Sasha's Kitchen: Star Wars Themed Cupcake Series

It was nice for a new cupcake series. I'm not really a big Star Wars or Science Fiction fan, but I have certainly seen the classic movies, and thought they would translate well into a good series of cupcakes, made using fondant from New York Cake. Rather than buy a bunch of different colors of fondant, I bought plain white fondant, and used gel food coloring to make different colors of fondant. I didn't do all the characters, but I did the important ones and/or the ones I thought I could pull off: Princess Leia, Yoda, Jabba the Hut, Strormtrooper, Darth Vader, C3PO and R2D2. The cupcakes are just plain vanilla cupcakes that I made using the recipe from Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcakes. I frosted them with yellow/gold icing and added the fondant creations atop. Here are some pictures below:

Sasha's Kitchen: Star Wars Themed Cupcake Series

Sasha's Kitchen: Signature Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni & cheese is one of the best all time comfort foods. Its not one of the most healthy pasta dishes out there. In the next week or two, I will be sharing two recent lowfat, healthy pasta dishes. This is not one of them, but oh is it amazing to eat every once and a while. Although not traditional, I made it for Thanksgiving, and it made for a perfect side dish to the maple glazed turkey.  You can make it a little bit healthier, if you use lowfat cheese, I guess. But I personally recommend making it as a side dish for a large group and just indulging once a year or so.

Sasha's Mac & Cheese
1 box elbow macaroni
2 T butter, melted
1/3 cup flour
3 cups skim milk
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
8 oz pepper jack cheese, grated
3 oz cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup Japanese-style panko bread crumbs
2 diced tomatoes
2 tsp ancho chile powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
salt and pepper to taste

First, cook the macaroni. Combine the flour and skim milk in a pot and cook over medium heat until it thickens, for about 10 minutes. Sir in the grated cheeses and spices. Once the cheeses are melted and combined, remove from the heat. Mix in the diced tomatoes and panko. Combine this mixture with the pasta. Top with additional panko and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until the top is crunchy. This was a big hit among the side dishes at our Thanksgiving table - it was a terrific last minute addition to the Thanksgiving menu that everyone really enjoyed.

Sasha's Kitchen: Signature Macaroni & Cheese

Sasha's Kitchen: Indian-Spiced Hanukkah Potato Latkes

Tonight is the second night of Hanukkah, the eight day long Jewish festival of lights. Traditionally, Jews make potato latkes - basically fried grated potatoes to celebrate Hanukkah. While traditional latkes are fun, I like to make my potato pancakes for the holiday with a bit of a twist. Last year I made these sweet potato chipotle latkes with Swedish lingonberries, which are still my favorite. We made those for Thanksgiving as the sweet potato side dish and they were amazing, as usual. Click here for the recipe.

This year for Hanukkah, however, I decided to do my latkes with an Indian spice variation, inspired by Floyd Cardoz's recipe from Tabla. Sadly, Tabla is closing its doors soon after a great run in New York, but its recipes live on. Anyhow, based on their recipe, I loosely crafted my own using my favorite Indian spices. You can find my inspiration recipe here. My changes - I prefer it with a couple eggs, added the cumin and left out the chat masala.

Both of these recipes are reasonably healthy if you fry them in Canola Oil, as I did - or at least a lot healthier than they would otherwise be! Happy Hanukkah!

Sasha's Indian Inspired Potato Latkes
4 large Idaho potatoes
2 eggs
2 Macintosh Apples
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 cup diced fresh cilantro
2 T grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
pepper to taste
1/2 of a diced jalapeno pepper (optional- I left it out this time)
Canola oil for frying

First, grate the potatoes. Then, peel and grate the apples and mix in the grated apple mush with the potatoes.  Mix in the grated ginger, cumin, coriander, eggs, and diced cilantro. Stir in the blue cheese crumble, and the diced jalapeno if you choose to add it. Allow the canola oil (about 1/3 of a cup to start) to heat up in the pan and then fry the latkes in the oil on both sides until done, cooked through and browned.

