Happy Holidays! I hope everyone had nice meals, presents and what-not. We did. On Christmas we had Beef Wellingtons — thank you cow, again, you were delicious!, this awesome cauliflower gratin and some braised brussels sprouts. Our snow is almost melted now, which is good as I really need to go to work Monday!

Okay, so the cauliflower recipe is based on one by Bobby Flay, but I changed some stuff. Also, our head of cauliflower was on the small side. Adjust amounts as needed for your amount of cauliflower.

Cauliflower Goat Cheese Gratin
Adapted from Bobby Flay
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 clove garlic, peeled, cut in half
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 green onion, chopped
3 ounces goat cheese, cut into small pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Add the cream to a small pot with the garlic and bring to a simmer. Turn off heat and let the cream infuse and cool for about 15 minutes.

Toss the cauliflower, Monterey Jack, parmesan, green onion and lemon zest in a shallow casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper. Strain the cream over the cauliflower and top with the pieces of goat cheese. Add another grind or two of pepper to the top.

Roast for 20 to 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft and the sauce has thickened slightly and become golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Assorted Christmas Dinner Images — (Beef Wellington recipe here)

Dinner wine, a Christmas gift from jwa’s parents

Beef Wellington with a “pastry bot” on top

Mmmmmmm! Beeeeeeeef!

Pastry bot must be eaten!

So, I was listening to the Splendid Table last Sunday night and the first caller asked about green tomatoes and what to do with them. Great question, I thought, as tomato season here is from, uh, September 20th - October 10th. We have a lot of tomatoes that did not turn red. I wore a fleece hat to work today — I think the tomato season is over. We have a number of Romas and Early Girls (small tomatoes) left clinging to our dying vine.

One of the dishes described was for a pasta with ricotta cheese, diced green tomatoes, lemon zest, garlic and pine nuts. That sounds fabulous but, looking in the cabinet, I spied some lasagna noodles and decided to give that a try. Below isn’t an exact recipe, just an overview of what I did. More fiddling is encouraged. I used a 9 X 9 square pan and about 6 no-boil lasagna noodles. My sauce was a concoction of butter, garlic, mushrooms, onion, flour, vegetable broth, cheese and lemon zest.

Green Tomato & Mushroom Lasagna
green tomatoes
lasagna noodles
butter
flour
mushrooms
dried thyme
onion
garlic
a lemon
parmesan cheese
ricotta cheese (park skim)
mozzarella cheese

Slice your tomatoes into rounds. Then start the sauce. I used 2 tablespoons of butter and sauteed a bunch of mushrooms, 1/2 a diced onion, and 2 cloves of minced garlic for a few minutes. Then added some lemon zest. Then 2 tablespoons of flour (cooked for a minute or two) and added heated vegetable broth. It thickened and I added some parmesan cheese for creaminess (I think goat cheese or cream cheese would work well too). A squirt of lemon juice and about a 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme.

Ladle a little sauce in the pan and put two noodles down. Cover with green tomato slices.

More sauce. Two more noodles. Next, ricotta cheese (a whole tub) that I mixed with some salt, pepper, a garlic clove and a handful of parmesan cheese. Then the last layer of tomatoes.

Last two noodles, the rest of the sauce and slices of mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.

When you take it out you will think, “Oh my god. That looks so good. Thank you, lasagna gods. Thank you!”

For optimal slicing, let it cool for a few minutes first.

What else should I do with our remaining green tomatoes?

***
On a completely unrelated note, if you are in the hospitality business, you should not be a raving lunatic of a woman. Just a thought.

When I made this from The Big Book of Casseroles, I figured it would just be an okay workday lunch and we could use up some salmon we had in the freezer. That is why I didn’t take many pictures of it. But…but…it was good!

The original recipe called for ahi tuna which, personally, didn’t sound that good, but with salmon it was really tasty! I also swapped the papaya in the original for mango.

Oh and jwa liked the casserole too which is always high praise for cheap fish project dishes! Now, I probably wouldn’t use fresh salmon for this but for defrosted frozen salmon it’s perfect — hence the cheap fish (about $7/pound at Trader Joe’s) tag.

FYI, this makes more sauce than you need for the casserole. You can either pass the unused sauce with the cooked casserole or save the extra sauce for a stir-fry or something.

Salmon, Mango and Rice Casserole
2 salmon fillets (about 1 pound total)
2 mangoes, sliced
2 cups cooked brown or white rice
2 cups orange mango juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Asian chili-garlic hot sauce
2 1/2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
Non-stick canola oil cooking spray

Make the sauce first by putting the orange mango juice through the cornstarch in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk until thickened, about 5 minutes. Keep warm.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread rice on the bottom of a baking dish (9 X 13 or 9 X 9) coated with canola oil spray. Arrange salmon over the rice and cover with the mango slices. Pour about half the sauce over the mango slices. Top with the panko breadcrumbs. Spray the top with a little canola oil spray.

