Comfort Food - Tomato, Mascarpone and Mozzarella Lasagne and Mango Mist Cocktails

What do you do when something happens to really upset you? And I don't mean the kind of upset that can be caused by breaking a nail or stepping on a worm on your way to work. I mean the kind of upset that makes you stew in your juices and the kind of upset that lets you turn things round and round in your head, getting no peace and just allows you to work yourself into a state.

Let me give you an example, as it just so happens that I have one! Imagine you got married in June (to the loveliest man that you ever did meet) and that you took your wonderful, beautiful only ever worn the once wedding dress - the dress that turned you into a princess for a day and cost you nearly an entire months wages - imagine you took that dress to a 'reputable' dry cleaners at the end of July and agreed that it would be ready for collection on the 8th August. Imagine that it is now the 4th September and said dress has still not been returned. Imagine how upset you'd feel if upon calling the dry cleaners this morning and you finally got to speak to someone (after weeks of speaking to an answering machine) only to be told that they may have 'misplaced' the dress (thankfully they haven't, they managed to find it about 20 mins later). Now imagine that the lady at the dry cleaners has told you not once but three times this afternoon that the delay doesn't really matter because "its not like your going to wear the dress again"! Oh how my blood was boiling - upset didn't even really begin to cover it at that stage. The issue is ongoing, and hopefully will be resolved on Monday night, when I have to go to the dry cleaners to 'identify' my dress for them. Brides-to-be in Edinburgh heed my warning - email me if you want to know which dry cleaner NOT to go to!

So ... what do I do when I get to that level of upset? I cook comfort food! The food of choice today was a full on meal ...

Tomato, Mascarpone and Mozzarella Lasagne

2 onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Olive oil (I use fry lite)

3 x 400g tins cherry tomatoes

A bunch of basil, torn

1 pack fresh lasagne (lets be honest, making pasta from scratch today is totally out of my remit!)

250g mascarpone

3 balls mozzarella, torn into pieces (I use the light variety)

Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C. Fry the onion and garlic in 4 tbsp olive oil (or fry lite) until softened but not coloured. Stir in the tomatoes, I drain 2 tins and add the other tin with the juice. Season and bubble for about 15-20 mins or until the sauce is thickened and glossy (I always let mine bubble for 30 mins - the sauce seems to be too runny otherwise). Remove from the heat and stir in the basil. Pour a layer of the tomato sauce into a large baking dish and cover with a layer of the lasagne sheets.

Arrange 1/3 of the mascarpone and mozzarella over the lasagne and spoon another layer of sauce over. Cover with lasagne sheets. Repeat the layers. Finally, add a last layer of lasagne, spoon the remaining tomato sauce over and dot the last 1/3 of the mascarpone and mozzarella evenly across the top.

Add a grinding of black pepper and bake for about 40 mins or until the lasagne layers are soft when tested with the point of a knife, and the cheese is golden and bubbling.

Serve with a side salad and some crusty bread.

Serves 6 apparently but it only ever manages 4 in our house!

Not 100% sure where this recipe came from but I have a feeling it was a Woman's Weekly Cookbook

Tonight we had ours with a Spinach Salad that we've not tried before. I expected Hubby to dismiss it at first sight for the healthy factor alone but he went back for thirds which is generally a sign of approval.

Baby Spinach Salad

65g baby spinach, washed and dried

2 tsp pine nuts

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Maldon salt and freshly ground pepper

Place all the salad ingredients in a bowl and toss them together lightly. Serve at once or the leaves will become wilted.

Serve the salad garnished with a few Parmesan shavings, if desired (I omitted this bit due to the amount of cheese in the lasagne but it would be a very nice touch for another meal).

Serves 2 (but closer to 3 with us)

Feedie Website

And because when situations like this arise a girl always needs her bubbles ...

Mango Mist Cocktail

1 mango, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp lime juice (I like my lime so I use the juice of half a lime)

Champagne or sparkling white wine

Sliced fruit to serve

Puree the mango and lime juice in a blender until smooth. Divide between 6 champagne flutes and pour over the champagne. Top with the fruit slices.

Serves 6

Again I can't actually remember where this came from, but its more than likely bound to be another Donna Hay recipe.

So now I've had my 'debrief' (apologies for the rant!) and made my comfort food, I'm off to watch Harry Potter and flick through my new recipe magazines.