Ingredient: mushrooms, finely chopped

Blueberry & Brie Turkey Wellington

SEASON’S GREETINGS!

Christmas is undoubtedly one of the most special holidays, from the religious significance of the holiday to the cultural impact it has, the delicious food, the festive music, and the classic movies. Christmas provides a magical atmosphere that fills homes with warmth and joy. It’s a time to celebrate and appreciate the blessings in our lives and to spread love and kindness to those around us.

Today, December 25, is my sister Rita’s birthday and though it has been many years since we could all be together at this time as a family, her birth date brings many precious memories. Nostalgia is a very strange thing. It pops up when you least expect it. Taste, smell, music can take you right back to a moment. I have fond memories of her Christmas Eve family birthday ‘parties’. On the eve of Christmas, our family would go to church. After returning home, we were joined by some family friends to have birthday cake and homemade root beer. My parents wanted my sister to always have this special time to honor her birthday apart from the Christmas festivities.

At the heart of a memorable dinner is the main entree, so why not make it just a bit more special by serving it ‘En Croute’.  In the culinary arts, the term en croute (pronounced ‘on Kroot’) indicates a food that has been wrapped in a pastry dough and then baked in the oven. Traditionally the type of pastry used was a simple dough called pate pastry. Today, puff pastry is frequently used for most en croute recipes.

The key to preparing items en croute is that however long it takes to cook the pastry until it is golden brown is how long the item will spend in the oven. Some of the best choices are beef tenderloin, salmon or brie cheese, due to the fact they require less time to cook.

In the 1950’s and 60’s, Beef Wellington or as the French called it, ‘Boeuf en Croute’, became very popular. It was an elegant meal, using a beef tenderloin covered with liver pate and wrapped in pastry. My first introduction to this meal was a much more low-key version. It was simply achieved by making a nicely seasoned meatloaf, wrapping it in a basic pastry and baking it. My mother would serve it with tomato soup sauce. Definitely good but not quite the elegance of the true en croute entrees.

I’ve come to realize, there are two turkey ‘camps’ for most people. Those who love a roast turkey for the holiday dinner and those who like to part with tradition and have something different.

Now, I’m not actually in either turkey camp. Sometimes I love a juicy roasted turkey with all the complimentary side dishes. And other times, I crave something a little different but also mixed with a bit of tradition.

This savory blueberry & brie turkey wellington is a perfect showpiece for a holiday meal. Warm, melted cheese and crumbly bacon combined with fresh herbs, blueberries, topped with mushroom duxelle and covered in airy puff pastry. Served with blueberry chutney takes this meal to the next level!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RITA!

LOVE TO YOU & RICK .. WISHING YOU HEALTH & HAPPINESS!

