulp from juice, which effectively removes most of the fiber
--unless you save that pulp and turn it into another sort of snack, you are throwing away a LOT of food, and I hate wastefulness
--have you ever tried to clean a juicing machine? hell no.

So I've begun experimenting with making vegetable... puree (for lack of a better term) in my food processor. It's relatively quick and easy to prepare the puree and equally easy to clean the food processor afterwards. You retain all the fiber and vitamins contained in the vegetable roughage and nothing is wasted. I often use up odds and ends that are sitting in my refrigerator: droopy celery that tastes fine but has lost its crisp consistency, greens from beets/carrots/other veggies that might otherwise get tossed, or half-eaten fruit that my husband brought home in his lunchbox. I don't have a compost bin -- I live on the 25th floor of a high rise -- so this is a great way to put leftovers to good use.

I like to eat the puree by spoon out of a glass. It's remarkably filling -- much more so than simply a juice -- and always leaves me energized afterwards. Give it a try!


KALE-PEAR-GINGER PUREE
(single serving)

Cut up one Bartlett pear and 2" fresh ginger root and add to the food processor. Note that I don't bother to remove the skins; that is a matter of personal preference. The fruit and vegetable pieces do not need to be small, but you should cut them into a consistent size for ease of pureeing.

Add some liquid to the food processor or else you will end up with vegetable paste. For a single serving, I add around 1/4 cup of water plus freshly-squeezed lemon or lime juice.

Next add 4-5 pieces of kale. I really don't care for the way kale stems taste, so I use a knife to gently cut out the stem and throw it away.

I love the taste and smell of cilantro. Just grab a handful, wash it, and slice of the bottoms of the stems in one fell swoop, like so: 

Don't worry about removing the rest of the stems... they are edible, after all! Add the greens to the food processor and admire the lovely terrarium you've created. 

Hit the puree button! I let it run for 1-2 min, stop and scrape the bits down the sides of the bowl, and then puree again until done. When I stop to scrape the bowl, I also add in chia seeds (as seen below) or flax seeds. Nuts would also taste good.

Scrape the puree carefully out of the blender bowl and into a glass or bowl of your choice. I serve it room temperature, straight from the food processor, but you could also chill it prior to eating if that's your thing.

(that's Lake Michigan in the background!)


My basic puree recipe is:
-one fruit
-2-3 vegetables
-extra liquid (water/lemon/lime)
-fresh ginger
-chia or flax seeds

Beyond that, you can experiment as you wish! So far I have used apples, pears, celery, cilantro, parsley, spinach, kale, chard, and carrots. Once summer comes I plan to try out more fruits and vegetables and also experiment with herbs like mint and basil. What are you inspired to try?

Quinoa Pasta with Veal Sauce

The first time I perused the gluten-free pasta options at a grocery store, I was fairly depressed by what I saw. One box advertised "now with improved texture!!" as if to say "we know our product is crappy, but we made it marginally better!". My favorite gluten-free pasta is Ancient Grains quinoa pasta. It comes in a perky green box and I've been able to readily find it at chain grocery stores as well as, obviously, Whole Foods.

Quinoa pasta is not as bitter as plain quinoa but it is an acquired taste. And I've found that many pasta sauces straight from the jar do not mesh well with the flavor of the pasta. Something about the acidic tomatoes mixed with the quinoa just doesn't do it for my palate. When we were recently at my aunt's home in California, she served a lovely tomato sauce over quinoa pasta. I decided to hunt around for a similar recipe and decided to adapt Marcella Hazan's Simple Veal Pasta Sauce. It fits the bill nicely: flavorful, meshes well with quinoa pasta, light on tomatoes (which my husband doesn't like), and easy to make. I made a few changes to the recipe, so I've posted it below the way that I prepared it.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. quinoa pasta
• one 14.5 oz can of cut tomatoes, drained, or the equivalent amount of cut fresh tomatoes
• 3 T. butter (do not substitute if you can help it! the butter is delicious)
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/4 c. chopped onion
• garlic
• 1/2 lb. ground veal
• sea salt & black pepper
• 1 T. dried rosemary
• 1 T. dried sage
• red wine
• 1/4 - 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, add 2 T. butter and the olive oil at medium high. Add garlic (to taste) and the onion and cook gently until golden. 
2. Add the ground veal and brown it, using a spoon or spatula to break apart the chunks into smaller pieces.
3. Add the tomatoes, salt & pepper to taste, rosemary & sage (again, adjust the amounts to taste), and a dash of red wine. Turn the ingredients several times in the pan before turning the heat down to simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Stir the contents periodically and add red wine to keep the meat from drying out. I probably added around 1/3 c. red wine in total. You can use cooking wine if you wish, but I simply added a red merlot that was already on hand. 
4. Once the sauce begins to simmer, start cooking your pasta in a separate pot. Drain and immediately mix with the sauce, while also adding the remaining tablespoon of butter and the grated cheese. Serve immediately. 

