Get Stuffed. Get Stirred. Get Cooking...

An artist receives inspiration from everything around her extracting form, perspective, and scale in abstract and exciting ways. The artist then works to reinvent those familiar combinations by coming up with new and original expressions. ​

Creating a meal is not unlike the above description. Except my process usually begins standing in front of my open fridge gnawing on a piece of aged cheese. (For inspiration, of course.) while contemplating how I will mix flavors and textures into my latest bling masterpiece. Most of the time I don't have a grand example to mimic. In fact my entire cooking portfolio is dominated the kind of inspiration based solely on what's left in the cupboard and veggie drawer.

Not always easy but ALWAYS FUN. In this case I have taken three familiar comfort food combinations and added some new twists.

Now, nearly every cook has a personal recipe for stuffed peppers, dumplings, or pork stir fry, so when something more elegant is just too elusive they have familiar flavors to fall back on. Those mainstays are the core of today's post.

Lucky you.

1. Take my first featured recipe, a vegetable sausage casserole topped with a creamy mushroom sauce and cheddar biscuit dumplings. Looks like something straight out of "Betty Crocker's most loved recipes" list. I wish she was around to try my version. She just might add it to her repertoire.

Red peppers add sweetness and zing, carrots give it body, and a very spicy organic local sausage causes the cheesy goodness in those biscuits to give you goose bumps! The recipe is down below the photos... if you can keep the slobber off your chin and keyboard long enough to download it.

---

RECIPE: Spicy Sausage, Carrot and Red Pepper Casserole
​with Cheddar Biscuit Dumplings

Serves 4 / Click to download printable version

• Ingredients
• Method

<

>

1.5 lbs. spicy breakfast sausage
1 red pepper diced finely
4 medium carrots diced finely
½ C white onion diced finely
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
½ C milk
2 eggs
BISCUITS:
2 ¼ C Bisquick Baking Mix
½ C grated sharp cheddar cheese
2/3 C milk
1/4 C chopped Italian parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of paprika

In a large saucepan crumble the sausage and cook with the diced carrots, peppers and onion. Adding a little salt to the vegetables but not much because the sausage is salty! Cook until the carrots are tender. In another bowl combine the ½ C milk with the two cans of soup and then add the two eggs and beat well. Pour the sausage mixture in the bottom of a large glass casserole dish, spreading it around evenly and then add about 2 T of the parsley and stir in so it is evenly distributed. Cover with the mushroom soup mix and just stir to get everything even. Now combine the biscuit ingredients and drop 6 dollops of biscuit dough on top of the casserole mixture. Sprinkle a bit of paprika on top of the biscuit dough mounds. Bake in a 425 degree F oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the biscuits are cooked and brown on top. Serve with a garnish of fresh parsley and some butter brushed on top of the biscuit!

---

2. Now, that you're enjoying all this "normal" food, how about an easy stir fry made with Chicken flavored Ramen soup? I know, I just added a whole new horde of starving students to my audience. Why, there would be no chance of my immortality as a cook if I didn't create at least one packaged-soup masterpiece, eh?

I enhanced the Asian flavors by adding a secret weapon, some high end Singapore seasoning from Penzy's Spices. It just gives that added smoky, full spectrum flavor for those oodles of curly noodles to take in and call their own. And I purposeful cut the pork loin VERY thin so there was maximum area for flavor to stay put when you bit into it, not to mention super tenderness insured.

The secret here is to pre-cook the noodles, drain and then add a tiny little bit of cold water back in to stop the cooking, and keep them from getting gooey. Then you can concentrate on the main pan of food and add the noodles at just the right moment, along with some freshl grated ginger and the chicken seasoning packet. I literally couldn't stop eating it!

---

RECIPE: Ginger Ramen Noodle Pork Stir Fry

Serves 2 / Click here for printable version.

• Ingredients
• Method

<

>

​6 ounces lean pork loin cut into very, very thin strips
1 large carrot cut into large julienne
1 large celery stalk sliced
1/3 C chopped white onion
1 t fresh thyme leaves
1 package Ramen Soup Mix Chicken flavor
1 t Singapore seasoning (Penzy’s)
2 T soy sauce
½ t sesame oil
3 T light olive oil
1 t grated fresh ginger
1 egg, beaten
2 T salt and ½ t black pepper
2 T fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley to garnish
1 t hot chili flakes*

Slice the pork into very, very thin strips about 3 inches long and only 1/8” in width and place in a small bowl. Toss it with 1 T soy sauce, 1 t Singapore seasoning, ½ t sesame oil, 1 t salt, ½ t pepper and 2 t of the olive oil.
 
