Vegetable Bone Pocket

Welcome to the boneyard!! These vegetable pockets are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, standing on your head, dancing in the halls…whatever your heart desires. What is even better about these is that they are super easy to put together, a great last minute Halloween party item. To make it even easier we used premade pizza dough as the crust, and there is nothing wrong with that! Sometimes you just need a little cheat to make things go easier.

Enjoy your meal, bonedaddy!

Ingredients: depending on size makes about 5-6

4 Pillsbury pizza doughs (it is super easy, and can just roll right out)
3 large leaves kale
1 medium leek
1 /2 cup shredded Brussel sprouts
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 cups cubed pepper jack cheese
Pinch of flour

Start by chopping up all of your vegetables. Heat oil in a sauté pan on medium high heat, and place vegetables in. Sprinkle salt on top, and sauté until slightly cooked, about 6 minutes.

Next preheat oven to 425. While preheating start rolling out your dough on a lightly floured surface, roll out one at a time so it doesn’t get cray in your work area. Once you roll out the dough, cut shapes of bones that are about 8 inches long, and 3 inches wide. Place vegetable mix on the dough, making sure that you don’t get too much towards the edges of your bone shape because the oil will make it tough to close all the way. Top with cheese and place another bone cut out on top.

Once you have filled all of your bones, use a fork to pinch the sides down to close all the way.

Place in oven and cook for 14 minutes, or until golden brown, turning half way through!

Enjoy!

 

Fall Vegetable Creamy Polenta!

Happy Fall!!!! Now if only it would cool down in Los Angeles so that I would know it is Fall, in the mean time I will just sit under the AC and have a fan blasting in my face.

For our first fall dish of 2015 we have made creamy polenta topped with fall vegetables and a balsamic reduction. I love the fall because some of my favorite vegetables are at their best, such as mushrooms, squashes, Brussel sprouts, and so many others. Enjoy

Ingredients: * To make completely vegetarian use vegetable stock. **Serves 2-4 based on if it is an entrée of side.

Kosher salt
Olive oil
Package already cooked polenta (because why not)
¼ cup cream
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1 cup Brussel sprouts
6 mini Portobello mushrooms or 2 large ones
½ butternut squash
2 medium leeks
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey

What is great about this dish is that you can make all of the components at the same time pretty much, which is lovely. Or you can make all the vegetables ahead of time, mix them together, and reheat them before plating.

Start by preheating oven to 400 degrees and prepping all of your vegetables, listed below is how to properly prepare them:

Leeks:
Cut the end with roots off, and where the leek turns from white to green. Slice the leeks in half length wise. Run the leeks under water, making sure to get any bugs or dirt out. Chop leeks into small half circles by laying the cut side down.

Butternut Squash:
 Cut in half lengthwise. This can be challenging the bigger the squash, so I insert knife on the thin side, cut through the stem and it should make it easier to wiggle the knife around. Since we are only using half, you can wrap up and store one half. Peel the squash with a strong peeler until the squash goes from white to dark orange. Remove seeds with a spoon, and using a sharp knife, cube the squash. Toss with two tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Brussel sprouts:
Trim the ends off and peel outer layer of leaves. Cut into quarters, and rigorously rinse under water to remove any dirt or bugs. Toss with two tablespoons and a pinch of salt.

Mushrooms:
Run the mushrooms under4 water and rub the inside and outside with your thumb to remove all dirt. Slice thin using a very sharp knife.

Now we can prepare everything. Place Brussel sprouts and butternut squash on separate sheet trays and in over. Set timer for 40 minutes, and flip tray halfway through. This is a good time to make your balsamic reduction. In a small sauce pan bring your balsamic to a boil, and then add honey. Turn the heat down to a small simmer and let simmer until you reached desired thickness. The reduction will thicken quite a bit while cooling so keep that in mind. I did mine about 7 minutes. Set aside when done.

At the 20 minute mark you can start putting everything else together. Heat up one tablespoon of oil on medium high in a large non-stick pan and place leeks in. Let soften, about 2-3 minutes, and pour in a ¼ cup of chicken stock. Let cook on low-medium heat until caramelized, about 15 minutes. While that is going, place one tablespoon of oil in a different non-stick, place mushrooms in. Cook until completely softened, about 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

Once you start all of your vegetables, or after everything is done it is time to start the polenta. Cube your polenta and place in sauce pan on medium high heat. Add ½ cup of chicken stock, and mash up using a masher. Try to mash it up as much as possible. Add cream and cheese and stir until the polenta has absorbed all the liquid and all the cheese is melted.

Time to plate! Put down your polenta, pile your vegetables on, and using a spoon drizzle your reduction!

This dish is so delicious as a side or even your entrée!

 

 

Christmas Eve Lamb Leek Mushroom Lasagna!

Christmas Eve at my house is left to last minute gift wrapping, dogs eating bottom branches of the tree, running out to CVS at midnight, and on the less stressful note watch a classic Christmas film and eat some delicious food. Traditionally in Italy one only eats fish because we are technically “fasting”….but since eating 7 courses of fish isn’t technically fasting, I will neither be fasting nor eating only fish. So Michael and I have prepared a festive Christmas Eve lasagna filled with tomato sauce, ground lamb, leeks, mushroom, and delicious ricotta cheese.

Enjoy this lasagna with your loved ones, maybe around the fire place and next to the tree!

God Jul!
Joyeux Noel!
Buon Natale!
Mele Kalikimaka!

Ingredients: use a 9”x13” baking tray

1 box oven bake ready lasagna pasta sheets
5 cups diced tomato in their juice
8 oz. tomato paste
3 cups sliced button tomatoes
2 lbs. ground lamb
2 medium leeks
4 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
¾ teaspoon salt
1 lb. ricotta
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and get all of your mise en place set up. Start by chopping the leeks. To do this cut the root off, then cut where the light green starts to turn dark. Cut the leek in half lengthwise and take one layer off. Holding the halves intact, run them under water to get all of the dirt out. Now placing the cut side down, thinly slice the leeks into half-moon pieces. Next pull the stems out of your mushrooms, rinse, and slice into ¼ inch slices. Lastly dice up as finely as possible all of your garlic.

In a large sauce pan heat your olive oil. Once the olive oil gets to a searing temperature, put all of your ground lamb into the pan and cook all the way through, about 7 mins, stirring with a wooden spoon. Now take your meat out of the pan and drain all the fat through a colander, and place the meat back in the pan. Add leeks, cook about 5 minutes, next add garlic. Once the garlic starts to brown a bit add all of your tomato paste and stir, cook for one minute. Add tomatoes and their juices along with salt, and lower the heat to medium and let cook for about 25 minutes.

Mix ricotta and all but a ¼ cup of mozzarella together in a small mixing bowl.

Once your meat mix is done cooking, and your cheese is mixed, begin your assembly of the lasagna. Start by laying some meat sauce down, then cheese, then evenly lay out the raw mushroom. Top with pasta sheets. Repeat with meat, cheese, mushrooms, pasta two more times. Once you are done layering your ingredients take the last ¼ cup of mozzarella and sprinkle over the top layer.

You are now ready to cook. Cover the lasagna with a sheet of aluminum foil and place in oven and cook for 50 minutes. After the 50 minutes are up, remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes to allow the cheese to create a nice brown crust!

Your wonderful lasagna is ready to be eaten! Merry Christmas!