3 great recipes for late summer and fall

As all of you know, my family has had a very difficult summer
and early fall, so I have not been doing a lot of original cooking.
However, last month I came up with a fabulous book club recipe,
and I have 2 others from this week that I will share all in one post.

The first is the book club recipe.
Pumpkin Lasagna Rolls with Blue Cheese Sauce

I just took a can of pumpkin puree, a tub of ricotta cheese and mixed it
together with a sprinkling of nutmeg, corriander, salt and pepper. Then
folded in some chopped sage leaves to taste. I had my cooked and cooled
lasagna noodles standing by. Don't cook them all the way or they
will be difficult to handle. I also used the wider lasanga noodles.

I spread each noodle with a layer of filling, grated some blue cheese
on top and rolled up.

Then I made a sauce of heavy cream, chopped sage leaves, nutmeg,
corriander and salt. Warm it up over low heat on the stove. Put a thin
layer of sauce in your casserole dish, place your noodles in and cover
with the rest of the sauce. Crumble some blue cheese on top and bake
for 20-30min in a 350 oven.


Summer Salad

This is so simple and delicious, you'll wonder how you ever lived without
it. Seed and roughly chop some ripe garden tomatoes; whatever colors you
like. Lightly steam some asparagus and cut on the bias. Roughly chop some
fire roasted red peppers. Mix together with some diced fresh
mozzarella and drizzle with a mixture of Zesty Italian dressing and a
small amount of fine balsamic vinegar. Let this stand for a while, or
refrigerate to let the flavors mingle and mellow. Just before serving
sprinkle with chopped basil and parsley, salt and a fair amount of pepper.
You can even add a little lemon zest.


Basil Bean Soup

Brown off some pancetta in your soup pan. Remove and set aside. Use the
drippings to cook down some onion and garlic. Put in some good white wine,
and some chicken stock and bring to a low boil. Salt and pepper to taste.
Add cannelini beans, reserving some for later. Cook this for about 30 min.
Then, using an immersion blender, blend until very smooth. Add your
reserved beans, pancetta and basil (I used basil paste).

Serve with some crusty homemade bread...or bakery bread-


I hope you will enjoy all 3 of these dishes as the summer closes.
I will be trying to post more regularly again.
Happy Eating!