Sorry, no pictures... this was gobbled up! It makes 4 large servings. 

Get-Well-Soon Carrot Ginger Soup

Evidently I make a habit of getting a cold/ear infection/sinus infection every time a romantic day rolls around (see for example: my wedding), so it came as no surprise to me that I was down with a cold on Valentine's Day. Poo on that. To top things off, our only bathroom is currently out of commission because we're remodeling it, meaning that neither of us can shower and we're brushing our teeth in the drywall-dusted kitchen.

Eating this soup makes my congestion symptions feel temporarily better because the ginger helps to open up with airways. Plus it's filled with beta carotene and Vitamin A to boost the immune system.


Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 lbs. carrots, peeled and sliced
• 6 c. chicken stock
• 1 sweet apple (I used Gala), chopped (no need to remove the skin)
• 1/2 c. "cream" - i.e. real cream, milk, soy milk, rice milk, yogurt.... your choice!
• salt, pepper, dried parsley
• roughly 2" of fresh ginger root, thinly sliced (adjust this to your taste)

Directions:

1. In a dutch oven, put 1 T. butter or oil over medium heat and add the onions. Let the onions cook until softened. 
2. Add the carrots, apple, ginger, and chicken stock to the pot. Bring this to a boil before lowering the heat to a simmer. Allow the contents to simmer until a fork can easily pierce the carrots.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes before blending. I used an immersion hand blender to puree the entire soup in one batch.
4. Return to medium heat, stirring in the cream and adding seasonings to taste. 

I served this with freshly baked coconut flour bread. I wasn't crazy about the bread (too much coconut for me) but this would also be good with cornbread, biscuits, crackers, or a nice green salad.

Not Your Mama's Egg Salad

Inspired by this dish, I threw together a quick egg salad for lunch today. Best of all it involved absolutely zero mayonnaise, mustard, or bread. Mmmm it was good.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• large handful of spinach, washed and torn into pieces
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Directions:

• Begin by poaching the eggs in a saucepan of water. I left mine in for 3-4 minutes to ensure that they were slightly firm but still delightfully runny when I cut into them. 
• Arrange the spinach leaves on the plate. 
• Remove the poached eggs from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and lay them atop the spinach. The spinach will warm up and soften slightly underneath. 
• Season with GOOD olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. 

At the last minute I threw some cubed cheddar cheese on as well. In the future I plan to experiment with other vegetables or even meat in this salad as well. Yum. 

Beef stew and mashed unpotatoes

This meal started out with the best intentions. I found a copy of Gordon Ramsay's beef bourguignon and it looked simple. Deceptively simple. I, Lord Harvey, could accomplish culinary nirvana and all it required was some herbs, some beef, some celeriac and a bottle of red wine. I'm in! Make that TWO bottles of wine! I've included the pared down recipe instructions below (but no photos, lest you all judge me for my trespasses), but before you attempt this on your own, heed my words:

Don't use the cheapest wine in your grocery store. Don't drink the cheapest wine available to humanity while you cook. Don't cook this in your mother's 30-40 year old crock pot that doesn't get super hot. Save yourself the trouble and do it in the oven. What temperature and for how long, you ask? Do I look like a genius? Figure it out yourself.

