The weather has swung back to being cold, my daughter and I are under the weather, I’m nervous about my daughter’s upcoming first plane ride, I’m miserable about losing an hour of sleep to Daylight Savings Time, and I just want some comfort food! For me, that is usually the flavors of lasagna. But I’m finding that I can’t eat as much cheese as I used to and I had neither the time nor desire to pre-grill veggies, so I came up with this glorious dish.

You’re going to need:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 24 oz spaghetti sauce
• 3 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 yellow squash
• 7.5 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tbsp onion salt
• 1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Grease a baking dish and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Brown your ground beef in a skillet.

Add spaghetti sauce and heavy cream and let it simmer on medium while you prep the remaining items. I use Ragu Mushroom and Green Pepper sauce because it’s my favorite.

The cream sort of cooks out and makes the sauce really rich. I do this a lot when I make Indian sauces and it just makes them really velvety without drastically changing the flavor.

Get your squash out. I had a lone zucchini languishing in the fridge, so I threw it in as well.

Cut off the ends and scoop out the inner seeds with a spoon. This is what will really cut down on the wateriness while the lasagna bakes. If you have time, you could also choose to grill the squash instead to get rid of moisture.

Cut the veggies into 1/4″ thick half-moon slices.

Mix together the ricotta, egg, onion salt and pepper.

Now you’re ready to assemble your lasagna.

Layer the lasagna as follows:

A spoon of meat sauce to keep the veggies from sticking to the pan…

1/2 the veggies…

1/2 the ricotta mixture…

a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella…

1/2 the remaining meat sauce…

the remainder of the veggies…

the remainder of the ricotta mixure…

the remainder of the meat sauce…

and the remainder of the shredded mozzarella.

Bake for 40 minutes and enjoy a nice big bowl of meaty, veggie goodness!

I’ve seen a lot of recipes that sub in various ingredients for noodles in a typical lasagna recipe, and I think zucchini is probably the most popular. After trying a few versions, I came up with this one that addresses the problems I had with the rest. First, if you just use raw zucchini, your lasagna can become VERY watery as the zucchini cooks in the oven. Second, zucchini doesn’t slice like thin pasta, so if you layer it, you are more likely to end up with a giant mess instead of discrete pieces. My version has all the flavors of lasagna but without those pitfalls.

Get together:

• 2 big zucchini or 3 small zucchini, cut in ¼ inch slice
• Cooking oil spray
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 tsp ground thyme
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 24 oz spaghetti sauce
• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup parmesan cheese
• ½ cup each of shredded sharp cheddar and mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Cut off the ends and slice zucchini into thin slices.

Spray a grill pan or other nonstick pan with cooking oil spray and grill zucchini in batches.

Set zucchini aside.

Brown ground beef and ground thyme.

Add spaghetti sauce and red wine vinegar.

This is one of my favorite cooking shortcuts. When you are using jarred sauce, add vinegar if you want a very savory sauce or add sugar if you want a sweet sauce. The addition of either one really elevates a jarred sauce into something that tastes homemade.

Mix the ricotta, egg and parmesan cheese.

Layer the lasagna as follows:

A little bit of the meat sauce…

All of the grilled zucchini slices…

Half of the ricotta mixture…

All of the remaining meat sauce…

The remaining half of the ricotta mixture…

And finally, the mozzarella and cheddar.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, uncovered.

Serve.

Right before law school, my husband backpacked through Europe with some friends. One night in Florence, they had an amazing blueberry steak in a local restaurant called Acqua al 2. It was so good, he’s often said he would return to Florence just for that dish! And he’s not the only one. I went in search of the recipe and there were a bunch of people online looking for a copycat recipe. I found one page that purported to be the actual recipe from the restaurant, but it used ketchup, flour, mustard, vinegar, orange juice… it just sounded like it would taste like a blueberry barbecue sauce and I didn’t want to go in that direction. Also, ketchup on an expensive cut of steak is a sin. 😀 What I came up with is a light, sweet blueberry sauce that has an incredible depth of flavor because of the wine reduction and spices. It pairs beautifully with the meat and brought my husband right back to Florence.

4.5 from 2 reviews

Blueberry Filet Mignon

 

Print

Prep time

2 mins

Cook time

12 mins

Total time

14 mins

 

Juicy, rare filet mignon with a sweet-and-savory blueberry sauce similar to the dish Fileno al Mirtilio served at Acqua al 2 in Florence, Italy.