How should you serve these? The best way would probably be with an Indian chutney, maybe slightly on the spicy side. I didn't feel like making chutney tonight, so I used some Fig-Pear jam from Hurd Orchards, with a little bit of sour cream, which was also a delicious combination. Yum! The spices were great with the potatoes and a bit of apple - it really jazzed up a holiday tradition.

Sasha's Kitchen: Indian-Spiced Hanukkah Potato Latkes

Sasha's Kitchen: Pumpkin Panna Cotta with Gingerbread Crust

I first made panna cotta for Thanksgiving last year, but it was just a plain panna cotta with a gingerbread/walnut crust. This year, I decided to instead go with a lovely pale orange pumpkin flavored panna cotta with a gingerbread/almond crust. This was a bit hit with the family at the Thanksgiving dinner that Brad and I hosted at our place with some of the people we are most thankful to have as part of our lives. This is quite easy to make. Other than baking the crust, it is no bake, and firms up fairly quickly in the refrigerator.  I am a huge fan of pumpkin anything this year, and so incorporating pumpkin into a dessert was a no-brainer. I had considered doing a pumpkin cheesecake (which I may do soon, regardless) but this is much healthier, but still showcases fall's favorite vegetable, the pumpkin.

Sasha's Pumpkin Panna Cotta With Almond-Gingerbread Crust
Crust
20 gingersnap cookies
2/3 cup almond slivers
1 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 T butter, melted
Filling
1 packed unflavored powdered gelatin
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 T honey
1 1/2 cups 2% Greek yogurt
1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 T water

Preheat the oven to 325. In a food processor, separately puree the almonds and cookies. Combine in the food processor with the brown sugar and salt. Mix in the melted butter until the mixture has a wet but sandy texture. Press crumbs into the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate that has been sprayed with PAM or Canola oil. Bake until golden brown for about 25 minutes and allow to cool.

To make the filling, place the water in a bowl with the contents of the gelatin packed and let stand for five minutes. In a small saucepan, add the cream, honey and salt and bring to a simmer. Add the gelatin and stir until dissolved. In a large bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, vanilla and pumpkin puree. Add the hot cream mixture to the bowl, and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture into the crust/pie plate. Allow to chill in the refrigerator, covered, for at least two hours.

Sasha's Kitchen: Pumpkin Panna Cotta with Gingerbread Crust

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Pudding Bars from the New Baked Cookbook

My parents came to our house for Thanksgiving and my mom brought me the new baking cookbook, Baked, from the famous Brooklyn Bakery, Baked. The book looks to have so many great recipes, that I decided to make a couple as part of our Thanksgiving dinner. These were a delicious indulgence - perhaps not something you should be eating every day, but so decedent and perfect for a holiday meal, especially if you love chocolate pudding like I do. This recipe, termed "Aunt Sabra's Pudding Bars" in the Baked cookbook was enjoyed by our dinner guests over Thanksgiving. The graham crust was the perfect combination. I made a few minor modifications from the original recipe, which are noted in the adaption below (I used a bit less butter in the crust and it worked out just fine, and substituted rum for whiskey).

Baked's Aunt Sabra King's Pudding Bars (makes 24 bars)
Graham Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 T dark brown sugar
8 T (one stick) of melted butter (you could probably use even less and still get a good result)
Chocolate Pudding Filling
4 oz dark chocolate
3 T cornstarch
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 T rum or whiskey

As the book suggests, you can serve with powdered chocolate or whipped cream, but we served ours plain. To make the crust, combine the brown sugar, melted butter and graham cracker crumbs. Press into a 9x13 inch, or appropriate sized prepared pan, to form the crust. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and then bake at 325 for 10 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool while making the filling.