Bake, uncovered, until the top is golden and the fish is done, 15 - 20 minutes. Let sit about 5 minutes, then cut and serve. Or pack up to bring for lunch the next day.

Oh and on the wedding front…there’s puppets!

Well, finger puppets anyway…

Now this is one of the ultimate comfort foods, ever. I actually tried to make a chicken pot pie before — maybe 5 years ago — and it was a complete disaster. Flavorless, too much work and just kind of meh. It’s taken me 5 years to want to attempt another one. Wow, am I glad I did! This chicken pot pie is anything but meh…it is awesome!

It’s also a great project for a Saturday or Sunday, it seems like there are a lot of steps, but it goes very quickly. Plus, you can use up lots of vegetables, pretty much add any combination that you have. I subbed frozen lima beans for the peas and added about 4 stalks of cut up (about 1 inch pieces) of asparagus right before I added the flour.

Oh, diced butternut squash would probably be wonderful in this, or maybe even some sweet potato chunks! This is based on a recipe in Gourmet magazine, but that was for a turkey pot pie with a cheddar-biscuit crust, so, really this is much different!

Chicken Pot Pie with a Feta Herb Biscuit Crust
For filling:
1 lb chicken breasts, cut into bit-sized pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tsp chopped thyme
1/2 tsp chopped rosemary
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup frozen baby peas, thawed
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup fat-free milk
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese

For biscuit crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk
1/4 cup mixed chopped herbs (chives, rosemary, thyme, and sage are good, and although it is not an herb, so are green onions)

Add olive oil to large pot and brown chicken over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes until golden. Remove and set aside, leaving any extra oil in pan.

In that pan, add the 3 tablespoons of butter and cook the onion, garlic, carrots, rosemary and thyme with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are almost tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, uncovered, stirring, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes.

Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Stir in wine, broth and milk, scraping up any brown bits, and bring to a boil, stirring, then simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in chicken pieces, peas, Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste. Reheat over low heat just before topping with biscuit crust.

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl. Add cheeses and herbs and toss to coat.

Blend in butter with a pastry blender or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir just until a dough forms.

Drop biscuit dough onto filling in 8 large mounds, leaving spaces between biscuits. If you have extra biscuit dough, drop them down on a cookie sheet and bake alongside the pie, for about 15 minutes.

Bake until biscuits are puffed and golden brown and filling is bubbling, 35 to 40 minutes.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Oh! So good. And besides a wonderful dinner, we will be having tasty lunches this week for sure.

Here’s a holiday side dish that we had on Christmas. It has all the things that make a holiday meal great — fatty, delicious, forbidden pork products, heavy cream and cheese. But, you know, it’ll still work after the holidays. It’s just a bit harder to justify…maybe if you only have a small taste. Yeah.

Parsnip and Hazlenut Gratin with Pancetta
Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appétit
2 oz pancetta, chopped
2 pounds parsnips, peeled, trimmed, thinly sliced lengthwise
1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped, toasted, divided
2 cups whipping cream
1 tsp dried, rubbed sage
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese + 2 more tbsp
2 tbsp minced fresh sage

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Sauté the pancetta in a heavy, medium skillet over medium-high heat until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to large bowl.

Stir in parsnips and 1/4 cup hazelnuts into the bowl with the pancetta. Then, arrange mixture in even layer in 2-quart baking dish. In a small pot, combine the cream, broth, salt, dried sage and pepper and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the 1/4 cup of parmesan and then pour over parsnip mixture in the baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese and a few grinds more of black pepper.

Bake gratin 30 minutes. Press down on parsnips with spatula to moisten evenly. Continue baking until parsnips are tender and liquid bubbles thickly, about 35 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining hazelnuts and sage.

This was seriously good. You must make it. That is all.

***

Public Service Announcement — Because I am Looking Out for You

On a completely, unrelated note, I bought a frozen Lean Cuisine the other day thinking I could bring it for lunch one day when I was desperate and had nothing else. I try to bring leftovers for lunch but occasionally, we have none or I am too lazy to get everything together.

But, today, I got home from running some errands and I was starving. Reluctantly, I grabbed the frozen ravioli bistro fare :: snort:: out of the freezer and popped it on the microwave. Okay, hmmm, I have to admit it, I was pleasantly surprised — it was actually edible.

Lots of good, non-soggy vegetables and the ravioli were well-flavored and I could even taste the walnuts in the sauce. Sure, homemade ravioli will always be better, and yes, most frozen meals generally kind of suck as a rule, but, if you need a cache of lean cuisine for an emergency…well, get this kind. It actually tastes good. Especially since Fred Meyer and other places seem to put the low fat frozen stuff on sale after the holidays. Oh, I have been burned by that deal before (damn you crappy chicken in gross basil sauce that I brought to work for lunch about two years ago*) but, Lean Cuisine butternut squash ravioli, you are okay in my book.

* I hold a grudge.