To Gordon, in case you google your name and this blog comes up: I'm so sorry. Every time I eat this and I get a drunken bite of wine sauce, I cringe a little and imagine you hurling insults at me.

Lord Harvey's Slow Cooker Beef Stew (with apologies to Gordon Ramsay)

• 1 medium onion
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2lbs of a well-marbled beef. I used a london broil cut because it's what was in my freezer
• 750ml red wine. Watch this youtube video for further wine purchasing instructions. [NSFW for drunken language]
• 1/4-1/2lbs cremini mushrooms
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• Fresh herbs- thyme and rosemary are a must

In a pan using your fat or oil of choice (I used coconut oil), sear your beef until all sides are golden brown. Let beef rest in a strainer to separate it from its juices.

In the remains of the oil and beef fat in your pan, brown minced onions, garlic and mushrooms (about 5 minutes). Set pan aside when finished.

Cut your beef into slices about the thickness of fingers.

In your slow cooker, combine beef, vegetables, wine and tomato paste. Cover and cook on high for 3-3 1/2 hours.

Celeriac Mash

This actually turned out well! If you're going to make one thing from this post, make the celeriac mash. Eat it liberally coated in garlic butter, whole milk, pepper and salt.

This applies to as many celeriac as you want to cook; they're slightly larger than potatoes, but assume that one celeriac = one portion mashed.

Peel and cut celeriac into cubes. In the pan that you prepared your beef and vegetables in, fry the sides of the cubes celeriac until golden brown. Add water to pan until celeriac is covered; bring to a low boil until soft. I highly recommend adding cardamom pods and/or rosemary to the boil for extra flavor.

Strain the celeriac. In a large mixing bowl, add butter (or vegetable or coconut oil), salt and pepper and mash. Serve under beef stew. 

Gluten-Free, Yeast-Free Pizza --- No Food Processor Required

Lately I have been craving pizza. I looked around the internet for pizza dough recipes (both gluten-free, and non-gluten-free but adaptable) and ran into a couple problems:

1) I didn't want to buy additional gf baking products (I have enough, thank you very much!)
2) I don't own a food processor, which seems to be a key ingredient in a lot of recipes
3) after having several yeasted breads overflow in the oven and catch the oven coils on fire, I am taking a short break from using yeast

SO! Here's what I came up with. It's delicious, though the lack of yeast makes it more of a flatbread-style pizza. Whatever, it's still pizza.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 c. gluten-free flour (I used my usual adaptation of Jeanne's Gluten Free Flour Mix, i.e. everything but the xantham gum)
• sea salt
• black pepper
• oregano
• basil
• 1 egg
• 2/3 c. milk
• olive oil
• 1.5 t. baking powder
• 2 t. ground flaxseed, mixed with 4 t. boiling water
• pizza sauce (I used Newman's Own Sockarooni Sauce, which I love)
• large ball of mozzarella cheese
• toppings of your choice

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder along with 1 t. each of salt, pepper, oregano, basil. 
3. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg and milk. Add that liquid, along with the flaxseed-water mixture, to the dry ingredients. Stir together with a spoon until a sticky dough is formed. 
4. Oil an 8x11 baking pan. Do NOT use a cookie sheet or pizza stone, as this dough will run over the edges. You need a pan with sides. 
5. Spread the dough over the baking pan and flatten with a spoon. Bake for 10-15 min. to set the crust. 
6. Remove the crust from the oven and spread a thin layer of olive oil on the whole crust. Follow that with a layer of sauce. I added the following toppings in this order: gf salami (Applegate Farms brand is always gf), thin slices of mozzarella, and sliced mushrooms. I topped the pizza with a drizzle of olive oil and additional sprinklings of oregano and basil. 
7. Bake for 15-20 min, or until the crust is cooked through and the cheese is melted. 

Thanksgiving: Pumpkin Soup

This is not really a how-to entry, but a plug for this amazing recipe for Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Soup. YUM. We ate this as an appetizer at Thanksgiving and it was lovely. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I did add cinnamon in addition the nutmeg that's called for, and roasted the pumpkin seeds harvested from the pumpkins I used. I highly recommend this!

