Apple Crisp

In the middle of tonight’s blustery and icy snowstorm, I made spinach lasagna for dinner using a recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook, which was the source for the Gypsy Soup I made last weekend. It’s one of the signature dishes at their restaurant and I had high hopes.

Alas, I’m not giving you the recipe because I was disappointed in the results. First, I wasn’t keen on the white sauce that served as the base of the recipe. Like any white sauce, it was mainly milk, butter and flour, and I know that’s not exactly a flavor sensation, but this recipe was in dire need of some taste. I’m surprised there wasn’t anything more than a shake of nutmeg in the sauce because Moosewood usually goes bonkers with the spices. The texture of the sauce was nothing to write home about, either. It was like paste, or Soylent Green, except white.

The spinach was fresh and earthy, but I should have added more vegetables—mushrooms, maybe broccoli. As it was, both texture and taste were monotone from all those leafy greens.

Also, I forgot to add the mozzarella. It was one of the middle layers of about 10 total, and I just breezed right over it. I can’t help but think that missing stratum would have aided the texture a bit. At least I remembered the ricotta and the Parmesan, so there was some cheese.

Finally, even though I bought prepackaged spinach, the recipe called for two pounds. That didn’t seem like that much to me until I set about de-stemming it. That took a very, very long time, and in retrospect, it was something I probably didn’t need to do anyway.

On the other hand, the apple crisp I made for dessert turned out great—not that I had any doubts because it was Mom’s easy and time-tested Brown Betty-like version. Have at it! If you can cut an apple without losing a finger, you’re dexterous enough to make this cold-weather dessert.