In a large, heatproof bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar. Add the egg yolks and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and whisk again. In a saucepan, whisk together the remaining sugar, milk and cream. Bring just to a boil. Add the egg mixture, whisking constantly, adding the egg mixture one third at a time. Bring mixture back to a boil over medium heat, and boil for two to three minutes until the pudding is very thick.  Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and stir until combined into a chocolate pudding. Allow the pudding to cool for 20 minutes, before pouring over the graham crust, spreading evenly with a spatula. Refrigerate for at least four hours before cutting and eating the bars.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Pudding Bars from the New Baked Cookbook

Sasha's Kitchen: Maple Glazed Thanksgiving Turkey with Oranges, Paired with Wagner Vineyards Riesling

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. This year, my family came in from Rochester for Thanksgiving and Brad and I hosted, which meant quite a bit of holiday cooking. It was such a nice meal, and everything turned out great, just the way I had hoped. There is so much to be thankful for - my family, my wonderful husband, our health and all the things we have. Sometimes it is so easy to just think about the things we want and don't have more often, but there has to be a balance between the two. At any rate, this year, we made quite a few recipes for Thanksgiving - some new recipes and some old favorites. I look forward to sharing them here over the next week or so.

For the turkey, I decided to do an orange-maple flavored turkey, which seemed perfect for the season. Of course, and not surprisingly, they key to an amazing turkey, the centerpiece of Thanksgiving, is the quality of the bird you start with. Our turkey was a free-range, organic turkey from Plainville Farms, which might just be the best turkey I have ever had. When cooked properly, it is succulent, juicy and just perfect. You can order these delicious, organic turkeys from Fresh Direct.

We paired the Turkey with Wagner Vineyards' semi dry Riesling, a light, refreshing citrus infused wine, that was more citrus than sweet and an excellent table wine. We also noticed hints of pear and peach.

Sasha's Orange-Maple Roast Turkey
1 12-14 lb organic turkey
sea salt and pepper
paprika
two oranges
1 onion
fresh thyme
fresh oregano
1 stalk of celery
bay leaf
fresh tarragon
6 T of butter
1 cup of orange juice
1/3 cup of Vermont maple syrup
1 T of fresh grated ginger

Gravy
2/3 cup Riesling (I used Wagner Vineyards' Semi Dry Riesling, which I received in a generous shipment several months ago with several bottles of their other wonderful wines)
3 cups of turkey stock
3 T flour
1 T canola oil
1 T butter

Heat the oven to 425 and wash the turkey inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and empty the body cavity. Keep the various turkey parts from the body cavity, and put in a pot to make the turkey stock. Add three cups of water, a stalk of celery, a dice onion, a couple carrots and some herbs to the stock solution (tarragon, thyme, a bay leaf and oregano). Bring the pot to a boil and allow to simmer for about two hours on low until you can strain the vegetables and turkey parts and keep the stock.

In the meantime, fill the cavity of the turkey with the two oranges, chopped celery, quartered onion, and fresh bay leaf, thyme, oregano and tarragon. This should be bulging out of the turkey cavity. Generously season the bird with sea salt (which is much healthier than regular salt) and pepper. Rub the turkey with paprika as well, to season. Set the bird in a roasting pan. Cover with a double layer of cheesecloth. Melt two tablespoons of butter and combine with 1/3 of a cup of orange juice. If you prefer, you can based with canola oil instead, but I recommend butter. Use the butter/orange juice solution to baste the turkey with a baster.  You can add a bit of water to the bottom of the roasting pan after you baste the turkey. Roast for 30 minutes. Then, take the turkey out and rebaste with another 2 T of melted butter combined with 1/3 cup of orange juice.  Lower the heat to 350, and loosely cover with a piece of aluminum foil. Roast for thirty minutes more and rebaste. Continue roasting at 350 for approximately three hours, basing periodically (about twice) during the interim. The turkey should be done after about three hours, when a mean thermometer registers 170 degrees in the breast and 180 degrees in the leg.

Heat 1 T of grated ginger in a pot with the maple syrup over medium heat until combined.  Glaze the turkey with this solution using a pastry brush, and allow to sit for about 20 minutes until you carve the turkey.

To make the gravy, combine the flour with a tablespoon of canola oil. Add to the three cups of turkey stock that you prepared and heat for about five minutes over medium heat. Add the Riesling and cook until reduced by half, and longer until the gravy thickens. Season with a bit of pepper.

Carve the turkey using an electric knife, and serve with the gravy and plenty of delicious side dishes (recipes soon!). Yum!