Beautiful pumpkins preparing for roasting:

Adding seasoning and cream while it simmers on the stove:

Drizzling in maple syrup:

Pepitas for topping: I cleaned the seeds, let them dry, tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and cayenne, and baked for an hour at 250. 

Chicken quinoa soup/stew

 This recipe was borne out of necessity: my soup and bone broth stockpiles had dwindled; I had a rotisserie chicken that needed to be eaten and turned into more bone broth before expiration; I was drinking whiskey and water and listening to BBC Farsi newscast; I was getting hungry.

I wanted something that would stick to my bones. I miss the canned chicken noodle soup of my childhood but unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, there's xanthan gum and a number of potato byproducts in those cans.

Unfortunately there's only this one photo to preserve the creation of this recipe. I was going to take a photo of it lovingly ladled into a bowl, but it smelled so I good I decided to sample it and before I knew it there was nothing left in the bowl. Ah well, it was delicious albeit tongue-scorching.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrot, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bunch of kale (I used lacinato), coarsely chopped
• 6 mild heat peppers, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups chicken, precooked (I used Whole Foods rotisserie chicken)
• 1/2 cup quinoa, soaked and drained (for a stew-like consistency as pictured, use 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed)
• 3 cups stock (I used my own bone broth)
• 2 cups water
• 1 tblspn coarse sea salt
• 1 tblspn black pepper

Add onions, celery, carrot and garlic to pot and keep on a high heat, stirring occasionally until all vegetables are soft (about 15 minutes)

Add spices, water, stock, kale, peppers, chicken and quinoa to pot, cover and bring to boil.

Lower flame to medium heat, keeping pot covered. Cook for 20 minutes or until vegetables and quinoa are cooked to liking. 

(Makes about 6 portions)

Enjoy! My stew was delicious and almost buttery from the stock, and the quinoa was cooked perfectly. This is better than canned soup any day. 

Chicken Mushroom Risotto

I really love Italian food, and I hate giving it up because I can't eat gluten and potatoes. Someday I will figure out how to make gnocchi with neither ingredient in it. Someday. Until then, I will stick with a food that requires very little (if any) alteration to make it edible for me: risotto.

If you haven't made risotto before, it's worth doing a little reading on before you try. The key ingredients in my opinion are: 1) patience; 2) stirring.  This is not a dish that can cook unattended; you need to stand at the stove and continue to stir while the liquid is absorbed into the rice. The stirring motion releases starch from the rice, which in turn creates the unique texture and flavor of risotto.

I chose to use a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods (certified gluten free!) to make the stock and provide the cooked chicken. I stripped the bird of meat and let the carcass simmer in 10 cups of water, along with carrots, celery, and onions for 1.5 hours. I strained the liquid and had plenty of stock for this dish, with some leftover for future use as well. If you are short on time and are able to eat chicken stock from the store (I can't because it has additives), that will work too. You could also buy raw chicken and saute or bake it beforehand rather than using rotisserie chicken.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 large portabello mushrooms
• 1 small onion
• garlic
• 1.5 c. arborio rice
• .5 c. white cooking wine
• 5.5 c. chicken stock
• ~2 chicken breasts, cooked
• olive oil
• .5 c. parmesan cheese
• cream (optional)
• salt, pepper, parsley

Directions:

1. Prepare the chicken and chicken stock (see above). The stock needs to be hot when it's added to the cooking process, so consider keeping it enclosed in a bowl.

2. Chop the mushrooms into 1" pieces and saute gently in olive oil. Once the mushrooms are cooked, set them aside.

3. Add more oil to the pan and gently saute one small chopped onion, the arborio rice, and garlic to taste. You should have the stovetop on medium-high; be careful not to burn the rice. The goal is to make it crisp and a little golden.

4.  Add .5 c white cooking wine along with salt and pepper to taste. Stir until the wine is cooked up into the rice. This part smells delicious!