Author: Tekesha @ EatMoreFoodProject

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 1 lb filet mignon (2 pieces, 1-inch thick)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp oil, divided
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• 1 cup red wine (I used a red zinfandel)
• 6 oz fresh blueberries
• Juice and zest of ½ lemon
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp rubbed sage
• 4 tbsp brown sugar splenda

Instructions

1. Pour a tablespoon of oil into a pan and heat on high heat until it is smoking hot.
2. Salt and pepper each filet and grill them in the hot oil for 2 minutes on each side.
3. Remove from pan and let rest on a plate.
4. Set out all of the blueberry sauce ingredients.
5. Sauté the shallots in a tablespoon of oil until translucent.
6. Add the red wine and bring to a boil.
7. Boil for approximately 2 minutes on high heat, until wine is reduced by half.
8. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and sauté on medium heat 5 minutes, using the back of your spoon to mash up some of the blueberries as they cook.

Notes

The nutrition information includes the amount for the entire batch of sauce, even though you won’t come close to using all of it for just 2 steaks.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 803 Fat: 29 Saturated fat: 8 Carbohydrates: 42 Sugar: 34 Sodium: 143 Fiber: 3 Protein: 65 Cholesterol: 150

3.2.2025

• 1 lb filet mignon (2 pieces, 1-inch thick)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp oil, divided
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• 1 cup red wine (I used a red zinfandel)
• 6 oz fresh blueberries
• Juice and zest of ½ lemon
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp rubbed sage
• 4 tbsp brown sugar splenda

Pour a tablespoon of oil into a pan and heat on high heat until it is smoking hot. Use an oil with a high smoking point, like olive oil (not extra virgin olive oil).

Salt and pepper each filet.

Grill them in the hot oil for 2 minutes on each side.

I like my steak rare, so I stop right here and just let the meat rest on a plate. If you like your steak medium, remove it from the pan and place it in a hot oven (about 400 degrees) for 5-10 minutes before letting it rest. Likewise, if your filet is thicker, you will need to place it in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes to achieve rare meat and even longer for medium doneness.

The reason for transferring the meat to the oven to continue cooking is so that you don’t burn or overcook the outside of the steak in a hot skillet while you are waiting for the center of the meat to reach the level of doneness you prefer.

PRO TIP: When you are resting your steak, don’t rest it in the same pan or on the baking sheet you use while cooking it. When I first started cooking, I made this mistake. I just shut off the stove and let my meat rest in the hot skillet, lol. Your meat will continue to cook from the residual heat.

Set out all of the blueberry sauce ingredients.

Sauté the shallots in a tablespoon of oil until translucent.

Add the red wine and bring to a boil.

Boil for approximately 2 minutes on high heat, until wine is reduced by half.

Add the remaining sauce ingredients.

Sauté on medium heat 5 minutes, using the back of your spoon to mash up some of the blueberries as they cook. You should be left with a glossy, thick sauce with chunks of blueberries.

Look at that tender, rare steak! The more expensive the cut of meat, the more rare I prefer to eat it.

I like to drizzle a spoonful of the sauce around the sides…

And then drizzle a line of blueberries down the center.

That way you can still see the gorgeous steak under the sauce.

It’s a plate of decadent perfection.

I love meatballs, but it can be difficult to achieve a juicy, tender meatball without using breadcrumbs. A while ago, I ran across Chef Michael Symon’s mother’s recipe for meatballs made with ricotta cheese instead and I’ve been making my meatballs that way ever since! I’ve played around with the ingredients and the amounts to find a balance that suits my taste. I simmer them in Marcella Hazan’s iconic Tomato, Butter and Onion sauce to complete the dish. It’s perfect with a glass of red wine. We went to a holiday party last month and I picked up a bottle of Louis Martini 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon as a hostess gift. It’s delicious! As soon as it was opened, it was gone. I actually did a double-take. Pick up a bottle, make these meatballs and celebrate making it through another Monday 🙂

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork or veal
• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• ½ cup fresh parsley, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
• ¼ cup dried oregano
• 1 tbsp nutmeg, grated
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 2 tbsp oil
• 28 oz. can whole San Marzano Tomatoes
• ¼ cup butter
• ½ onion, peeled

In a large bowl, combine beef, pork/veal, ricotta cheese, egg, parsley, garlic, parmesan cheese, oregano, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Roll into large meatballs about the size of your palm. I usually get about 13 meatballs.