SEASONINGS GREETINGS TO EVERYONE WHO ENJOYS & FOLLOWS OUR BLOG

Print Recipe
 Blueberry & Brie Turkey Wellington
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine British
Keyword blueberry & brie turkey wellington
Servings
Ingredients
Stuffing
Turkey & Prosciutto
Mushroom Duxelle
Blueberry Chutney
Course Main Dish
Cuisine British
Keyword blueberry & brie turkey wellington
Servings
Ingredients
Stuffing
Turkey & Prosciutto
Mushroom Duxelle
Blueberry Chutney
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
Stuffing
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
  2. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Add bacon, shallot & garlic; cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Stir in thyme, rosemary, ¼ tsp salt & ¼ tsp pepper. Remove from heat; set aside to cool.
  3. Place the turkey breast on a large cutting board. To butterfly the breast, with a sharp knife, slice into the thickest portion of the breast & cut down the length (the side) of the breast, but not all the way through, about ¾ of the way through. You should be able to unfold the turkey breast like a book.
  4. Place the turkey breast in a large zip lock bag. Using a meat mallet, pound out both sides until they are even in thickness, about ¾-1-inch. Sprinkle turkey with remaining salt & pepper.
  5. Place brie slices on one half of the inside of the turkey breast and the cover with the shallot, thyme mixture, blueberries & bacon. Fold the top over onto the bottom, closing it like a book. Gently transfer the turkey breast to a parchment lined baking sheet.
  6. Place prosciutto slices over the top of the turkey breast. If the prosciutto is thin and tears, that’s ok, just continue to layer the prosciutto over the breast, tucking the prosciutto under the breast as needed.
  7. With either 4 – 5 strands of kitchen twine or wooden toothpicks, tie or ‘pick’ the turkey breast. Don’t tie the breast too tight. Just enough to keep it secure.
  8. Place in the turkey breast in the oven & bake for about 35 minutes. The turkey will be par-cooked & needs to cool for about 10-15 minutes. Once cool enough, cut the twine off (or remove picks) the turkey.
Mushroom Duxelle
  1. While the turkey is cooling, make the mushroom duxelle. In a skillet, add olive oil & cook shallots just until they are soft. Then add the mushrooms & fresh herbs. Let the mushrooms cook until soft & wilted & have released some of their liquid. Stir in the garlic & cook a few minutes longer. Then stir in the breadcrumbs & season with salt & pepper.
Pre-Cooking Turkey
  1. When ready, set the oven temperature to 400 F.
  2. Place one sheet of puff pastry on a flat lightly floured surface. Roll it out a bit lengthwise, about 1-inch. Most puff pastry is about 10×15 inches. I roll the pastry out to about 11×16 or 17. Then do the same with the second piece of puff pastry.
  3. Place one sheet of prepared puff pastry onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Then place the cooled par-cooked turkey breast in the center of the puff pastry. With a sharp knife, cut horizontal slits (about 1 inch apart) on the edge of each side of the pastry dough.
  4. Top the turkey breast with the mushroom duxelle, patting it securely into place. Some of the mushroom mixture will tumble off but just put it back on & continue patting it gently until it sticks. Fold each piece of pastry over the turkey breast in a crisscross manner continuing until the breast is completely covered. Tuck the edges of both sides in & pinch them well. Use any extra bits of pastry to make decorations for the top if you like. I used a small holly leaf cookie cutter to make leaves. Use the egg wash to attach your pastry decorations.
  5. Then brush the remaining egg wash over the puff pastry and sprinkle with a little sea salt if you wish. Place in the oven & cook for 70 minutes. The turkey is done when the pastry is a deep golden brown or meat thermometer reads 165 F. Remove the Wellington from the oven & let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.
Blueberry Chutney
  1. While the turkey is roasting, make the blueberry chutney. In a saucepan, combine all chutney ingredients: mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil for 1 minute.
Serving
  1. To serve, slice the turkey Wellington & place it on a platter. Drizzle with a little blueberry chutney & serve. Serve the extra chutney on the side.
Recipe Notes

NOTE: This recipe has several steps, but it’s worth the effort. The stuffing as well as the mushroom duxelle can be prepared a day in advance and held in the refrigerator. Prepare chutney, cool & refrigerate until ready to use.

Italian Sausage Cannelloni

Although it might seem that cannelloni have been eaten since ancient times, this is a recent custom. You could not find it in any Catalan cookbook until the start of the 20th century. Cannelloni originally came from Italy, brought to Catalonia at the end of the 18th century by foreign chefs working in hotels.

There is a basic difference between Catalan and Italian cannelloni. With Catalan, the meat is cooked first, then ground, whereas the Italians put the ground meat straight into the cannelloni tubes.

Manicotti is the Italian American version of cannelloni. Both are pasta tubes, but the difference between the two is fairly minimal: Manicotti tubes are ridged, larger and slightly thicker. Cannelloni tubes are smooth, a touch smaller and slightly thinner.

Over the years, no-boil (also called oven-ready) cannelloni tubes have become a permanent fixture on supermarket shelves. Much like ‘instant rice’, no-boil pasta is precooked at the factory. The pasta tubes are run through a water bath and then dehydrated mechanically. During baking, the moisture from the sauce softens, or rehydrates, the pasta, especially when the pan is covered as the cannelloni bakes.

