Step-it-up Quiche

Eggs are my go to food when I'm in a hurry. They accept whatever else is in your fridge (veggies, cheese, condiments) and are very quick to cook. Quiches can be just as quick (especially if you use a pre-made crust), but this version is a step-up from the quiche you find on most brunch buffets. Leftovers are always delicious cold or reheated with a salad or some fruit.

This past week I hosted my book club which always involves food and wine (we read The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell). I made a variety of dishes that are good for a dinner party - all of the fussy prep is finished about an hour before serving with the only 'complicated' dish being this quiche. This is a deep-dish quiche which was baked in a springform pan (if you opt to use a pie plate or quiche/tart pan the filling will make 2-3 quiches). And the filling is comprised of spinach, carrot greens (always looking for another place to use them), sauteed onions, and cheddar and feta cheeses. If you want to substitute skim milk or low-fat cheese, do so and substitute any veggies that you think will taste good! When using frozen veggies it's best to cook and remove as much water as possible so quiche will set. Fresh veggies only need to be cleaned, chopped, and sauteed if desired.

Step-it-up Quiche

1 whole wheat - olive oil pastry crust (I used this recipe from C&Z with a sprinkle of cumin)

2 1/2 T. butter

3 1/2 T. flour

1 1/2 c. whipping cream, warmed

9 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

6 1/4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

6 eggs

135 g frozen spinach (steamed and drained)

60 g carrot top greens (or other fresh greens or additional spinach)

2 med. onions, sliced and sautéed

cumin

salt

1. Prepare the greens, onions, and cream.

2. Make cheese sauce: Melt butter, stir in flour and cook for 1 minute, don't allow it to color. Remove from the heat. Gradually stir warmed cream into flour mixture to make a smooth sauce. Return to heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. When thickened (about 3 minutes) remove from heat. Add half of shredded and crumbled cheese and stir until it is fully melted. Stir in the greens, onions, and a sprinkle of cumin. Remove cheese sauce from heat. (In effect you made a roux, a béchamel and finally a cheese sauce by following these steps).

3. Crack eggs into a bowl and break with a fork. Add a spoonful of cheese sauce to the eggs and whisk (be careful that eggs don't cook!). Continue adding a spoonful at a time until about half cheese sauce is added to eggs then add remaining cheese sauce. Add rest of shredded and crumbled cheese.

4. Pour egg mixture into pastry shell. Bake at 350 deg F until internal temp reaches 365-385 degrees (use instant read thermometer). Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes before serving. Remove from springform pan and serve on a cake plate.

Yield: 12 servings (@ about 370 cal. each)

leftover curry (wink)

I love curries and challenged myself to learn to cook it last year. It was a bumpy road (why, oh why?) but I finally became confident enough to share one with you. This was made of items I already had on hand and isn't based on any established recipe. This combo relies heavily on winter vegetables and mausman curry paste. Bon appetite!

Leftover Curry

1 T. grapeseed oil (or other high smoke point oil)

1 small onion, chopped (100 g)

1 large potato, chopped (285 g)

1 carrot, sliced (70 g)

1 inch ginger, grated (11 g)

4 large cloves garlic, minced (16 g)

1 c. coconut milk

1 c. water

50 g. curry paste, mausman

150 g. chickpeas, cooked

75 g. spinach, frozen

1-2 T. fish sauce

2 T. honey

1. Open windows to get a cross breeze (my smoke detector usually goes off when making curry). Prepare all ingredients - dicing, mincing, and measuring. I like to use my mini chopper for garlic and ginger. You don't have much time when using a wok and need to prepare everything in advance!

2. Preheat wok. When hot add grapeseed oil (one of the highest temp oils) and 'roll' around interior of wok. Add onions and cook until soft. Add potatoes and carrots and cook until until browned. Add grated ginger and minced garlic (or using mini-chopper!). Cook briefly until scented.

3. Add coconut milk and an equal amount of water. Stir well and add curry paste. Stir to dissolve into liquid. Add chickpeas and spinach. Add fish sauce (which smells awful, but adds umami) and honey. Most recipes call for sugar, but I prefer honey. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through. Serve with brown rice.

spinach white sauce pasta

Not to tell tales, but once someone (who shall remain nameless) made a white sauce for pasta and shared it with me. Despite their being a good cook and claims of previous success it tasted like wet flour on pasta (yuk!). Not very appetizing. I have since made white sauce for recipes (primarily souffles) but this is my first time eating it straight.

