Easy Lemony Chicken Schnitzels

Chanukah Sameach from Jerusalem. It's been a while since my last blog....life's been busy, something ends up being sacrificed, wish it wasn't the blog, but I've simply not had  the headspace that one needs for the creativity thing...

Anyhow, I'm in my kitchen in Jerusalem and have just made a batch of chicken schnitzels for lunch on Shabbat Chanukah and just felt that I had to share the recipe.

The inspiration for the recipe comes from a lovely cookery book called "The World of Jewish Entertaining" by Rabbi Gil Marks, a Chazan (Cantor), who was also a food writer, chef and gourmet. He   hailed from New York and more lately, Israel. Gil passed away a few weeks ago in Jerusalem after a courageous fight against a cruel illness. So this blog is a tribute and a thank you to someone who inspired many cooks all over the world. 

My recipe book is still in England and I had to recreate it from memory, so here goes.

8 thick chicken schnitzels, made from 4 large chicken breasts split in two. Don't use escalopes, they will dry out.

2-3 eggs, beaten

Oil, vegetable will do or light olive oil.

Matza meal or breadcrumbs whatever you have to hand.

Sesame seeds

Paprika

Salt and pepper 

A fresh lemon

Don't wash the chicken breasts, they will go soggy.

Beat the eggs into a large plate.

In a large zip lock bag, tip in a generous amount of matzah meal/breadcrumbs, the paprika, sesame seeds, salt and pepper.

In as many shallow baking tins as you need, pour in enough oil to coat the bottom, and put in an oven preheated to 200C for about 5 Minutes.

While the oil is heating, dip,the schnitzels into the egg and then the matzah meal/breadcrumbs to coat, and rest on plate.

Take the tins out of the oven and put the schnitzels in, do not overcrowd or they will go soggy.

Put in oven for  approx 15 mins, or till they start to go golden brown.

Remove tins from oven, turn over schnitzels and squeeze fresh lemon juice over them. You can use bottled if no fresh lemons are available, but fresh is far superior.

Place back in oven for about 10 mins, or until they start to brown.

Remove from oven and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve straight away, if possible, or can be reheated for Shabbat, or even eaten cold.

I'll have the Lasagne....

I always envied the people in Italian restaurants who ordered lasagne. It came piping hot in those little oven to table dishes for one, golden brown on top with melted cheese oozing down the sides. For the last 14 years we have only eaten in Kosher restaurants but before then we ate fish and vegetarian food in regular restaurants so although we could eat many pizza and pasta dishes, the lasagne was always off the menu.

Since then I have ordered lasagne in Kosher restaurants but they are always very tomatoey and don't have the kind of taste or texture that I imagine a real lasagne has.

We had arrangements to see friends this evening and since we had eaten last night in the one decent Kosher restaurant in town and we are going back there for lunch on Sunday, three times in a week seemed like too much of a good thing! So I sent an SMS to my friend and suggested that we have supper here in my house and she agreed as long as I didn't go to too much trouble.  I decided to make lasagne, a proper meaty cheesy effort, which is not that simple when you keep kosher. I found a recipe in Jamies' Dinners...by Jamie Oliver, the only problem was that his recipe calls for 4 rashers of bacon, 14 oz minced beef and 7ox minced pork belly! I decided that I would substitute the forbidden foods with a pack of Snowcrest  Mince Mix, which is fortunately supplied by my local deli. I have used it successfully before as a mince substitute and has just the right consistency. If you can't get hold of it, I think a pack of plain Quorn mince would be just fine.  I have made a few adaptations to the original recipe which is linked below...

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/simple-baked-lasagne

Here is my adaptation with acknowledgments to Jamie Oliver.

THE "MEAT" SAUCE

1 onion finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 handfuls mixed fresh herbs, chopped (I used flat leaf parsley, thyme and rosemary, but basil, sage and oregano could be used as well)
A pinch of cinnamon
olive oil
1 tub Snowcrest mince mix defrosted,  or 1 packet plain quorn mince
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes,  (Jamie says whole tomatoes but that's what I had in the cupboard, and I don't think it made a difference.)
2 glasses red wine (about 16 fl oz or 450ml), or water (please use wine, it tastes so much better!)
2 bay leaves (if you don't have them don't worry, I completely forgot to add them!)