This baked pasta can be stuffed with a myriad of fillings that suit any taste, from chicken with asparagus to shrimp and lentils. Whether you make a meat sauce, a mixture of herbs and ricotta cheese, or fish accompanied by a tomato sauce, the filling can be made the day before. In fact, this will make it even tastier. 

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 Italian Sausage Cannelloni
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Italian sausage cannelloni
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Italian sausage cannelloni
Servings
Ingredients
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Filling
  1. In a large skillet over medium heat, add oil, onion & mushrooms. Cook for 5-10 minutes allowing the onion to soften & mushrooms to release their liquid.
  2. Once most of the liquid has dissipated, add sausage crumbling it with a wooden spoon into small pieces as it cooks. Stir & cook all ingredients until the onion is softened & the sausage is no longer pink & is starting to brown. Set aside.
Béchamel Sauce
  1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, paprika & Italian seasoning & stir until well incorporated. Slowly, add milk & whisk together until smooth. Continue whisking until sauce comes to a slow boil & starts to thicken. Stir 1/3 of the sauce into the sausage mixture. (Reserve the other two thirds to pour under & over the cannelloni.) Add 340 gm shredded mozzarella to the sausage & sauce mixture & mix to combine.
Assembly/Baking
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Spread a bit of sauce over the bottom of (2) 13 X 9-inch baking pans. Using a large pastry tube with a star tip, fill (oven ready) cannelloni shells. Nestle the cannelloni in the sauce & cover with remaining sauce.
  3. Top with a combo of 50 gm shredded mozzarella & 25 gm shredded Parmesan. Cover with foil.
  4. Bake for 45 minutes, remove foil & bake another 5 minutes or until cheese starts to turn golden. Remove from oven, let stand 5 minutes then serve.
Recipe Notes
  • As far as the cheese goes in this recipe, use whatever kind you prefer or have on hand. You know it will always be great because 'cheese makes it better' right!
  • This meal freezes well so if it is to big for your family in one setting just freeze the rest for another time.

Stuffed Pork Medallions w/ Cabbage & Apples

Tenderloin has always been one of my favorite ‘go to’ meats. Lean, tender, tastes great, so what more could you ask for?! I’m forever pairing it with another kind of stuffing or roasting it with different glazes or marinades.

Today I wanted to roast it with the classic combo of cabbage and apples. The perfect accompaniment probably because you really don’t need to add much else to the meal to make it taste great.

Cabbage isn’t glamorous. It doesn’t have a fancy name but it is common, versatile and lasts forever in the refrigerator. Even the smallest head yields enough for at least two or three meals.

When cabbage is roasted, a caramelized sweetness comes out, giving it such a nice flavor and especially when paired with apples.

Sometimes, cabbage is avoided because when cooked, the sulfur that it contains multiplies, giving off an unflattering odor. It helps to avoid using aluminum pans when preparing cabbage; aluminum reacts strongly to the sulfur present in the leaves. Stainless pots make a much better choice.

You can neutralize the odor by adding 1 teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice. Certain ingredients will also help absorb the odor. Try adding a bay leaf or a couple of ribs of celery to sautéed cabbage. The sulfur odor will be absorbed without changing the taste of the cabbage. Simply discard the bay leaf or celery before serving.

No doubt about it, the flavor in this meal doesn’t lack for anything.

