Sausage & Potato Mini Breakfast Soufflés

These are my answer to Panera’s Sausage and Potato Soufflés. While they are delicious, I knew I could recreate them at home for a lot less, and then also control what was, and was not, in them. These are a delicious brunch or weekend breakfast, as well as something to make on Sunday to enjoy on the go all week long. Reheat for 30 to 45 seconds in the microwave if enjoying as warm leftovers.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  
• 1 potato
  
• ½ lb Sausage, turkey or pork depending on preference
  
• 6 Eggs, beaten
  
• 4 oz Cream Cheese, softened
  
• ¾ cup Cheese, shredded
  
• 1 tsp Pepper, freshly ground
  
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
  
• ¼ cup Milk
  
• 1 cup Spinach, coarsely chopped
  
• ½ cup Red Pepper, finely diced
  
• 1 lb Package Puff Pastry, thawed according to package directions
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400⁰.
   
2. Wash and cut potato into ½ inch cubes. Heat sauté pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Add potato into pan and brown for about 10 minutes, turning once or twice. Pour ½ cup water into pan, cover, and allow potatoes to finish cooking, about 5 minutes or until water is evaporated. Set aside to cool.
   
3. Add sausage to pan to cook through. If using bulk sausage, break into bite sized pieces with a wooden spoon. If using links, cut into pieces once cooked through, and cool enough to handle. Set aside with potatoes.
   
4. Wisk cream cheese and cheese into eggs. Don’t worry about the cream cheese blending in fully; you want to keep the little bits.
   
5. Stir in milk, spinach, and red pepper into egg mixture. Add in potatoes and sausage, salt and pepper.
   
6. Lightly spray a 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick spray. Lay out a sheet of puff pastry and cut along folds, and then cut in half. You should have 6 rectangles. Press each piece into a muffin cup, pushing into bottom edges, and allowing corners to overhang. Repeat with second sheet.
   
7. Fill cups with egg mixture being sure not to overfill. It works best to scoop in sausage and potato first, and then fill in to top with egg. Once all cups have been filled, fold excess pasty over each soufflé.
   
8. Bake for 22 minutes. Allow to set and cool slightly for 5 minutes before taking out of muffin tin. They should pop out easily, but may need a little coaxing around the edges from any overflow. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Salmon Baked in Puff Pastry with Dill Sauce

Every week, as I am making the meal plan and shopping list, I ask Jim what he wants for dinner. He usually says, “I don’t know”, “I don’t care”, or “Whatever”. Really helpful, right? Well, since he hadn’t had a single home cooked meal this week, he actually thought of an actual answer to what we should have for dinner on Saturday night: salmon. Now, he asked for salmon and pasta, but I focused on finding a new way to serve salmon, and would find the appropriate side dish afterwards. I mean, what do boys know about planning meals anyways? I found a recipe on Epicurious.com for this salmon featured in the February ’96 issue of Bon Appétit. It sounded great, received great reviews, and featured puff pastry, so I was sold. I did omit the rice, as I didn’t like the idea of it, and had already decided to serve the salmon with risotto.

The sauce was an unexpected surprise, as I thought it wouldn’t be necessary for the success of the final dish, but I was totally wrong. Even though it is a cream sauce, it succeeded in cutting through the richness of the salmon and pastry and added another layer of flavor. I decided not to buy clam juice for the dill sauce, as I didn’t know what I would do with the rest of it once I used the 2/3 cup the recipe calls for. If you know what you would use the left overs for, go ahead and stick with the recipe as is, but the sauce turned out fine with the substitution of chicken stock.

This was delicious. I think this would be great for company as well, as it was simple to prepare, presented beautifully, and could be made ahead of time, and baked just before serving. The recipe is made to serve 4, but this can easily be adapted for 2, by only thawing out one sheet of pastry.

Ingredients:

Salmon:

• 2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
• ½ cup Leek, white and light green parts minced and rinsed
• 6 oz. Fresh Shitake Mushrooms, stemmed and chopped
• 2 sheets Frozen Puff Pastry, thawed
• 4 6 oz. Salmon Filets, skinned
• Egg Wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water

Dill Sauce

• 2/3 cup Bottled Clam Juice or Chicken Stock
• ½ cup Dry White Wine
• 1 ¼ cups Whipping Cream or Crème Fraîche*
• 3 Tbsp Fresh Dill, minced
• Salt
• White Pepper

Directions:

Salmon:

1. Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add leek; sauté until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Add mushrooms. Cover skillet; cook until mushrooms release their juices, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Uncover skillet. Increase heat to medium-high; sauté until liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Cool completely.
2. Butter large baking sheet. Roll out 1 pastry sheet on floured surface to 12-inch square. Cut into 4 equal squares. Divide mushroom mixture among centers of squares, mounding in oval shape with ends toward 2 corners of pastry. Set salmon atop mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bring pastry corners up around salmon (pastry will not enclose salmon completely.) Roll out remaining pastry sheet on floured surface to 13-inch square. Cut into 4 equal squares. Lay 1 square atop each salmon fillet, tucking corners under bottom pastry to enclose salmon completely. Pinch edges together to seal, brushing with egg mixture if necessary to adhere. Arrange salmon packages, seam side down, on prepared baking sheet. Cover and chill 30 minutes. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Keep chilled.)
3. Preheat oven to 400°F. Brush top of pastry with egg mixture. Bake until golden and thermometer inserted into fish registers 145°F, about 30 minutes.

Dill Sauce

1. Combine clam juice and wine in heavy small nonaluminum saucepan. Boil until reduced to 1/3 cup, about 9 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Whisk in crème fraîche. Boil until reduced to 1 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in dill. Season with salt and pepper.

Serving:

Transfer salmon packages to plates. Spoon Dill Sauce around and serve.

*If crème fraîche is unavailable, heat 1 cup whipping cream to lukewarm (85°F). Remove from heat and mix in 2 tablespoons buttermilk. Cover and let stand in warm draft-free area until slightly thickened (24 to 48 hours, depending on temperature of room). Refrigerate until ready to use.

Artichoke Puffs

When I saw this recipe on Savory Spicy Sweet, I just knew it would be good, . . . really good. How did I just know? Because I have been lucky enough to know the author of this blog since elementary school, have her stand up in my wedding, and attend events catered by the aunt mentioned in the post. As I planned my Valentine’s Dinner Party menu, I knew these would be the perfect little bites to include as appetizers.

To say that these didn’t disappoint would be a total understatement. They were a hit and I will absolutely be making them again. This recipe made enough for 3 dozen puffs with a deli pint container full of filling leftover that I stashed in the freezer for next time I want to whip up some artichoke yumminess. Also, if you do have any leftover from the party, they reheat beautifully when popped into the oven for about 10 minutes at 350⁰.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. package of Puff Pastry
• 2 cans Artichoke Hearts, drained
• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• ½ cup Green Onions, chopped
• ½ cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
• ½ cup Swiss Cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400⁰.
2. Chop artichoke hearts, add remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Cut each sheet of puff pastry into 15-20 squares. Press puff pastry squares into mini muffin tins that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Fill 3/4 full with artichoke filling.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown

Notes: These can be prepared ahead of time and frozen! Freeze in the mini muffin tins, then pop puffs out into a large plastic bag. You can place the frozen puffs into mini muffin pans and bake from frozen, adding 5 minutes to baking time.

Artichoke Stuffed Mushroom Pies with Simple Salad

This was inspired by this recipe from the November issue of Food Network magazine, a complete lack of puff pastry at my grocery store, some extra artichoke hearts in my refrigerator, and the belief that anything is good when wrapped in crescent rolls. I was originally going to add some turkey sausage for Jim, but since he’s over at his brother’s working on some repairs, I figured I could make a fully vegetarian meal with no complaints.

I could not be more pleased with how well this turned out. I made three pies, and I now am holding myself back from eating the other two. Who would know? Jim isn’t home, and the little man is in bed, but I’ll keep using my will power to stay on the couch watching T.V. and working on my blog. Gosh, I have such impressive will power, don’t I? I think you could have a lot of fun with this recipe. I toyed with the idea of adding some sun dried tomatoes, but I wanted to keep it simple for this first go around. I’ll probably end up trying the sausage sometime too.

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1 package crescent roll seamless sheet
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 large Portobello mushroom caps, gills scooped out
• ½ cup mushroom caps, diced
• ½ cup artichoke hearts, finely chopped
• ¼ cup breadcrumbs
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 to 3 Tbsp Honey Mustard dressing
• 2 to 3 cups spring mix
• 1 pear or apple, cored and thinly sliced

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375⁰ degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and mist with cooking spray.
2. Roll the puff pastry to lengthen and widen it about a ½ inch in both directions. Place the mushrooms gill-side up on the pastry and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a bowl, mix the mushrooms, artichoke hearts, breadcrumbs, cheese, and garlic together. Spoon the mixture into the mushroom “bowls”.
4. Fold in the pastry edges, pleating to fully cover the mushrooms; press to seal. Brush both sides of the pastry with the beaten egg. Place seam-side down on the baking sheet, make slits in the top and bake until golden and crisp, 22 minutes. Let cool slightly.
5. Meanwhile, toss the dressing with the salad greens and fruit. Serve the salad with the mushroom pies.