5. Start adding the hot chicken broth into the rice, one cup at a time. After you add each cup, stir the rice until the broth is soaked into the rice. This will take several minutes per cup of liquid. The rule of thumb is that once you can draw the spoon across the rice and make a clean path, you can add more liquid. The goal is to keep stirring to release the starch and keep the dish from burning. You should keep the heat on medium during this stage. 

6. Before adding the final half cup of liquid, add the chicken and mushrooms back into the pan. Stir them vigorously to mix them in with the rice.

7. Once the rice is soft and cooked, add grated parmesan and allow it to melt into the risotto. Add cream to taste if you wish. I served it with braised beet greens and chocolate for dessert. Heavenly!

Pomegranate Quinoa Delight

To me this is total comfort food. The hard pomegranate seeds nicely contrast the soft tofu and quinoa and provide a sweet, tangy note to offset the nuttiness of the rest of the dish. I served it room temperature but it would also be good hot or cold. You could play around with adding in different vegetables or using a different fruit, such as a tart apple.

Ingredients:

• block of extra firm tofu
• 1 c. quinoa
• 2 whole pomegranates
• 4 green onions
• hummus
• cumin
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• red wine vinegar

Directions:

1.  Cook the quinoa on the stove. I prefer to saute it in oil for several minutes before adding water (1:2 ratio, like white rice). After the water comes to a boil, add the lid and turn the heat down as low as it goes. Let the quinoa steam for 20 minutes without lifting the lid.
2. While the quinoa cooks, prepare the tofu to bake. I like to flip the tofu loap on its side and cut down the middle, like slicing a bread roll. Then I lay each half out flat, cut the halves into strips, and cut the strips into triangles (I wish I'd taken a photo of this -- you can see the tofu in the final photo below). I covered a cookie tray in tinfoil, coated the tofu in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and put them in the oven at 350 degrees. I baked them for roughly 30 minutes, turning them every so often.
3. Next I removed the seeds from the pomegranates. In order to do this I filled a bowl with water and submerged 1/2 the pomegranate at a time while pulling out seeds. I find that this minimizes the issue of juice squirting everywhere. Also the fruit membranes tend to float to the top of the water, making them easier to remove. Afterwards I drained the seeds through a colander. 
4. In a small bowl I combined several large spoonfuls of hummus and added olive oil to thin it out. I splashed in red wine vinegar as well. I seasoned with salt, pepper, and cumin. 
5. In a large bowl I assembled the quinoa, pomegranate seeds, the green onions (sliced), and the baked tofu. I drizzed the hummus sauce on top and mixed thoroughly. 

It's soup season!

The weather around these parts dropped from a perfectly balmy mid-60s to a damp, miserable mid-40s in a little over a week. When it gets this cold I almost instinctively get a hankering for soup, and I know my colleague feels the same way; recently we saw a sign in a store for a "soup and yoga" class and she exclaimed repeatedly how amazing this store was for combining her favorite type of food and her favorite form of exercise. Personally I can't stand yoga, but I am firmly Team Soup. First off, it's the perfect food to make ahead and freeze; and secondly, I am in desperate need of more vegetables in my diet and soups are a great way to sneak them into meals.

My first soup experiment was Taste of Beirut's Red Hot Chili Pepper Soup.

I used a can of kidney beans and a can of chickpeas in lieu of a fresh crop of beans, and I forgot to add the tomatoes (they were not missed, however). I also omitted the chili paste and instead added paprika, red pepper flakes and red pepper in addition to salt and black pepper while the soup simmered. The soup had a nice heat without being overwhelming, and the meat was just shy of being chewy. In addition to having this soup for dinner, the recipe yielded about 5 additional portions, three of which I froze. 

My second soup experiment was The Clothes Make The Girl's Golden Cauliflower Soup

The only substitutions I made were to use whole milk instead of coconut and my own chicken stock instead of beef broth. I've yet to taste the results, but the recipe made six healthy portions, three of which went straight in the freezer. I'm looking forward to having this in the morning with breakfast to up my vegetable intake. 

While the golden cauliflower soup simmered on the stove, I cut up two pie pumpkins and roasted them in the oven. 

Tomorrow I'm going to deconstruct these suckers for a pumpkin curry. Recipe to come!