Cook the ramen noodles without the packet, drain, and add a little cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside.
 
In a hot saucepan, add half the remianing olive oil and the carrots, onion, and celery and add a little more salt and pepper. Cook until onions are translucent and carrots are starting to soften. Now add the pork and a little more oil and stir until pork is done, about 3 minutes. Add the fresh ginger and keep stirring. Add the rest of the soy sauce. Now add the ramen noodles, being careful not to add the extra water. Toss and add the seasoning packet from the ramen mix. Stir fry for about 2 minutes. Now add the beaten egg around the outside and let it set for a about 20 seconds to cook. Now taking your spatula, blend the egg in to all the mixture.
Serve topped with fresh parsley.
 
*We love it spicy so you can add the hot chili flakes when you add the seasoning packet. More or less to your taste.

---

3. Keep that pen poised because this last recipe is good enough for the in-laws, or the boss. My twist on stuffed peppers turns it into elegant, and exciting! PLUS my recipe includes a side of Coriander Roasted Potatoes and a creamy Buttermilk Dill Dressing over San Marzano Tomatoes and Red Lettuce. YUM...

For the main course I used the smaller mini peppers, in multi colors. (They're SO MUCH CHEAPER than the big ones, prettier, and taste the same!) And stuffed the peppers with ground lamb and other exciting ingredients like golden raisins, fresh mint, rosemary and coriander powder. A quick garlic yogurt sauce and you not only have all the textures and temperatures but something that almost smiles back at you.

​Just stuff. Just stir. Just GET COOKING!

---

RECIPE: Minted Lamb Stuffed Mini Peppers
with Coriander Roasted Potatoes and Garlic Yogurt Sauce
and a San Marzano Red Lettuce Salad with Buttermilk Dill Dressing

Serves 4 / Click here for printable version

• Ingredients
• Method

<

>

​12 mini peppers
1 lb ground lamb
1/3 C chopped white sweet onion
¼ C golden raisins
1 T chopped fresh rosemary
3 t chopped fresh mint divided
½ t ginger powder
2 t coriander powder divided
1 t paprika
1 egg
2 T cream
3 T plain bread crumbs
5 T light olive oil divided
Several sprigs of rosemary
16 tiny potatoes, about 1 ½” in width
6 C purple lettuce
½ pint San Marzano tomatoes cut in half lengthwise
1/3 C buttermilk
1 t tobacco sauce
½ t dried dill
¼ t garlic salt
1 t fresh lemon juice
Zest of half a small lemon
8 ounces plain Greek yogurt
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh flat leaf parsley to garnish

Cut off the tops of the small mini peppers, dig out insides, then slice off a small bit from the bottom of the pepper so it stand upright. Set aside in baking dish large enough to hold all of the peppers. Slather a little oil in the bottom of the baking dish before setting peppers on top.
 
For the yogurt sauce to serve with the lamb combine the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and lemon zest, 1 t fresh mint and some salt and pepper. Combine and set aside.
 
Wash and pat dry the lettuce and tear into small pieces. Slice the tomatoes. For the dressing combine the buttermilk, 1 T oil, the tobacco sauce, about ¼ t kosher salt and a little black pepper, the dill weed, the lemon juice and garlic salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside and dress cold salad right before serving.
 
Wash the tiny potatoes and pat dry. Place on a baking sheet. Add 2 T oil, 1 t coriander, the paprika and sprinkle with kosher salt. Toss all to combine. Heat oven to 425 and cook for about 15 minutes or until soft.
 
For the lamb, combine the room temperature ground lamb with the onion, raisins, rosemary, 2 T fresh mint, ginger powder, 1 T coriander powder, egg, cream and bread crumbs. Then add about 1 -2 t kosher salt and some black pepper. Combine well. Spoon the lamb into the pepper cavities mounding on top just a little. Lay a sprig of fresh rosemary over the top, and a drizzle of oil. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until meat is cooked through. Remove and cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
 
To plate, put a large mound of the yogurt sauce on the plate, top with the potatoes and three of the small peppers. Then a bit of salt on top and some fresh parsley to garnish.