An Inspired Kitchen

   Apple and Raspberry Galette

Apple and Raspberry Galette sounds so much fancier than a free form Apple and Raspberry pie and it is a lot easier than making a regular pie.  It has a delicious streusel topping that you just crumble over the fruit before you bake.  Just roll a disc of pie dough out, place the fruit in the center and sprinkle with the crumble mixture and bake.  You can cheat and use a good quality premade pie dough that you just roll out for a really quick dessert and make the crumble topping.  If you need a pretty presentation on a platter, I would probably not make this galette.  It has a great rustic look but it is difficult to transfer the galette to a serving platter.  If you are serving individual slices on a plate, this is a delicious dessert to make.  You can use any fruit and combination of fruit in season.  Plums, peaches, berries, apricots, all work well.  You can add cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the streusel topping if you want.  Click here for the recipe….

Beef Stroganoff

This is such a great classic dish and it has just a few ingredients but it has such a wonderful rich, full flavor.  You don’t really hear much about it these days, but I remember it was a fancy dinner entrée for parties or something fancy to serve your boss if they were coming over for dinner when I was growing up (not sure why ~ it’s pretty simple to make!).  You can sauté the meat and mushrooms ahead of time and assemble it at the last minute.  I use sirloin and slice it thin or for a splurge, use beef tenderloin.  Use a variety of wild mushrooms for a deeper mushroom flavor or a combination of wild and cremini mushrooms.  You add sour cream for the last part of cooking and it helps make a nice rich sauce.  Click here for  the recipe….

Peanut Butter Kisses

Who doesn’t love peanut butter kisses?  These cookies are nice and moist and the perfect texture to me and I think the addition of the powdered sugar makes the difference.  It’s best to refrigerate the dough before you roll them in balls and dredge in sugar to get the best shape.  I use a 1 1/2-inch cookie scoop to make a uniform size and add the chocolate kiss as soon as they come out of the oven to make sure the chocolate sticks to the cookie.  You can also add a mini Reece’s peanut butter cup instead of the chocolate kiss to make them even more peanut buttery.  These cookies freeze really well.  Click here for the recipe….

Salmon Wrapped in Prosciutto with Kale, Tomato and Basil Sauce

Wrapping the salmon in prosciutto and sautéing it is a great way to cook salmon in the winter.  I made a quick sauce with baby kale (pre-washed in a bag) and tomatoes and added fresh basil.  I always have Trader Joe’s frozen basil that comes in a plastic container that I can pop into dishes if I don’t have fresh basil on hand.  I made some orzo that I added some Parmesan cheese to at the end to make it rich and creamy.  It’s a great 20 minute dinner and fairly healthy (minus the prosciutto and orzo with Parmesan!).  Oh well!  Click here for the recipe….

Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

I wanted to switch it up from the sausage and vegetable breakfast strata I usually make for Christmas morning and I saw this recipe and adapted it a little.  I don’t usually use pre-made products but this recipe calls for frozen hash browns.  I decided to use the fresh hash browns in the dairy section which still have some preservatives in them, but wanted a quick cheat without having to cook potatoes and then grate them for the recipe (with all that is going on around Christmas!).  The night before, I sautéed some chicken sausage (trying to be healther!), onion and red pepper and added some fresh thyme and refrigerated it.  I cut some bread in cubes and let it sit overnight to get a little stale.  In the morning, I put the sausage layer on the bottom of a casserole dish, quickly sautéed the hash browns and put them over, sprinkled some feta cheese over that and sprinkled the cubed bread over.  I whisked the eggs and milk together and poured it over the top of the casserole, sprinkled cheese over and baked it.  It comes out really nicely browned and puffy with a great crispy bread topping and is a very hearty for breakfast or brunch.  Click here for the recipe….

