france meets greece

Brown sugar crepes & Greek yogurt with toasted almonds, honey, and dried cherries.

seared scallops with tropical salsa

Salsa ingredients: mango, pineapple, red onion, finely-grated ginger, fresh mint, lime juice, pinch of chili powder.

Scallops seared in a mixture of olive oil & butter.

curry chicken pot pie

Recipe from Mar. 2012 issue of Everyday Food magazine:

Make crust (a standard pie crust):
1-1/4 c flour + 1 tsp sugar + 1/4 tsp salt. Cut 1 stick cold butter into small pieces, and incorporate into the flour mixture, until it's a coarse meal. Add 5 TBSP ice water and form dough into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.

-Preheat oven to 375

-Melt 5 TBSP butter in a large pot over med-hi heat.

-Add 1 onion (diced small) and 1/2 head cauliflower (cut into small florets), and cook until softened, about 8 minutes.

-add 3 cloves diced garlic and 2 TBSP curry powder, and cook for about 30 seconds.

-Add 1/2 cup flour and stir to coat vegetables.

-Slowly add 4 cups chicken stock while stirring. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 7 minutes.

-Stir in 1/4 lb frozen cut green beans and 3 cups shredded cooked chicken. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Pour filling into a 2-quart baking dish.

-Roll out dough to 1/8" thick, and lay on top of the pan. Gather the overhanging edges inward to form a rough crust. Cut a few slits in the dough, to vent.

-Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes, until crust is golden and filling is bubbling around the edges. Let cool 15 minutes before cutting.

simple lasagna

sauce:

1/2 lb ground beef

half an onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

large can of diced tomatoes

8 oz can tomato sauce

handful each of chopped fresh basil & parsley

1 TBSP sugar

salt to taste

ricotta mixture:

1 container ricotta

handful of grated parmesan

about 1 TBSP each chopped fresh basil & parsley

sprinkle of dried oregano

other:

6 no-boil lasagna noodles

2 cups shredded mozzarella

-Heat oven to 350 and get out a 8x8" pan.

-Sauté the onions & garlic in a little bit of olive oil until they soften (but don't fully brown).

-Add ground beef, season with salt, and cook through.

-Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and simmer for about 1/2 hour. Prepare ricotta mixture while you're waiting.

-Lasagna assembly (from bottom to top):

—spread a spoonful of sauce in the bottom of the pan

—2 noodles topped with 1/2 of the ricotta mixture, layer of sauce, and sprinkle of mozzarella

—repeat above

—2 noodles covered with sauce and the rest of the mozzarella

-Cover loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes. 

-Uncover and bake 15 minutes more.

swiss chard lasagna

 I used this recipe, with a few tweaks:

- added sweet italian sausage (3 links, meat removed from the casing and crumbled into the pan. Cooked the sausage through before adding the garlic & chard to the pan.)

-assembled in 3 layers of 2 noodles each, rather than the recipe's 2 layers of 3 noodles (fits an 8x8 pan perfectly)

-incorporated mozzarella into the inner layers, instead of just on top