1 butternut squash, halved,  de-seeded and roughly chopped.  I happened to have a small pumpkin from my organic veg box and substituted it for the butternut squash. It was hard as a rock and I was terrified of stabbing myself while I attempted to chop it. So I pricked it a bit with a fork, rubbed a bit of olive oil on it and baked it in the oven at 180C/350F/Gas4 for about half an hour till it was soft enough to cut up. You can do this with a rock hard butternut squash too!

1 tablespoon coriander seeds, bashed in a pestle and mortar, or the end of a rolling pin!

1 dried red chili bashed... I used pre bashed chili flakes, which you can get from any supermarket, I got mine from Marks and Spencer!

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper. If you can get hold of Malden salt, please buy some, it's not that expensive, is definitely superior to the regular stuff that comes in a plastic bottle and it's very satisfying to crumble the flakes between your fingers as you season a dish. 

400g/14 oz lasagne sheets. Jamie Oliver stipulates fresh...I had some dried in my cupboard and was not going to go out in search of fresh ones. Honestly, it tasted just as good...I'm sure the fresh is amazing and if you can get hold of it, then great but I wouldn't want you not to make this delicious recipe because you only have dried lasagne sheets in the house. 

400g/14oz mozzarella torn up.  If you only eat kosher cheese, it can be quite difficult yo get mozzarella cheese and it's very expensive. I found a blend of ready grated Kosher mozzarella and cheddar in my local store but if you can't get it, mild cheddar will do...but please don't use low fat cheese!

FOR THE WHITE SAUCE

1x500ml tub of creme fraiche. There wasn't any creme fraiche in the Kosher supermarket so I bought 500 g of 5%  cottage cheese and when I home I used my stick blender to make it smooth and added a couple of tablespoons of natural yoghurt. You could also use soured cream. 

3 anchovies finely chopped. I think that if you haven't got anchovies, or you hate them, it won't matter if you omit them. 

2 handfuls freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Sometimes it's difficult to find Kosher Parmesan cheese. I suggest you substitute with grated mature cheddar or even regular grated cheddar. 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4

In a large casserole-type pan, heat a couple of glugs of olive oil and slowly fry the onion, carrot, garlic, herbs and cinnamon. 

Add the mince mix or quorn, cook for about 5 minutes. 

Add the tinned tomatoes and wine or water, add bay leaves (if used) and bring to boil. Cover and simmer on the top of the hob  over gentle heat for about 45 mins, until most of  liquid has evaporated and the mixture has turned a dark rich colour. Don't worry if at first the sauce looks very watery, once it has evaporated it will seem much thicker. 

Meanwhile rub the butternut squash or pumpkin pieces with olive oil ( I used a pastry brush!) and sprinkle with salt, pepper, bashed up coriander seeds and chili.

Place on a baking tray and roast in oven for about 45 mins. while the sauce is cooking.

When the sauce is done, season to taste and put to one side. 

Mix together the Creme Fraiche (or cottage cheese/yoghurt mix), anchovies(if used), a handful of Parmesan or grated cheddar, season with salt and pepper. 

Take the butternut squash our of the oven and turn the heat up to 200C/400F/Gas 6

Now assemble the lasagne. 

Rub an earthenware lasagne dish with olive oil and lay some sheets of lasagne over the bottom. 

Add a layer of  "meat", a little white sauce and a sprinkling of Parmesan/Cheddar.

Break the butternut squash/pumpkin into pieces and use 1/2 as one layer. 

Repeat the layers, finishing with a layer pasta covered in white sauce. 

Tear over the mozzarella or top with grated cheese and sprinkle with extra Parmesan if you have it. 

Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 mins.

Serve with a crispy green salad and a large glass of wine!

I Say Kneidel, You Say Knaidal!

Yiddish is such a unique language and there are many pronunciations and dialects within the language, not least when it comes to food.

When I was growing up it seemed reasonably easy to follow . My mothers' family said Flyshig to describe meaty foods and my father's family said Flayshig. We used to laugh at Dad for his funny pronunciation because the kitchen was strictly our mothers' domain and meat was Flyshig and that was the way all the women in the house (Mum, Gillian and me) pronounced it, so he was outnumbered! However we pronounced  Beigal and Kneidel....with an "ay" sound, and I never thought anything of it. Until I met David, who was a Londoner. He said Baigal (bygal) and Knaidal (knydal) . One night when we were having Sunday night supper, I asked him if he wanted Vosht (salami) and Eggs, he didn't know what it was until I showed him a stick and he said "Oh, Vusht!" That was the way he said it at home.