Baby Greens with Fuji Apples, Scallions, Candied Pecans and Blue Cheese with a Pomegranate Balsamic Vinaigrette

This salad has a lot of wonderful fall flavors and you can use apples or pears and any kind of vinaigrette you like.  You know me and my collection of vinegars, so I love to bring out the pomegranate balsamic vinegar and make a vinaigrette.  The saltiness of the blue cheese is a great pairing with the sweetness of the candied pecans and the tartness of the apples.  I add a touch of honey to the vinaigrette to round out the flavors.  I love that you can buy candied walnuts and pecans and keep them in the pantry for quick additions to salads and desserts.  Click here for the recipe….

Upside Down Ginger Pear Cake

The molasses, ginger, cinnamon and cloves in this Upside Down Ginger Pear Cake make this a great fall dessert.  I made a double recipe because we were having a lot of people over and made it in my 18-inch cast iron skillet, but it usually is made in a 10-inch skillet.  You melt butter and dark brown sugar in the pan and arrange the pears over.  Then you make the batter and pour it over and bake it.  It’s always so precarious and nerve wrecking when you go to flip the cake onto the serving platter, but luckily it came out pretty easily this time!  I love the crispy caramelized bits of cake and pears.  You can serve it with ice cream or whipped cream to really take it over the edge.  Click here for  the recipe….

Stuffed Turkey Breasts

I decided to switch it up this year for Christmas dinner and made turkey.  Instead of a complete repeat of Thanksgiving, I stuffed turkey breasts with pancetta, leek and sage stuffing and roasted them.  My family doesn’t really like dark turkey meat, so I thought I would get all white meat.  When I went looking for fresh turkey breasts they were hard to find and the frozen ones came in a plastic bag that you couldn’t see what you were getting.  Trader Joe’s had turkey tenderloins (which looked like large chicken breasts without skin) and I bought some.  To make the gravy, I bought 3 turkey necks and made a turkey stock the day before and used the stock after I roasted the tenderloins to make the gravy.  I roasted some root vegetables and Brussels sprouts (a family favorite) and made some cranberry sauce.  Stuffed turkey breasts would be good to make if you are craving turkey and don’t want to roast a whole turkey and it isn’t the holidays!  Click here for the recipe….

Minestrone Soup with Cheddar Biscuits

Minestrone soup conjures up so many different kinds of vegetable soup, some with beans, some without, some with pasta and a myriad of vegetables. This soup is chock full of healthy vegetables like onions, carrots, celery, Swiss chard, tomatoes, potatoes and cannellini beans and flavored with fresh rosemary.  You saute’ some pancetta with the onions and add the vegetables and one of the secrets with this soup is that you puree half of the beans and add it as a thickener towards the end which makes it really rich and creamy and gives a lot of body to the soup.  If I were more organized, I would use dried beans and soak them overnight, but I usually just decide to make this soup and use canned beans that I  have on hand.  Cannellini beans are a white bean related to the kidney bean and mainly grown in Italy.  You can also use Great Northern beans.  I freeze any leftover Parmesan cheese rinds and add them to this soup when I make it.  I made some cheddar biscuits to go with the soup and they are easy to make in the food processor and really good and nice and cheesey – especially when the cheese on top gets lightly browned.  I like to make a double batch and freeze some so if I make chili or soup I can bring them out to serve.  Click here for the minestrone recipe….  Click here for the cheddar biscuit recipe….

Lasagna

Lasagna has to be one of my favorite comfort food meals.  I always make a double batch and freeze one because it does take some time to get all the ingredients made, but it is so worth it.  I have tried using the no-boil lasagna noodles and I find them to be too thin and miss the chewy bite of the traditional lasagna noodles. I am also steadfast in my belief that making a creamy bechamel and adding Parmesan Reggiano cheese is the way to go versus using ricotta cheese.  I don’t really like the texture of ricotta and find it kind of dry.  The tomato sauce I use is the same I make for spaghetti and I often like to add some Italian sausage along with the ground beef for a different flavor and love that hint of fennel from the sausage.  I use Parmesan Reggiano cheese in the bechamel sauce and a combination of mozzarella and Parmesan Reggiano to sprinkle on top of the lasagne when it bakes.  It’s imperative to a make sure you brown the cheese on top for that wonderful cheese crust.  Click here for the recipe….