Sasha's Kitchen: Maple Glazed Thanksgiving Turkey with Oranges, Paired with Wagner Vineyards Riesling

Sasha's Kitchen: Pretty in Pink Chocolate Cupcakes

Over the weekend, I wanted to make some cupcakes that were girlish and carefree and . . . very, very pink. I made these basic, but delicious chocolate cupcakes with a bright pink frosting, using gel based food coloring to get the vibrant color (since I discovered gel food colorings, their use has totally replaced the conventional grocery store four color box that I had used since I was a kid). I used some pink icing to make flowers and hearts on the surface of the cupcakes after piping the frosting professionally using a frosting bag. I would have fashioned the flowers and hearts out of fondant, like I have sometimes in the past, but I was out of fondant at the moment. I wanted to make something that could be readily eaten without picking off the fondant, as I am not crazy about the taste of fondant. With respect to the gel food colors, New York Cake is the best place to buy them, as well as just about anything else you could ever want for baking.

Chocolate Cupcakes With Pink Buttercream (makes 10-12 cupcakes)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

For the Frosting
1 stick of butter, room temperature
3 cups of confectioner's sugar
4 oz cream lowfat cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
several drops of fuchsia gel based food coloring

You don't need a stand mixer for the cupcakes, but I advise using one for the frosting. For the cupcakes, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, vanilla and egg. Slowly add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the sugar/egg mixture, alternating and stirring until combined completely. Fill your silicon cupcake molds 3/4 full. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 for 25 minutes, using a toothpick to check for when the cupcakes are done.

To make the frosting, beat the butter and sugar for several minutes on high in a stand mixer until it forms a frosting - you really can't beat too long or too high, as it just acquires a nicer, smother texture. Beat in the food coloring, vanilla and cream cheese. Pipe on the cupcakes using a frosting bag.

Sasha's Kitchen: Pretty in Pink Chocolate Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Butternut Squash-Apple Soup & My Thanksgiving Menu

Ah butternut squash, how I love you. And acorn squash, spaghetti squash and just about every other kind of squash. This is the season for every kind of squash creation that you can imagine. One of my favorite ways to eat a half acorn squash directly, with brown sugar and butter. But, I also love it in soup. I made plenty of pumpkin soups recently, so it was totally time for some squash soup. I love apples combined with other fruits and vegetables in soup, as long as you use the right kind of apples to make sure its not overly sweet.

Sasha's Butternut Squash-Apple Soup
2 1/2 lbs of butternut squash
2 Cortland Apples
Olive oil
1 quart of low sodium chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
cinnamon to taste
cayenne pepper to taste (not enough to add heat, but enough to make sure the dish is not bland)
pepper to taste
pinch of nutmeg
dollop of creme fraiche (for serving)

First heat the oven to 400. Broil the squash for about an hour and a half until it is cooked. Then scrape out the squash (or use pre-cut butternut squash) and mash with a fork (or puree in a blender). Meanwhile, saute the apples (peeled and chopped) in the olive oil and add to the squash puree. Blend with the chicken stock in a blender. Place in a pot and over medium heat add in the heavy cream (just a small amount and you can add less if you prefer, or even leave it out if you want to avoid the extra fat from the cream). Season with cayenne, cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg to taste.  Serve with a small dollop of creme fraiche.

This tasted great, was surprisingly simple, and made for a perfect classic fall dish!

Did I mention that I am making Thanksgiving Dinner this year for our family? Here's what I plan to have on my menu, and I will share the results with you after Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin-Cashew Soup
Turkey with an Orange-Maple Glaze
My cranberry, apple, pecan, turkey sausage stuffing
Green beans with pecans and shallots
Personal acorn squash with brown sugar
My Sweet potato chipotle pancakes with lingonberries (I plan to repost this from last year with better photos)
Chocolate pudding bars (from my new baking cookbook, Baked)
An amazing recipe I found online for gingerbread ice cream made with Belgian trappist beer
My Pumpkin Creme Brulee (because you don't get to use a mini blow torch for pumpkin pie)
My pumpkin gingerbread panna cotta
Wagner Vineyards Riesling
Non-Alcoholic Frozen Harry Potter Butterbeer (adapted by me from the original recipe)

