SOUFFLE
Continued from Page 2B
Pour this preparation by spoonfuls
into the prepared ramekins; the top of
the souffl es should be 1 inch or more
above the rim of the ramekins, but
below the top of the parchment paper.
LASAGNA
Continued from Page 1B
For every Mona Lisa, there
are 10,000 inexpertly inked
tattoos of “My Old Lady on
Her Harley.” And how many
meals have you approached
with salivating anticipation
only to swallow each succes-
sively dispiriting bite with an
underwhelmed, “Meh.”
I mention this truth for its
two subsequent corollaries:
First, if we accept the in-
evitability of less-than-perfect
lasagnas, then, whether
you’re haunted by the shadow
of the hangman’s noose or
simply prepping for pangs of
nocturnal cravings, you may
as well learn how to make it
yourself. And second, fear not
if your fi rst attempt (or your
fi rst several attempts) is not
as glorious as you would hope.
Everything can be improved
with practice and repetition.
Also, take heart in the
fact that lasagna really has
only three components— the
noodles, sauce and cheese.
Well, four, if you’re counting in-
gredients like sausage (Yum!)
or spinach (Blech!).
Noodles
The more fancy-pantsed
among you probably make
pasta from scratch. If you’re
a home-noodler, though, you
needn’t be wasting your time
on this little primer. Besides,
I’m sure they’re awaiting your
presence down at the Slow
Food Clubhouse.
For you lasagna tyros, just
buy a box of noodles. Back in
the day, the only ones on the
market were the kind you had
to boil fi rst. They’d come out of
the water all huge and fl appy
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
HOME & LIVING
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2020
6. Freeze at least 3 hours. Before
serving, remove the parchment. Gar-
nish each with a sprinkling of chopped
pralines, if desired.
FRENCH PRALINES
Yield: 2 ½ cups
½ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 cups whole raw unblanched
and unsalted almonds
Note: These are French pralines,
which are candied nuts. New Orleans
the liquid.
Simmer the sauce until the
fl avors blend together, maybe
20 to 30 minutes.
Listen, though: When I cook,
I’m eyeballing amounts. That’s
a skill I suggest you work
on, although for now, if you
prefer more precision, there’s a
detailed recipe below.
Also, for lasagna, I usually
make more sauce than I need.
I’ve found that pert near noth-
Sauce
ing is sadder than running out
of sauce before your lasagna is
If you use jarred sauce for
your lasagna, nobody with any completed.
Lastly, some of your fancier
sense of decency will complain.
lasagnas will alternate layers
So, unless Zombie Joe Mc-
Carthy is back from the dead of bechamel (or its Italian ver-
and coming over for supper, go sion, balsamella) with the red
sauce. Get crazy. I mean, it’s
ahead and use jarred.
delicious and all, but, that’s a
Still, red sauces can be
whole ‘nother level of compli-
very easy. Some, of course,
cated.
demand fresh tomatoes and
most of your day, but, you can
shorten your cooking time dra- Cheese
matically with a simple can of
I add ricotta and mozzarella
crushed tomatoes.
separately to each layer. Some
If I’m cramped for time, like, people combine the two chees-
say, Zombie Joe is banging
es. Also, some people whisk
his cutlery like a Lefortovo
beaten egg into the ricotta.
prisoner whilst casting his
It adds protein and gives the
gaze hungrily brainward, I’ll
cheese a bit more structure.
just heat the crushed toma-
Lastly, I’ll sprinkle Parmesan
toes with Italian seasoning
over the top layer.
and salt.
Now, for the construction:
Here’s my favorite, though:
Spoon a bit of sauce over
Get some bulk Italian sau- the bottom of a casserole dish.
sage whose fl avors you really Lay down four or fi ve no-boil
like. Brown it in oil with some noodles with their edges over-
onion, garlic and bell pepper
lapping exactly one smidge.
and, when it’s cooked through, Spoon blobs of ricotta onto the
add those crushed tomatoes. I noodles about every 2 inches,
use one 26-ounce can for every then sprinkle the whole lot
half-pound to pound of sau-
with shredded mozzarella.
sage. Then, stir in some boxed Ladle sauce over it liberally,
chicken stock and season with enough to cover the layer
salt. You can also add Italian
completely. Repeat layers until
herbs or crushed red pepper,
you reach the top of the cas-
if you like. The sauce should
serole. My last layer is usually
be fairly thin because those
noodles topped with moz-
no-boil noodles really soak up zarella, sauce and Parmesan.
like something you’d see in a
BBC documentary on alien
dermoplasty. Then they’d stick
together like lonely cultists
and, well, it was a mighty
pain.
