Case of the Mondays...

This weekend was so wonderfully relaxing that today I find myself cursing Monday and all of its Monday-ness. The only cure or at least a distraction from a dreaded Case of the Mondays is a regiment of reminiscing i.e. the following.

So, on Friday night I made Verdure al Forno, which means ‘vegetables in the oven’ and it’s simply a zucchini casserole with a creamy cheesy crunchy crust. Jared was due in at 9:30 and I was not going to have another sweaty scramble like last time so I started early. I chopped up my five zucchinis, grated my cheese and oiled my baking pan. I was ready.

Now tell me this isn’t completely confusing. GDL says, “Line a baking sheet with foil. Coat the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish with the oil. Arrange enough of the zucchini slices over the bottom of the dish in a single layer to cover.” Wait, am I baking the veggies on the sheet and then transferring to the dish? Why do I need to prep a dish and a sheet?

After a good five minutes of questioning and cursing, it dawned on me. I watch Giada at Home everyday at lunch and I have noticed that she has a total OCD quirk that involves placing a lined baking sheet under anything she puts in the oven. So that’s it! If you see a GDL recipe that involves putting anything in the oven, bet your ass there’s a useless lined baking sheet involved.

So once this was all cleared up I began layering my baking dish. Layer one- zucchini, salt and pepper, heavy cream, mozzarella and Fontina cheeses, breadcrumbs and Pecorino Romano cheese. Layer two- repeat. Layer three- shit, I’m out of zucchini. GDL says that I can use any vegetables I want so I check the fridge and… potatoes to the rescue! So Jared and I won’t be having hash browns in the morning but at least my Verdure al Forno won’t look absolutely pathetic.

The casserole comes out of the oven forty minutes later looking exactly like the photo in Everyday Italian. Verdure al Forno is delicious but rich and better in moderation. Perhaps as a side dish rather than a main course.

The next morning I woke up to Jared reading my blog on his iTouch (um, how cool is that?!) and then I proceeded to get him hooked on my Saturday morning tradition of coffee and CMT while I prepared GDL’s Frittata with Asparagus, Tomato and Fontina Cheese.

The diced asparagus and tomatoes get sautéed in butter and olive oil for two minutes. Then the eggs and cream mixture gets poured on top. Two minutes later it gets covered and all goes in the broiler for another four minutes. Problem! With the cover on, the pan won’t fit in my broiler so I pop it in the oven and pray. It takes a little longer than four minutes for it to look solidified and it never gets the golden brown top it’s supposed to. But I take it out, flip it on to a plate and… YUM!

Jared and I managed to eat almost the entire frittata in one sitting. I’m sure Giada would pooh-pooh my use of ketchup on my slices but what can I say? I’m French-Canadian. Scrambled fluffy eggs require ketchup. They just do.

The rest of the weekend was delightfully uneventful. Jared watched Julie & Julia with me (bless his heart) and I even improvised some Panini for lunch (check me out GDL!). A wonderful weekend!

Now back to Monday. Damn.