It was David's Mum, Fay who taught me how to make Kneidels. They didn't feature on the menu on Friday night in our house but once I spent a few Shabbats at my future parents in law, I learned that they were obligatory. So I learned how to make them. It was quite tricky because Fay didn't use measurements...she just shook in the ingredients straight from their packets...but her kneidels were wonderful so she must have done something right. It was a bit disconcerting that she called this shaking from the packet "shitting"...but she is a Jewish Mrs Malaprop so I just put it down to one of her mispronunciations. I soon got used to being told to "shit" salt! I just say it without much thought anymore but realise it can be quite shocking to the uninitiated. I have learned now to translate for my mother in law, who can be quite hilarious...for example, she once told David he was driving like Fred Monsoon..she meant Nigel Mansell. She must be the only person who calls a strawberry a Trushkafke!

A lot of people complain that they can't make fluffy Kneidels, this is because they use too much Matzo meal, which make the balls too solid. This is how I do it and I guarantee you fluffy balls every time. I'm basing this on a 4 egg mix which makes about 20 or so balls, enough for eight with leftovers. It's not really worth making less, and they freeze beautifully.

4 large eggs
Salt and  ground white pepper (don't use black pepper unless you like speckles in your kneidels!)
1 large ladleful cold chicken soup. (This makes the kneidels super tasty. Just set some soup aside.)
Medium Matzo meal
Ground Almonds -essential for fluffy kneidels.

Put the kettle on
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl.
Whisk in the chicken soup.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add equal measures of matzo meal and ground almonds until the mixture just begins to hold together.
At this point let the mixture rest for about ten minutes. If, after this time the mixture is still too loose, add in a little more Matzo meal and ground almonds..then leave another five minutes. This allows the meal and almonds to swell and make this mixture firm.
Pour boiling water from kettle into a large pot and bring to boil. Repeat..you need a lot of water in order to give the kneidels plenty of room to float.
Wet your hands and form into small balls then gently roll into the pot of boiling water.
When the kneidels are cooked they will float to the top of the boiling water.
When they are all cooked, pour into a colander to drain.
Either tip drained kneidels straight into the chicken soup, or toss them in a little sunflower oil ( to stop them sticking) and allow to cool. Once cool, they can be frozen.

Do you take Sugar with your Fish?

It's been a very stressful day. On Tuesday night, my range oven overheated and the clock melted. I called in the engineer who informed me that the thermostat and fan had broken. OK, I have an all bells and whistles kitchen appliance insurance policy. Could it be fixed? Yes but the parts are out of stock and won't be in for 3 weeks. OK, I'll just use the oven without the timer then, a bit inconvenient but I'll manage. No, the oven is unsafe and is a fire risk, you mustn't use it at all. Back to the drawing board, I can't manage without an oven for 3 weeks, it's the Jewish Holidays for goodness sake! How can I braise a honey garlic brisket in the microwave? ( I didn't say that to him!)

My insurance policy will buy me a brand new like for like oven with 30% off the recommended retail price..let's go for that then. Oh and there's an additional charge £189 extra to install it and £14.95 to disconnect the old oven...and they can't guarantee that they'll take the old oven way and if the gas connection is not up to standard they won't install it and I'll have to book in a my own engineer to do the job. The final straw is that the new oven will be delivered in 5-7 days and they can't even guarantee a date! So I face the prospect of being lumbered with a dead oven over a 3 day Yom Tov! My stress levels are on the ceiling.  In the end I grit my teeth, go on -line with another company and order the oven for a bit more money but it will be delivered tomorrow morning, installed it and the old one will be taken away  The whole process has taken the whole afternoon and I had planned to make my honey cakes. It's a good job I fried my fish yesterday!

The house still smells of chopped and fried fish, even though I fried it in the deep fat fryer in the utility room and opened all the outside doors. Apparently you could smell it all the way down the road!