Sasha's Kitchen: Butternut Squash-Apple Soup & My Thanksgiving Menu

Sasha's Kitchen: Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

I never ate much ice cream before I lived in Brooklyn. I live very close to Brooklyn's famous Blue Marble Ice Cream, which is probably the best ice cream I have ever had. They have different flavors each day, both traditional and offbeat, as well as seasonal flavors, and even some sorbets. All of the ice cream is organic - made with local New York State dairy products. The pumpkin ice cream, their newest fall flavor, is amazing - simply put. So What on earth would possess this inspired, but busy chef to make her own pumpkin ice cream when Blue Marble is right around the corner? I guess I have that urge to create and making ice cream is fun (and simple). Plus, I wanted to see if mine could be good - although I knew it wouldn't be as good or better. But it's worth trying.

I got a new Deni ice cream maker as part of a promotion from CSN Stores, so I was eager to try it out. This first recipe is seasonal and delicious, but fairly simple. My next flavor, which will be a dessert at our house for the family Thanksgiving Dinner that Brad and I are hosting is going to be a recipe I found for gingerbread ice cream made with Trappist Ale and various spices. Yum! I was impressed with the ice cream maker - it worked well, though I did have some difficulty attaching the top, which may something that I can figure out with a bit more effort. It was certainly an improvement over my 20-year old manual Doniver ice cream maker.  This one churns automatically, which is a nice upgrade.

Sasha's Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

1 1/4 cups organic pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

5 egg yolks

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp salt

pinch of nutmeg

Combine the pumpkin and the vanilla in a bowl. In a saucepan, heat the brown sugar and 1 cup of the cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar over medium heat for about five minutes until it bubbles a bit on the sides. In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining heavy cream, egg yolks, spices and pumpkin mixture. Add this mix to the saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until it forms a custard. Chill for at least 5 hours. Then prepare the ice cream following the manufacturer's instructions for your ice cream maker.

This was really good! But it wasn't as good as Blue Marble. Other than not being an ice cream professional, I think the difference is the heavy cream that I used, Farmland, which has 1 gram of sugar. I have decided to use organic Ronnybrook whole milk and organic Ronnybrook heavy cream in my next ice cream making experiment for Thanksgiving (the gingerbread ice cream with the beer) and see if I get just a little bit closer to Blue Marble perfection. It was still really good though and quite beautiful to look at with a great orange color and wonderful spiced pumpkin flavor. Check out the video of the ice cream maker doing its thing, below.

Sasha's Kitchen: Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

Jenn's Kitchen in NJ: Gram's Lasagna Recipe

This is my recipe for lasagna, a great meal for when the weather is cold or you need some comfort food. It is based on my grandmother Edna's recipe which, like her sticky buns, people rave about once they have tried it! The surprise ingredient is cottage cheese. I'm not really sure why Gram includes it but I do think it help prevent the lasagna from becoming too dry. One modification that I made was switching from the "old-fashioned" lasagna noodles - which have to be boiled and cooled before layering - to no-boil lasagna noodles which you can simply layer uncooked and they'll cook in the oven! It saves a lot of time and effort. The prep time is about 30 minutes (plus 1 hour in the oven) and a disposable aluminum pan saves on clean-up. If you have the room, it's not too much additional effort to make 2 pans and freeze one. While fresh-from-the-oven lasagna tastes the best, leftovers or from the freezer taste almost as wonderful :) I usually serve with garlic bread and a salad, though this time Eric made broccolini and it went very well together.

Ingredients (per 1 deep pan - which serves about 12):
~1.3 pounds hamburger
One 9 oz. box Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles
24 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese (3 bags)
1 large container (~1 lb.) cottage cheese (small curd)
1 large container (~2 lb.) ricotta cheese
2-3 jars (48 oz.) spaghetti sauce (better to have an extra one on hand - you don't want your lasagna to dry out and the noodles not cook enough while in the oven)
Generous amounts of seasonings: onion, garlic, oregano, basil, black pepper, etc.