Chicken Soup with Dumplings

This all started out when I bought a lovely butternut squash. The weather's beginning to turn, the leaves are falling, and the temperatures have dropped into a brisk chill. Perfect soup weather. I bought a Whole Foods gluten-free rotisserie chicken, stripped it of its meat, and simmered the carcass to make a chicken stock. I intended that for my butternut squash soup. But oh, the tragedy. I realized that my blender is boxed away in Oregon. Creamy, blended butternut squash soup was not to be. So I retrieved my stock and chicken pieces from the refrigerator and set to work reconstituting them into a chicken soup.

I followed these directions for chicken stock: http://www.soupchick.com/2010/02/how-to-make-soup-stock-from-rotisserie-chicken.html. We ate some of the chicken meat during a separate meal, but most of the meat + all of the stock went into my soup.

Since my stock was now cold, I reheated it slowly in a dutch oven, adding in half a chopped onion, a piece of chopped celery, two chopped carrots, and 5 chopped mushrooms. I brought the soup to boil and then turned the heat down to a medium simmer. I seasoned with salt, pepper, a bay leaf, thyme, and dill weed to taste.

Once the veggies were beginning to soften, I cut up the chicken and added that. I removed the skin first and fed it to the doggies, who were thrilled. You could probably leave skin on, but I thought it might make the texture a bit strange.

Here's the part of my recipe that wasn't a complete success: the dumplings. I love dumplings and I was determined to have them. I wouldn't recommend following this exact dumpling recipe because it turned out less firm and flavorful than I'd hoped. But it's a start, and I will continue to play around with it. In a mixing bowl, I combined: 1 c. Namaste pancake & waffle mix (I know, I know... it's all that I had on hand), 1/2 c. almond flour, 2 t. baking powder, one egg (beaten), 1/2 c. milk (I eyeballed it), and seasonings (salt, pepper, dill). I mixed it into a dough with a spoon.  I brought my soup back to a boil and dropped about 8 dumplings in. The dough was pretty sticky and I somehow ended up with almond meal all over the stove. I clamped the lid on tight, turned the heat down to simmer, and left them to cook for 20 min. without lifting the lid (this part is important, since you want the dumplings to steam).

The dumplings were softer than I'd prefer and lacked some of the starchy goodness that comes from the Bisquick dumplings that I'm used to. I am no baking expert, but I suspect that adding a second egg might help with cohesion. Also possibly adding in some flax meal. All in all, it was a delicious soup and I will keep playing around with it in the future!

(I took this photo after the leftovers had cooled and congealed in the refrigerator. The carrots didn't look quite so much like decapitated goldfish when I served the dish hot.)

Faux Eggplant Parmesan

This is adapted from Mollie Katzen's original Moosewood Cookbook.


Ingredients

• 2 medium-sized eggplants, cut into 1/2" thick slices
• 10 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 eggs
• almond flour
• jar of tomato sauce
• organic full-fat mozarella cheese, thinly sliced
• box of quinoa elbow noodles
• seasonings: sea salt, pepper, basil, oregano, thyme

Directions

1. Beat the two eggs into a small bowl and set aside. Mix almond flour and seasonings into another small bowl. Take each eggplant slice and coat both sides, first in egg and then the flour/seasonings mixture. Place the eggplant on baking sheets and roast for 20-25 min. at 350 degrees. This is in lieu of the more traditional preparation, i.e. frying.
2. While the eggplant is roasting, cook the full box of quinoa pasta. Drain and set aside.
3. I chose to prepare this dish in two 9x9 dishes and saved one in the freezer for later, but you could also bake this in a 9x13. Either way, you begin assembly by coating the botton of the dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Next, line the bottom with eggplant slices to form a base. You will likely have two layers of eggplant. Add half your mozzarella slices over the eggplant. Cover with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Next layer in the mushrooms, followed by the pasta. Finally, spread the rest of your tomato sauce over the pasta and finish with your reserved cheese. Season the top. 
4. Bake at 375 degrees, covered for 25 min. and uncovered for 15 min. 
5. Let stand before serving.