Going back to the title of the blog, I've not gone mad! The issue is whether one adds sugar to the raw fish mix before making chopped and fried or gefilte fish. This depends on where your ancestors came from. I am half Pollak, half Litvak. My mother's family hail from Galicia in Poland, hence they are Pollaks and Pollaks like their fish sweet, in fact they like everything sweet.. from holishkes to brisket. My grandmother and mother were wonderful cooks and I learned so much from them, including putting sugar in the fish. My mother in law is also a Pollak and her fish was sweet too..so no conflicts there. My fathers family were Litvaks, they originate from Lithuania and they do NOT put sugar in their fish, I don't know what my paternal grandmother's fish tasted like because she didn't make it and anyway she was a terrible cook. Pollaks do not like Litvak fish and vice versa! To me, fish without sugar is tasteless and without character, but it's all down to your roots and who taught you to cook!

Chopped and fried fish is basically a gefilte fish mix which is rolled into balls and fried instead of boiled. It is a dish which is unique to British Jews, you can't get it in Israel or the USA. I would be interested to know if it's made anywhere else in the Jewish world. It's origins are fascinating. Gefilte fish is essentially an Ashkenazi dish, it originated in Eastern Europe where carp fillets were chopped and boiled and eaten either stuffed back into the fish skin or boiled in balls in a broth of water, onion, sliced carrots, salt, pepper and sugar depending on whether you were a Pollak or a Litvak. The gefilte fish balls were eaten on Shabbat, a day when it is forbidden to pick out bones from fish. When our ancestors came to the UK, it was difficult to get carp, so they adapted the recipe to be made with sea fish, such as haddock, hake or cod. Enter the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardim,who didn't make gefilte fish for Shabbat but fried fish fillets in oil and ate them cold. Fish fried in animal fat such as butter is unpalatable when eaten cold, but fry it in olive oil or some kind of vegetable oil and it's a different story. Chopped and fried fish is a synthesis of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi versions and is absolutely delicious. It can be eaten hot or cold and is wonderful with chips, salad or in a sandwich made of sliced challah with a generous dollop of tomato ketchup!

So here is the recipe, taught to me by my late mother, the wonderful Esther Kay (may she rest in peace), and my amazing mother in law, Fay Phillips, both proud Pollaks.

I make a huge batch of it, about 5lb (2.5kg) worth, it's not worth making less than 3lb fish, because of the work involved. I use a deep fat fryer, although I did shallow fry for many years but gave up because of the many burns I sustained from splattering oil.

You need 3lb minced fish with onion (I use haddock but you can use cod or hake). Ask the fishmonger to mince the onion in with the fish. If you can get to a Jewish fishmonger, he'll know what to do. If not about 1/2 onion to every 1lb (half kilo) of fish.

Dump the fish into a large bowl. The next bit is not for the squeamish but you have to do this, if it disgusts you too much, buy ready made!
Into the bowl, shake in some salt, pepper and sugar. I can't give quantities, it all depends on your taste, keep adding as you go along until it's right. Either go in with your bare hand or put on a disposable latex glove and mix the fish to blend in the seasoning. TASTE! Now I know it sounds revolting but it's really not so bad and you only have to taste a bit. Keep adding salt, pepper and sugar till it tastes right. You have to trust your own taste and instinct.

Then add 1 beaten egg to every 1lb (1/2 kilo of fish). Mix again with your hands.
Then add equal amounts of medium ground Matza meal and ground almonds to the mix.. Do NOT listen to anyone who tells you that they only use Matza meal, you will get tasteless heavy cannonballs, not light delectable morsels.The ground almonds enhance the taste and the texture of the fish and are essential.  I have no idea how much I use, I just keep adding it till the mixture is bound enough to form the balls. Again, it's trial and error and instinct.

Leave the mix to stand and set while you heat up the oil, either in a shallow frying pan or a deep fat fryer. I usually set the temperature to about 190C and then turn it up or down depending on how fast the fish is frying.

Shape the fish into balls which just fill the palms of your hands cupped together and flatten slightly.
Lay on a platter until the oil is ready,

If you are shallow frying, put a tiny bit of fish in the heated oil and if it sizzles, it's ready. Add the balls to the pan, don't overcrowd it and fry each side until darkish golden brown. You don't want them pale, they look insipid.