Procedure:
1. Brown hamburger with onion, garlic, seasonings
2. Add this to spaghetti sauce in large pot on stove, add more seasonings to taste
3. After sauce is heated, use half of it to cover the bottom of the baking pan
4. Layer half of the noodles on top of the sauce
5. Spread cottage cheese on top of the noodles
6. Spread ricotta on top of the cottage cheese
7. Add 1 bag of mozzarella on top of the other cheeses
8. Layer the rest of the noodles on top of the cheeses
9. Add rest of the sauce on top of the noodles
10. Spread rest of the mozzarella on the very top
(If you have extra ingredients - usually cheese - you can keep layering)

Can now either freeze or bake (350 F for 1 hour for entire pan)

Jenn's Kitchen in NJ: Gram's Lasagna Recipe

Sasha's Kitchen: Wasabi-Crusted Tuna with Orange-Ginger Sauce

I have been meaning to try encrusting fish with wasabi powder for some time, since I have tried some delicious wasabi crusted fish at restaurants. I was originally considering using salmon, but I realized that the asian flair would work better with tuna (in my opinion anyhow). I decided to encrust the fish with a mixture of wasabi and Japanese style panko bread crumbs, which are the best kind of bread crumbs to use for just about anything. I paired the tuna with a carrot-ginger sauce, to which i also added a pinch of wasabi powder for a bit more intense flavor. This was a really rewarding meal - not that difficult to make, but a really spectacular culinary result that makes it sound much more involved than it actually was. I love the way the various Asian and American influences jive with the tuna in this dish. It was a great combination of flavors!

Sasha's Wasabi Crusted Tuna with Orange Ginger Sauce & Paprika Potatoes

For the Tuna:

2 medium-sized tuna steaks (I used blue fin tuna)

1 T rice vinegar1 T wasabi powder
Panko breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp soy sauce
1 T water
1/2 T diced garlic

For the Sauce:
3 minced shallots
1 T minced ginger
2 T orange zest
1 cup dry white wine (cooking wine is fine)
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
pinch of wasabi powder

For the Potatoes
New potatoes
sugar snap peas
2 T of paprika
1/4 cup orange juice

To prepare this dish, combine all of the ingredients for the fish marinade except for the panko and mix well. Coat the tuna steaks with this mixture, before dredging them on all sides so they are covered with the panko. Cook on a grill pan with some canola oil on both sides until they are cooked the way you like it (personally, I prefer mine to be medium), which depends on the thickness of the tuna steaks.


To make the sauce, combine the shallots, ginger and orange zest with a bit of olive or canola oil and cook until the shallots are soft over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the white wine and cook for about 5 minutes, allowing the wine to reduce (the alcohol will burn away). Add the orange juice and heavy cream and cook on low to medium heat, simmering, until the sauce is reduced and has thickened a bit (this isn't an incredibly thick sauce, as I did not want to use butter or cornstarch). When the sauce is done, add the sesame oil, soy sauce and wasabi to taste. The sesame oil is key - it adds another wonderful Asian flavor to this dish.

To make the potatoes, cut up some new potatoes and add to a pot with the sugar snap peas. Cook in some canola oil with plenty of paprika and a bit of orange juice until the potatoes are done - which could take about 25 minutes.

Sasha's Kitchen: Wasabi-Crusted Tuna with Orange-Ginger Sauce

Sasha's Kitchen: Fall Apple Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

I love apples in the fall, and Honeycrisp - the crispest, tart apples out there, are my favorite variety. This salad is quite simple and really nothing more than throwing together a few of my favorite fall ingredients.  My favorite apple salad is still this one with the caramelized apples and spicy orange or tangerine vinaigrette, but this salad is much easier to make in a pinch. 

I have a bunch of exciting recipes on tap for this weekend and next week, including a new tuna dish, several new squash recipes, new cupcakes, and pumpkin ice cream using my new ice cream maker. So stay tuned!

Sasha's Fall Apple Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

Mixed organic greens

2 Honeycrisp apples, peeled and diced

Crumbled goat cheese

Dried Cranberries

Slivered almonds

1/2 cup Canola Oil or Olive Oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3 T Vermont maple syrup

pepper to taste

Preparing this recipe is really simple. Saute the apples in canola oil to soften for about five minutes (don't use any sugar). Combine with the other salad ingredients. Make the vinaigrette by shaking the Canola oil, balsamic vinegar, Vermont maple syrup and a bit of pepper to taste.