Enter the modern age
with its jet packs and robot
chimp butlers and now, no-boil
lasagna noodles you can use
straight from the box. Could
anything be easier?
UNION
all night I imagined that man’s face
pressed against my bedroom window. He
was captured by authorities up by the
Continued from Page 1B
cemetery.
Any vision of grandeur that Union
Some mornings in the summer, I’d get
boosters had pretty much ended with the
up early and ride with my father as he
railroad’s decision to bypass the town.
drove a truck around Union and Wallowa
The town’s fortunes suffered further
counties picking up cream from farmers.
when the main highway was built
He’d take me to the Cozy Corner and
through Ladd Canyon, again missing
let me have a hamburger and milkshake
Union.
for breakfast and then we were off. I
By the time I came along, Union was
never saw him much happier as he sang
about the same size as it is today.
songs and told jokes. When he stopped at
We moved into town in either 1958
the farms, he’d hand out sticks of gum to
or 1959, to a brand new three-bedroom
the kids.
house about halfway between Main
He brought back the cream and he
Street and the Stock Show Grounds.
and a co-worker transformed it into
We hadn’t lived there long when
Darigold butter at the creamery, the
violent crime struck our usually peace-
brick building that still stands behind
ful hamlet. A man was shot to death in
the drug store.
the middle of a street outside one of the
There were four gas stations in Union
taverns. The guy who fi red the shot, a
man who also once slammed his car into at one time or another, two sawmills, two
my dad’s jeep, fl ed for the hills. The men taverns, two grocery stores, two restau-
went home, grabbed their rifl es and went rants, a meat market, a clothing store
and a variety store.
after him.
Between the hotel and library stood
My friend Scott and I were going to
spend that night outside. With a murder- the long dormant Roxy Theater. I’m not
er on the loose, we moved indoors, where sure how old I was when a group of us
DEER
Love hybrid tea roses? So
do deer. Use rugosa roses
instead.
Continued from Page 1B
•฀Create฀uninviting฀entry-
•฀Avoid฀plants฀that฀deer฀
ways by concentrating deer-
seek, and substitute plants
they don’t like, which include resistant plants here. Deer
tend to enter your property
plants with coarse, fuzzy,
the same way each time.
bristly or spiny leaves, and
•฀Be฀tidy.฀Keep฀all฀grass฀
any plant with a strong odor
(it jams their sense of smell). trimmed to discourage deer
from bedding down. Pick up
These include artemesia,
fallen fruit. Till under vines
catmints, chives, garlic,
onions, sage, lavender, tansy, as soon as harvest is done.
•฀Be฀deceptive.฀Surround฀
thyme, yarrow and poisonous
susceptible plants with plants
foxglove and monkshood.
Person-Centered
Care
KƵƌƵŶŝƋƵĞƉĂƟĞŶƚǀŝƐŝƚĞŶƐƵƌĞƐ
ĞǀĞƌLJƚŚŝŶŐǁ
ĞǀĞƌLJƚŚŝŶŐǁĞĚŽĨŽĐƵƐĞƐ
ŽŶƚŚĞƉ
ŽŶƚŚĞƉĂƟĞŶƚĂŶĚ
ƚŚĞŝƌ
ƚŚĞŝƌĨĂŵŝůLJĂŶĚ
ŶŽƚŚŝŶŐŝƐŵŝƐƐĞĚ͘

ŶŽƚŚ
BAKER CITY
LA GRANDE
( (541)
5 4 524-7688 (541) 624-5800
utes, stirring frequently, until the water
evaporates and the sugar crystalizes on
the almonds.
1. Line a baking sheet with parch-
3. Immediately remove from the
ment paper.
heat
and spread the almonds on the
2. In a saucepan, bring the water,
prepared
baking sheet. Allow to cool
granulated sugar and brown sugar to
completely.
The almonds will become
a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and
crunchy
a
few
hours after cooking.
add the almonds. Cook for several min-
pralines are similar to a sweet fudge.
Cover the casserole in foil and
throw it in a 350-degree oven
for about 45 minutes, until
the sauce is boiling on the
sides and your no-boil noodles
are cooked through. If you’re
kicking it old school with pre-
boiled noodles, everything’s
already cooked anyway and
all you have to do is heat it
through, which will still take
30-45 minutes. Uncover it for
the last 10 minutes of baking
to brown the Parm.
