Turkey Breasts with Mushroom Gravy

When is a not-so-great bottle of wine a great thing? When you need to make some gravy! (Don't let this stop you from having a glass of this not-so-great wine while you cook.)

I'm not even going to wax poetic about this recipe. It is just good. Plus, it is super quick and easy.

Turkey Breasts with Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients

2 turkey breasts
2 cups mushrooms, sliced thick
1 clove garlic, minced
4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp red wine
salt & pepper to taste

Brine:
4 cups water
3 tbsp salt
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp thyme
1/2 tbsp cinnamon

In a large container, combine all brine ingredients. Add turkey breasts to brine and let sit in the fridge, covered, for 2 to 6 hours.

Remove turkey breasts from brine and rinse in cool water. Cut into 1/4" slices. Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle over medium high heat. Do not grease the skillet. Brown turkey slices in both sides, 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove turkey from skillet. Add 2 tbsp butter to the skillet. Saute garlic and mushrooms until browned lightly browned. Remove from pan and add 2 more tbsp butter. Lower heat to medium. When butter starts to bubble a little, add flour and whisk until creamy and bubbly at edges.

While whisking constantly; slowly add wine and chicken stock a little bit at a time, allowing it to thicken slightly bfore adding more each time. Salt and pepper to taste and add mushrooms and garlic to gravy. Cook for another 2 - 4 minutes on low heat.

Pour gravy over turkey (and mashed potatoes; you DID make mashed potatoes right?!) Enjoy!

Mama mia! White lasagna!

This recipe makes me so happy. We've done southern Italian with our Parmesan Chicken Tartine, now its time for some northern Italian cuisine.

In northern Italy, lasagna's red sauce gets replaced with a cheesy, white cream sauce known as Mornay. I use this sauce in lasagna with red sauce as well. But today we are going all white veggie baby! No further explanation needed. This meal speaks for itself.

 Veggie Lasagna with White Sauce

Ingredients

6 oven-ready lasagna noodles
3 cups broccoli, chopped
2 cups carrots, diced
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 cup yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup roasted red pepper, pureed
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup asiago chese, shredded
2 cups milk
4 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dried basil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Saute broccoli 8-10 minutes, until al dente.

Remove broccoli from the pan and heat 1 tbsp butter. Saute carrots, covered, for 5-8 minutes or until slightly softened.

Remove carrots from pan and heat 1 tbsp butter. Saute mushroom, onion and 1 clove garlic for 5-8 minutes.

Now we make-a da sauce!

In a large saucepan, heat 4 tbsp butter. Whisk in flour and cook until slightly bubbly. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly. Bring mixture to a boil and reduce heat, still whisking. As sauce starts to thicken, add 1 cup mozzarella and all of the asiago. Keep whisking!

Add nutmeg, red pepper flakes, salt, basil and remaining garlic. Once sauce reaches desired consistency, remove from heat.

In an 8x8 casserole dish, pour pureed red pepper and top with two lasagna noodles. Then layer in the following order:

Mushroom and onion mixture
1/2 cup mozzarella
Two noodles
Carrot mixture
1 cup cheese sauce
Two noodles
Broccoli
Remaining cheese sauce
Remaining mozzarella

Bake, covered for 20 minutes. Then bake, uncovered for 15 minutes. Enjoy!