If you are deep frying don't overcrowd the basket or they will stick together. I reckon it takes about 6-8 minutes for them to be cooked and golden brown but check after about  minutes. All appliances are different. Drain on kitchen paper resting on metal cake trivets. Try to resist eating them all in one go!

They freeze beautifully, I have been known to take frozen bags of fishballs on the plane to Israel with me! Enjoy and let me know how you got on! I will give one-to -one lessons if asked nicely!

A Good Fish Supper

I had a craving for a fish supper, not fish and chips, something a little healthier but needed some inspiration. So I went to my local supermarket which has a really good fish counter.  There was a special offer on sea bass, so I bought two whole and two fillets. I prefer my fish on the bone, it has much more flavour and I like prising all the lovely bits of fish of the bones but David prefers fillets and there is no persuading him otherwise. On to the veg and I bought three whole endives(chicory) and some Israeli samphire which has a lovely salty tang of the sea to it. 

I decided to bake the fish as it is a much less smelly business than grilling it. I put the fish on a bed of samphire and half a lemon cut into chunks. I topped it with the remains of a jar of capers, two anchovy fillets which had been lingering in the back of the fridge for too long, a couple of glugs each of virgin olive oil and white wine, seasoned with some Maldon salt and ground black pepper. This went into a medium-hot oven for about 20 minutes or so. I haven't a clue what temperature it was because all the numbers have come off my oven and I have to guess. I reckon about 200C. Since last night when I cooked this, my oven totally overheated, melting the internal clock. I think my it may be on its last legs, we'll see what the engineer says tomorrow. 

I wasn't too sure what to do with the endives. I've only had them in salad before. My mother in law adores it, she calls it chicon, she ate it in Belgium as a child before the war . I didn't want a salad, I felt like cooking it so it would blend well with the fish juices. I needed inspiration and advice. So I turned to my one of my trusty Nigel Slater books called "Real Cooking". I love the way he writes about food with total honesty and lack of pretension. You feel like you are sitting in his kitchen watching him cook because that is what he is...a great cook and a wonderful food writer. Anyhow, he writes that endives do very well married with strong flavours such as dijon mustard and rich ingredients like cream. I didn't want to make anything too rich, we are trying to eat light. 

The other book I researched was "Roast Chicken and Other Stories" by Simon Hopkinson who used to be the chef at the Normandie in Birtle near Bury. I remember it as being a very posh restaurant on the odd occasion that I went with my parents in the late 70's and early 80's. Simon Hopkinson trained there and he writes a very long piece in his book all about the endive and how when he first started at the Normandie at the age of 16, he detested the vegetable. The owner and chef, Monsieur Yves Champeau decided to break the young lad in by inviting him to a lunch which comprised mainly of chicory cooked in every manner conceivable!

After my research I concluded that the best and simplest way to prepare the endives was to braise them in a splash of water, a generous knob of salted butter and a squeeze of lemon juice. I cooked them on the hob in a cast iron pan (which was a wedding present!) for about 20 minutes till they were golden brown and bathed in a lovely savoury juice. There was a tinge of bitterness but it was delicious. I am thinking of reheating the leftovers under a grill with a topping of grated cheese, cooked till bubbling and golden. 

Finally, the potatoes. My organic veg order contained a bag of lovely new potatoes, and I wanted something crunchy to go with the fish and endives. So I cut a few into rough little squares with the skins on, tossed them in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and baked them in the oven along with the fish, till they were all brown and crispy. 

Dinner was served and went down a treat!

Note: If you can't get sea bass, I think it would be lovely with rainbow trout.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese, Interesting Soup and Another Recipe Book!

I love it when the latest Lakeland catalogue drops through the letterbox. I usually save it for the weekend when I peruse it at my leisure and bookmark all the things I would like to buy. The Autumn issue featured an Italian Cheese making set. It's really hard to get Kosher Ricotta and Mascarpone cheese in Manchester, so when I read that with the Mad Mollie Cheese making kit I could make my own, I hit the Buy button. £19.99 promised me kilos of homemade cheese including Mozzarella, it was too good to miss. So today I took the plunge and made my first batch of Ricotta and it really wasn't that difficult. Basically after sterilising your pot, thermometer, spoons etc, you bring 2 litres of full fat milk up to 95C, then add a teaspoon of citric acid crystals dissolved in 1/4 cup of water and turn the heat off. The milk starts to curdle straightaway, you then leave it to cool for about 1 hour (I went to visit my mother in law!). You then separate the curds from the whey with a slotted spoon and put the curds in the little strainer provided. Let it stand for another hour to settle and Voila! Apparently the whey is very good for the plants in the garden, I hope mine liked it, they need all the help they can get!
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/18085/Mad-Millie-Italian-Cheese-Kit
This is how my cheese turned out.

