My Maine Snowstorm Cooking Bender! What Did You Make?
A snowstorm means an opportunity to make things cozy at home by spending the day filling the house with good cooking smells! When a storm is announced Maine communities swarm to the nearest supermarket to stock up on food and toilet paper. Mainers react to the news of a snowstorm as if we may never be able to leave our homes again. Many of us also cook in the most Mainer manner ever- to freeze!
I started off wanting to make one pan of baked ziti with vegetables for my family, but when I got to the store I thought it would be a good idea to make some for our neighbors and freezer as well. That decision led to the purchase of 4 lbs of small ziti, 4 jars of pasta sauce, 3 lbs of mild sausage, 2 giant sweet onions, 3 packages of baby bella mushrooms, 5 small zucchini, 2 12 slice packages of provolone cheese, 2 gigantic tubs of Daisy sour cream, a restaurant size bag of shredded mozzarella and two bottles of wine!
I boiled the pasta in our lobster pot, roasted the vegetables in two batches with E.V.O.O. and salt and pepper in the oven, used a second lobster pot for the sauce to which I added the cooked sausage, vegetables and a ton of spices. By the time I was done, the stove, counter and walls were splattered with sauce and stray bits of veg and sausage. Mixing the pasta with the sauce was koo-koo pants, but I got it done.
Here's how I construct the world's most fattening, but soul satisfying baked ziti:
Ziti on the bottom, a layer of provolone slices, a shmear of sour cream on top of that, more ziti and a generous topping of mozzarella.
Health Warning:
Always serve this meal with a salad and administer Lactaid to those allergic to dairy.
My sister makes lobster stew and lasagna. She just sent us a "Thank You" lasagna last week!
What do you cook in batches and freeze during bad weather days? Share your recipe on our Fan Page.