I wanted to replicate a favorite spinach pizza (from one of those hole in the wall pizzeria's next to a 7-11) and therefore needed a white sauce. The pizza turned out tasty (spinach white sauce with shallots and mozz). I made the full recipe (below) with lots leftover I get to try other iterations. First I reheated it to top some cooked pasta. It was part of a tasty lunch on a cold rainy winter's day. I have more sauce left and am considering the options: more pasta, egg dish, vegetable sauce, casserole. Other ideas?

Spinach White Sauce (or béchamel)

2 1/2 T. butter

2 1/2 T. flour

2 c. warmed milk

1/2 t. salt

pepper

~1 c. frozen spinach, steamed

2 cloves garlic, minced/pressed

1. Melt butter, stir in flour and cook for 1 minute, don't allow it to color beyond a buttery yellow. Remove from the heat. Gradually stir in 3/4 warmed milk into flour mixture to make a smooth sauce. Return to heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. When thickened (about 3 minutes) remove from heat. Add remaining milk as needed.

2. Add steamed spinach and garlic to sauce. Stir periodically to prevent skin from forming, if necessary.

lemon mustard dressing

Salad dressing is a great intro food to cooking. They are easy to make and because they are so flavor rich you really notice your effort. I started regularly making my own dressing in college and always get compliments on them. You just need a few condiments to start making dressings ... which is especially shocking when you look at the ingredient list of your favorite store bought dressing. It probably has at least 15 ingredients, most of which you don't recognize and of the ones you do recognize are sugar and salt and cheap oil.

Lemon mustard dressing

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 t. wholegrain* mustard

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix garlic, wholegrain mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt & pepper. You can add the olive oil to this mixture or to emulsify (therefore the dressing won't separate and seems creamy) grab a whisk (I have an attachment on my hand-blender) and slowly pour the oil into the dressing while constantly whisking (why the electric whisk is so handy). Pour the dressing into a saved jar and refrigerate.

Notes: If the dressing is oil rich, it will solidify in the fridge (this dressing doesn't) so pull out when you start making dinner and it will be ready by dinnertime.

* wholegrain mustard is a mustard with whole mustard seeds - you'll find it with the other mustards.

salmon quiche

My dad loves, loves, loves salmon so I made a salmon quiche for father's day brunch. It is really delicious and I think even better as leftovers (can that be?). I ate it for lunch with some beets and raspberries.

Salmon Quiche

Prepare one olive oil whole wheat crust. I used the C&Z recipe with fresh oregano and rosemary in the crust. Blind bake crust (10 minutes at 350 deg F).

Filling:

1 1/2 c. chard, chopped (or other green)

1-2 T. shallots, sliced thinly

1 T. butter

1 c. feta cheese, crumbled

3 eggs

1 1/2 c. whipping cream

2 t. Worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t. sea salt

1/8 t. black pepper

3/4 c. salmon, crumbled (mine was pre-cooked, but cut into small pieces if raw)

In small skillet, cook chard and shallots in butter, over medium heat until soft. In a large bowl combine remaining ingredients. When chard is cool add to mixture. Pour into tart shell. Try to distribute filling evenly.* Bake for 40 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Remove and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

*Because I prepared this several days in advance for ease on father's day I covered the quiche and placed in freezer. The night before serving I moved to the fridge and baking time was similar to fresh made. If you're moving straight from freezer to oven expect to increase baking time by at least 20 minutes.

spinach salad with candied nuts

Last week I got the prettiest spinach I have ever seen in my csa box. It comes from a farm not too far away and looks perfect. I thought such special greens deserved a special preparation and I decided to make candied nuts. During family celebrations it is not uncommon to have candied nuts on a salad - usually pecans or slivered almonds. I had walnuts so that is what I used. For the salad I added feta and wanted to add fresh apricots, but they didn't seem quite ripe so I substituted dried cranberries. Any seasonal fruit works well with spinach, the beauty is found in the contrast of the bitterness of spinach and the sweetness of the fruit. I dressed the salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Candied nuts for salads

2 T. sugar

1 c. nuts

Place sugar and nuts in large sauce pan (large enough for only 1 layer) with heat on med-high. Continually stir the sugar and nuts. In a few minutes the sugar will start to melt and coat the nuts. When sugar is all melted, pour mixture onto waxed paper to cool. If nuts are whole, you may way to chop before or after sugaring. Enjoy on your salad!