My veg box included some broccoli and and the recipe cards that came in the box included one for broccoli, feta and walnut soup. I thought it sounded interesting so made it for supper. David's verdict was that it was "different", which means he wasn't sure but he emptied the bowl. I wasn't sure at first but it grew on me. I think if you can't find kosher feta cheese, then Chevingtons' Cheshire or Lancashire would also be good. Anyhow, here is the link to the recipe.
http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/broccoli-feta-and-walnut-soup
My soup looked like this!

I couldn't resist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's latest book, River Cottage Light and Easy.



 He promotes healthier eating by reducing the amount of wheat, dairy and meat that we eat. I have cut down drastically on red meat, we rarely eat it, but I am a big bread and cheese lover. The book is well written, beautifully illustrated with the kind of food photography that I can only aspire to, and I can't wait to get stuck in. I'm thinking of taking it to Israel with me, because the book is lavish with its' use of fresh fruit and veg and I want to be able to cook light there, to counteract the food that we eat out in restaurants. We do tend to eat out quite a lot in Jerusalem, there are so many fantastic places to try and our choices here in Manchester are rather limited. It still gives me a thrill to know that in Jerusalem I can just go out to eat pretty much wherever I want, I don't take it for granted at all, even eating a stir fry in the local Mall still excites me!

A Cull, A Box and A Lasagne

This morning I performed a major cull of the contents of one of my kitchen cupboards. It's a particularly difficult cupboard for me to get to, being at floor level and in a corner. It's the cupboard where I keep baking tins, accessories for my milky food processor, salad bowls, random Tupperware boxes and my fish griddle. Things had got into a tip because it's on the floor and I have to get down on my hands and knees and then virtually climb in to put things away...not good for my back at all! It had got to the point where I couldn't close the cupboard at all and I was ramming it shut because things kept falling out. I had had enough! So I plucked up courage, pulled everything out of the cupboard and then sat on the floor surrounded by stuff, totally overwhelmed and at the point of no return. I threw out all the skanky Tupperware boxes that had missing lids, or were covered in unspeakable things. I slung out the rusting cake tins and other dubious items, cleaned out the cupboard and put everything back. I filled a whole black refuse sack and sat back on my knees looking at my pristine cupboard and felt extremely virtuous. I wonder how long it will take before I'm ramming things in and forcing it closed again?

I received my first organic box today from Abel & Cole. I was tempted by their introductory offer which came through my letterbox and promised me a free 250 page cookery book with my first order.  I couldn't resist (because of my bad cookery book habit) and subscribed to a weekly box of organic fruit and veg delivered to my door every Wednesday, thinking that this may encourage me to use seasonal local items rather than refrigerated chill blasted veg from Kenya. I have to admit that the whole package was very attractive when it arrived. The box was wrapped in string, there was a welcome booklet, some recipe cards, and of course my free cookery book which looks really good. Its's divided into seasons and then describes various fruit and veg and how to cook them in original ways. There was a really good selection of fruit & veg in the box, including baby squash, courgettes and broccoli, as well as grapes, bananas and some really tasty apples. I think I'm going to make a batch of Bircher muesli with the apples and there was a really interesting broccoli soup recipe which I'm going to make tomorrow. 

I didn't cook tonight! Ethan offered to make a veggie lasagne and very tasty it was too. He is a really good cook with an excellent palate, knows instinctively how to combine flavours and is not afraid to experiment. He did have a slight anxious moment when he discovered that there wasn't enough milk to make a béchamel  sauce.  I found a pint in the freezer and proceeded to defrost it on full power in the microwave...two minutes in and the bottle exploded, leaving a milky mess in the microwave and a blob of iced milk left in the container. I have a history of exploding things in the microwave but that's another story for another day......

Ethan's Lasagne