Pour oil into a large pan and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan.

Place meatballs in the oil and flip them over a few times so that the entire surface of the meatball is coated in a little oil. Don’t you hate when you put oil in a pan, brown something on one side, go to flip it over and realize the pan is now dry as the Sahara Desert? This step takes care of that by pre-coating the entire meatball with oil.

Lightly brown both sides of the meatball on medium heat. Normally, I do not fry meatballs. I put them straight into sauce or broth raw. I fry them here because the sauce I am making with them is on the dry side (not a lot of liquid) and I want to make sure that they are cooked without burning the sauce.

Add tomatoes, butter and onion to the pan. As you can see, you don’t need to cut up the onion. It’s there for flavor.

Cover and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.

Uncover, raise heat to medium high and cook for an additional 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the tomatoes.

These juicy meatballs and rich, velvety tomato sauce are perfect all on their own.

My favorite kind of meatloaf is the kind you make with the packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix. Soo good!! I’ve been playing around with a few different versions of french onion meatloaf and this was is the best. I topped it with a version of mashed cauliflower that includes hearts of palms, which was minimally adapted from Eat Paleo 4 Health’s How to Make the Best Cauliflower Mash. Then I topped that with shredded Jarlsburg cheese. Ay yi yi, out of this world amazing! And so easy to slice up and take to work for lunch. If you can’t find Jarlsburg cheese (it should be in the deli section with the fine cheeses), you can swap out Gruyere or Swiss. All three taste similar.

• 2 lbs Ground Chuck
• 1 extra large beef bouillon cube, crumbled
• 6 oz tomato paste, divided
• ¾ cup dried minced onion
• 2 tsp celery salt
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup warm water
• 16 oz frozen cauliflower
• 14 oz hearts of palm, sliced
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp butter
• ¼ lb Jarlsberg cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, add ground chuck, crumbled bouillon cube, half the can of tomato paste, dried minced onion, celery salt, onion powder, parsley, eggs, parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce and water.

Mix gently with a fork until well-combined, making sure not to overwork the meat. The water will start to re-hydrate the minced onion and dissolve the bouillon. The juices from the meat will continue this process as the meatloaf cooks in the oven.

Place the meat mixture into a baking dish and top with the remaining half of the tomato paste.

Bake for 30 minutes.

While the meatloaf layer is baking, steam the cauliflower until very soft.

Combine the cauliflower with the hearts of palm, heavy cream and butter. I love the taste of hearts of palm, but its main purpose here is to give the mash an improved texture. I could barely taste it in the final dish.

Using a masher, blender or food processor (shown below), process the cauliflower mixture until it turns smooth and looks like mashed potatoes.

Remove the meatloaf from the oven. At this point, I like to drain off any accumulated oil with a spoon.

Top the meatloaf with the cauliflower mixture.

Shred the Jarlsberg cheese and add it to the top of the cauliflower mix.

Return the meatloaf pie to the oven to cook for another 30 minutes.

Serve.

It’s a meal all by itself, but I also like to serve it with a chilled side salad with champagne vinaigrette for contrast.

This is an elegant winter meal that comes together surprisingly quickly. I feel like it needs to be made while wearing a cashmere scarf and lots of diamonds. If only I owned a cashmere scarf and lots of diamonds :-). There are a couple minutes of prep work, but this is all going to cook lightning fast because the oven and the stove are going to be lightning hot. Perfect for a cozy evening when you want to eat something special without being stuck in the kitchen all night. Light a fragrant candle and get together your ingredients:

• 1 lb asparagus spears
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper
• Nonstick spray
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 ribeye steaks (about 2″ in thickness each)
• 1 tbsp montreal chicken seasoning
• 2 tbsp warm hollandaise sauce, divided (optional)(I like the little glass jars of Musette brand hollandaise if I’m not making my own)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare your asparagus by cutting off the last inch of each spear and shaving off any rough spots with a vegetable peeler.

Line a baking sheet with foil.

Toss the asparagus with the olive oil, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and place it on one side of the baking dish.

Spray a grill pan with nonstick spray and toss in 2 tbsp butter.

Heat on high until the pan is almost smoking, approximately 1 minute.

Season both sides of the steaks with Montreal Chicken Seasoning. I know that a lot of people use Montreal Steak Seasoning on their steaks, but I find that sometimes the pepper in that one can be overwhelming.

Place steaks inside the pan and do not move for 3 minutes. This will allow them to develop a nice sear.