Sasha's Kitchen: Fall Apple Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

Sasha & Brad's Kitchen: Butternut Squash Risotto

Squash and pumpkin are my two favorite vegetables this time of year.  I plan on making some squash soup for thanksgiving to rival the pumpkin soups I made this time last year and shared here. I figured that squash (or pumpkin) would make a delicious risotto, and I was definitely correct. I engineered this recipe, but this time my husband executed and prepared it - it was a delicious and perfect fall treat, prepared using the delicious ShopRite risotto that I received as part of the ShopRite blog panel that I am part of. You really could make this with fresh pumpkin as well, and it would also be great. You can prepare this using fresh butternut squash from your garden, or make it easy on yourself and buy it already cut up. Either way, the dish is surprisingly easy to make once you have the risotto making art down pat. Risotto is one of my husband's favorite dishes (both to make and to eat) and this one is certain to appear again on our dinner table. Brad and I are hosting Thanksgiving for my family this year, so I am really excited to try some great new pumpkin and squash recipes along with our holiday turkey!


Sasha & Brad's Butternut Squash Risotto
1 lb fresh squash, broiled and diced
1 onion, diced
2 T of butter or olive oil
1 cup white cooking wine
4-5 cups of low sodium chicken stock
1 1/2 cups of risotto
1/2 tsp cinnamon

To prepare the risotto, first roast the butternut squash at 400 degrees for about an hour and a half, until cooked. If you are using fresh squash, then get rid of the skin. If using cut up squash, you can then cut into smaller pieces. Squash is really hard to cut before you broil it - I always have a hard time cutting whole squashes open before putting them in the oven!

Cut up the onion and saute in the butter or olive oil. Then add the rice and coat in the olive oil / butter. Add the white wine, and allow to reduce by half. Add the chicken stock, one cup at a time, allowing the first cup of chicken stock to reduce by at least half before adding the next cup. In total, you will add somewhere between 4 to 5 cups of chicken stock before it gets to the right texture. Just before the risotto is done, mix in the cinnamon.

Usually we make risotto with parmesan cheese, but this time we left it out and it was just perfect - and healthier too! I did garnish with a tiny bit on top.

Sasha & Brad's Kitchen: Butternut Squash Risotto

Eric's Kitchen in NJ: Potatoes Au Gratin

Recently Jenn and I had our engagement party and my Uncle Doug and his wife Tara got us these wonderful le Creuset dishes that are perfect for this! We had some amazing Aged Dubliner cheese that we wanted to use up so we thought we'd make some potatoes with it and put our new dishes to use. That being said, for some reason I thought I'd need to fill both dishes and ended up making WAY too much. So this recipe probably feeds about 8...

Ingredients:
1+ lbs. Peeled and sliced Russet potatoes
1/2 cup of 2% milk
1/2 cup of half and half
Aged Dubliner cheese
Gruyere cheese (honestly not sure how much)
Cracked black pepper
Paprika
Garlic powder

I had never done this before so I looked up a few recipes online and most of them called for heavy cream but I really didn't want to have heavy cream sitting around and knew I had some half and half left that I usually use for coffee. It probably would have tasted better with the heavy cream but tasted pretty fantastic with the milk and half and half so I didn't feel like I missed out.

I pre-heated the oven for 400 degrees and started layering the potatoes, covering each layer with a generous amount of grated Gruyere and Dubliner cheese. You can kind of get a sense from the picture here. Once I had the layers built up on both I mixed the milk, half and half and some black pepper and garlic powder and poured it over the potatoes before adding the last layer of cheese. I then added a little more black pepper and some paprika at the end before putting it into the oven. I cooked it covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes and then uncovered it and put it back in for another 30 minutes. They were nicely browned and crispy at the top by the end but some of the potatoes weren't cooked quite enough at the end. We had plenty of leftovers and when reheating those in the toaster oven they have been perfect.

Eric's Kitchen in NJ: Potatoes Au Gratin