Print Recipe
 Stuffed Pork Medallions w/ Cabbage & Apples
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine American, German
Keyword stuffed pork medallions w/ cabbage & apples
Servings
Ingredients
Cabbage & Apples
Tenderloin Stuffing
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American, German
Keyword stuffed pork medallions w/ cabbage & apples
Servings
Ingredients
Cabbage & Apples
Tenderloin Stuffing
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Rate this recipe!
Instructions
Tenderloin Stuffing
  1. Cook rice. Place in a bowl & set aside. In a skillet, heat oil & sauté onions until tender crisp. Add garlic & mushrooms & sauté for another 3-4 minutes. Add all herbs & spices; cook another minute than transfer to bowl with rice. Add Panko crumbs & egg, stirring to combine.
  2. Remove silver skin from tenderloins. Cut a slit all the way down the long end of your tenderloin, making sure not to cut all the way through. Open the tenderloins like a book, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap & pound with a meat mallet until they are about 1/2-inch thickness.
  3. Divide filling mixture between the two tenderloins & spread evenly over the surface of the tenderloins, leaving 1/2-inch at the borders. Roll tightly starting with the long end & secure the ends with toothpicks. Season all over with salt & pepper.
  4. Preheat oven to 400 F. Heat a large oven proof skillet with 2 Tbsp oil. Once oil is hot, place tenderloins in the skillet & sear about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the skillet with the tenderloins to the oven & bake for about 18-20 minutes or until thermometer reads 145-150 F. in the thickest portion of the meat. Transfer to a cutting board, brush with pan drippings. Cover loosely with foil & allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Cabbage & Apples
  1. While tenderloin is roasting, prepare cabbage/apple mixture. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook onion in butter until soft & translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add garlic & continue cooking just until fragrant, 1 minute more.
  2. Add the cabbage & continue cooking until wilted, 6-8 minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Continue cooking until cabbage begins to caramelize, 4-5 minutes longer.
  3. Add the cubed apple, cider, mustard & brown sugar; carefully combine. Cover & cook until any liquid has evaporated & apples are soft. Place on a serving platter. Top with sliced tenderloin medallions & serve. If you wish, you could also serve the tenderloin with some mashed potatoes & oven roasted carrots.

Stuffed Acorn Squash w/ Turkey & Rice

Squash is one of those quintessential autumn foods that we have come to recognize. Even though it is considered a winter squash, acorn squash belongs to the same species as all summer squashes including zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. The main difference between the classifications is that summer squashes have soft skins and tender seeds and are fairly perishable, while the winter types have hard shells, fully formed seeds and are very suited to long storage.

For all their many splendored shapes and colors, squash is not something most of us crave, although they are an integral part of the cuisine in scattered points of the globe, such as South and Central America, the West Indies, India and Japan.

The acorn squash is similar in flavor to the butternut squash yet has a bit of a nutty taste to it as well. Resembling its name in shape, the acorn squash usually weigh between 1-2 pounds and generally grow between four and seven inches long.

Roasting them partially before stuffing makes the squash a lot more tender and easier to eat. I am always aware of the concept of ‘seasonal eating’. I was born in September, so I figure its totally natural to love fall food (& colors) such as squash, pumpkin, apples and cranberries.

The large cavity of acorn squash just begs to be filled. In this recipe, seasoned ground turkey and smoked Gouda cheese join forces in the savory stuffing. One squash the size of a grapefruit or a little larger is usually enough for two people.

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 Stuffed Acorn Squash w/ Turkey & Rice
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine American, European
Keyword stuffed acorn squash
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American, European
Keyword stuffed acorn squash
Servings
Ingredients
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray the fleshy part of the seeded, acorn squash & place halves on a baking sheet, cut side down. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until flesh is slightly tender. Cook rice & grate cheese, set aside
  2. In a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp of oil. Sauté garlic & shallots for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, cumin & thyme & sauté another 3 minutes. Remove veggies from pan & set aside in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Add the remaining Tbsp of oil to skillet & brown the ground turkey for about 5 minutes or until no longer pink. Drain if necessary & add to mixing bowl along with cooked rice. Stir to combine well.
  4. Using a spoon, take equal portions of the filling & place into the cavity of each acorn squash half. Place the baking tray back into the 400 F oven & bake for 20 minutes.
  5. Top each acorn squash half with sprinkles of the shredded cheese. Place back in the oven & bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.
  6. When ready to serve, garnish with sliced green onion.
Recipe Notes
  • To make it easier, microwave the acorn squash for a few minutes, just to soften a bit before attempting to slice in half.