LASAGNA
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes
Makes: 8-10 servings
This recipe makes more
sauce than you’ll need. Save
the rest for another day. Also,
no-boil noodles require a more
watery sauce, hence the added
chicken stock.
1½ to 2 pounds bulk
Italian sausage
Neutral oil, as needed
1 onion, small dice
1 bell pepper, medium dice
(the color of your choice)
2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
Salt to taste
2 cans (28 ounces each)
crushed tomatoes
8 to 12 ounces chicken
broth or water
½ tablespoon Italian
seasoning, optional
1 teaspoon fennel
seeds, optional
Crushed red pepper to
taste, optional
1 package (9 ounces) no-
boil lasagna noodles
1 pound ricotta cheese
1 pound mozzarella cheese
1 to 2 ounces Parmesan
cheese, grated
thought it would be a good idea during
lunch time at school to crawl into the
theater through an opening in the back.
We ran around inside, exploring, tossing
seat cushions and causing various minor
mayhem.
We did this at lunch for a day or two
when, as we were in the dark old theater,
the lights came on and there were a
couple of policemen. We were herded
outside and marched down the street to
the police station.
We were told to write our name on
a piece of paper but for some reason it
never got passed to me. Nothing ever
happened to anyone anyway and I think
the statute of limitations has passed, so I
can confess now.
My dad is buried in the Union cem-
etery and when I walk through there,
the names on the headstones are a who’s
who of people who ran that town when
I was growing up. It’s like a scene from
“Our Town.’’
What’s left are memories of those
simpler, mostly happy days, when no one
locked their doors and Union was the
center of my universe.
deer don’t like. Young trees
can be protected by plants
that deer fi nd bad tasting.
Starving deer will forsake
food preferences, however.
Many repellents exist. The
key is to not let deer get used
to thinking of your garden as
home.
•฀Some฀houseplants฀are฀
sensitive to the fl uoride and/
or chlorine in tapwater. Water
containers should stand over-
night to allow these elements
to dissipate before using on
plants.
•฀Cakes฀of฀suet฀hung฀in฀
trees will attract insect-
hunting woodpeckers to your
Garden chores
garden.
If you have garden questions
•฀When฀planning฀to฀add฀or฀
or comments, please write to
replace shrubs in the land-
scape, consider whether they greengardencolumn@yahoo.
com. Thanks for reading!
appeal to deer.
2. To construct lasagna: Ladle
a
thin
layer of sauce over the
1. For sauce: Place a heavy-
bottom
of a 13-by-9-inch cas-
bottomed pot over medium
serole
dish.
Lay noodles over
high heat, then add oil to coat
the
sauce
with
edges overlap-
the bottom. Add sausage;
ping.
Spoon
blobs
of ricotta
saute until cooked, stirring to
onto
noodles
every
couple of
break up chunks, 8-10 minutes.
inches,
then
sprinkle
mozzarella
While sausage cooks, saute
over.
Ladle
more
sauce
to cover
onion, bell pepper and garlic in
entire
surface.
Repeat
with
an-
a tablespoon or two of oil in a
other
layer.
Cover
top
layer
with
separate pan until soft, about
noodles,
then
mozzarella.
Add
5 minutes. Season with salt.
When sausage is cooked, drain sauce until it’s coming up the
sides, then sprinkle Parmesan
and discard any accumulated
over.
fat. Stir in crushed tomatoes
3. To bake, cover lasagna
and cooked vegetables. Add
with
foil and slide into a heated,
chicken stock or water until
350-degree
oven until sauce is
sauce is somewhat liquidy. Sea-
boiling
and
noodles are cooked
son with salt and stir in optional
through,
about
45 minutes.
Italian seasoning, fennel seeds
Uncover
for
last
10 minutes to
and crushed red pepper; sim-
brown.
Let
lasagna
rest for 10-
mer to blend fl avors, 20 to 30
15
minutes
before
serving.
minutes.
Jay & Kristin Wilson, Owners
2036 Main Street, Baker City
541-523-6284 • ccb#219615
TREE
FACT:
Always
FREE Estimates
3110 10th Street,
Baker City
Earth has
more than
60,000 known
tree species.
La Grande’s
Certified Arborist
LAST CHANCE
Dormant Season
Pruning
M ichael
Certified Tree Care
Planting • Pruning • Removal
M. Curtiss PN-7077A
541-786-8463
CCB# 200613
michaeltcurtiss@yahoo.com