Flip the steaks over and let the other side sear for 1 minute.

Move steaks to the empty side of the baking sheet with the asparagus and place in the oven.

Roast for approximately 10 minutes, until asparagus is only slightly crunchy.

Remove from oven and let steaks rest for at least 10 minutes.

Serve.

I like to pair this with a little warm hollandaise sauce over the asparagus and a glass of pinot noir.

My brother Cardo is totally against burgers cooked in the oven. He was at our house one time and I was in the kitchen seasoning burger patties and putting them onto a baking tray. He saw what I was doing and said TWICE “I am absolutely against that. I do not eat burgers from ovens.” I continued with what I was doing and he said “Seriously. I am totally against what you are doing right now.” Ha ha ha! He was very relieved when I explained that we just needed something to use to transport the meat to the grill.

Well, THESE burgers are cooked in the oven, after marinating in a ton of soy sauce and spices, and I think even my brother would love them. They are salty and juicy and after sitting in the marinade, the onions seem to almost caramelize in the oven. Give them a try!

Gather up:

• 4 lbs ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 15-oz bottle of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp paprika

In a bowl, mix the soy sauce with the onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, ground ginger, and paprika. I had a picture of this, but you really couldn’t see what was happening because the soy sauce is so dark.

In a very large bowl, toss in your ground beef.

Chop your onion and add it to the ground beef. I leave my onion pieces kind of large (about 1 inch in length) because I like them to still have a bite after the burgers are cooked. If you don’t like onions with even a little bit of crunch, I would sauté the onion in some water until fully cooked, let it cool, and then add it to the burger mixture.

Pour the soy sauce mixture into the bowl with the ground beef.

There will be a lot of soy sauce swimming in the bowl. That is perfectly okay at this stage.

Gently mix the meat and onion with the soy sauce so everything is coated.

Leave beef to soak up the soy mixture for 30 minutes, gently mixing the meat occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

The soy marinade should be totally absorbed into the meat at this point.

Line a baking tray with foil and a rack.

Shape your burgers into patties and place them on the rack. Because the soy sauce mixture has soaked into the meat, these burgers will be a little dark. They almost look like they are already cooked.

Use a knife to poke 3 holes into each burger. This step will prevent the burgers from puffing up into giant meatballs in the oven.

Bake for 1 hour. I cannot even really describe to you what your house will smell like while this is baking. It is heavenly.

Serve open-faced…

wrapped in lettuce leaves…

or on a soft bun…

Yum!

One of the few recipes my husband has passed on to me has been for crazy delicious steaks. He learned it from a friend and it couldn’t be simpler. Just steaks left to marinate in a bottle of Dale’s Seasoning (a blend of soy sauce, sugar and seasonings) for a few hours and tossed on the grill. The dark soy sauce just soaks into the meat and every bite is perfectly seasoned all the way through.

When I saw Kookie’s The Best Steak Marinade in Existence, I knew I had to give it a try with some strip steaks. It’s got the same soy sauce base, but no added sugar. The lemon and the hot sauce also give it a spicy tang. I’ve slightly adapted the ingredients to accommodate finishing the steaks in the oven like The Kitchen Whisperer’s Better-Than-Restaurant-Quality New York Strip Steaks.

You’ll need:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 3 tbsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp Frank’s hot sauce
• 2 1-inch strip steaks, trimmed
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp butter, divided

Grab your strip steaks…

and trim off all the fat from the edges.

Get out your soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, dried basil, dried parsley flakes, white pepper, and hot sauce.

Put your steaks in a large ziploc bag and pour the marinade ingredients into the bag and seal.

Let the steaks marinate for at least 30 minutes, but no more than 24 hours.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Get out a cast iron skillet or any other oven-safe pan and put it on the stove top at high heat.

Once the skillet is hot, remove your steaks from the marinade and place them in the hot skillet. Discard the marinade.

Do not move them for 4 minutes. This will allow a nice sear to develop on the steaks.

Get out your fresh thyme and your 2 tbsp of butter, divided into a tbsp each.

Flip your steaks over in the skillet and turn off the stove top.

Place a sprig of thyme and a tbsp of butter on top of each steak.

Put the skillet with the steaks in the oven and cook for 6 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven and put the steaks on a plate to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Slice thinly and serve.

This is wonderful with scrambled eggs for breakfast, on top of a spinach salad for lunch, or even just with a little drizzle of chimichurri sauce (pictured below).