Crustless Broccoli and Cheese Quiche

 Eating quiche always makes me think of the those watery ones that my family would eat at church on Easter after the very early sunrise service.  Despite the not good as you might think eggs, I liked them.  I liked the tradition that went with eating the ham and eggs.   While this is not that same quiche, it is a while lot better.  It is based off of Keepers (Brennan and Campion) broccoli quiche.  I don't always like the combination of the eggs and cheese, but this one is well balanced and the cheese is not rubbery at all.  Plus, because there isn't a crust, it can be made very quickly.  If you like quiche for dinner, this would make for a quick week night meal.

Broccoli and Cheese Quiche
3 cups broccoli florets (about 1 large head of broccoli) or a combination of broccoli and cauliflower
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
1 cup 2% milk (though you can use any the creamier the better)
2/3 heavy whipping cream
6 eggs
nutmeg
pepper
salt
butter or oil to grease the pie plate

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease a 10 inch pie plate.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season it with salt.  (This keeps the broccoli green.)  When boiling, add the broccoli, stir and blanch for just a minute or two.  Drain the broccoli and rinse with cold water (to stop the cooking).  Dry the broccoli and place in the bottom of the grease pie plate.  Add the cheese evenly over the broccoli.

In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, eggs, nut (a pinch or two to taste), 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper (also to taste).  Whisk until smooth and then pour over the cheese.  Bake until the egg mixture is just set in the center, about 35-40 minutes.  Let cool a little before serving.

Spinach Quiche

I was baking so much the past few weeks, so I needed a break from all the sweet stuff and have added some savory recipes to balance out all of the high sugar content recipes.  Recently, I have been craving some nice greens.  Therefore, I went out and bought some spinach with is useful in so many ways.  It is such a versatile green that it is delicious eaten raw, but equally delicious chopped up and cooked.  This recipe is from my family in New Zealand.  It was one of the first things I learned to make when I was there, and I still go back to it when I am craving a piece of spinach quiche.

Spinach Quiche

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Crust:

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons cold butter

ice cold water

Mix dry ingredients and then rub in the butter.  Add cold water by the tablespoon until dough comes together.  Roll out dough and place in a pie or quiche plate.

Filling:

4 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (less if you want the flavor more subtle)

3/4 cup milk

1/2 large onion

spinach to taste, though at least 1.5 ounces

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

In a food processor with the cutting blade place the eggs, salt and pepper, nutmeg and milk.  Blend in and add the onion and spinach leaves.  Finally, mix in the grated cheese.  Pour the filling into the pie plate.  Place in oven for about 45 minutes or until gently set.  (It should not be liquid in the middle so judge the time based on how wiggly the middle is.)

Makes one pie plate (about 8 servings)

Cheese Crackers

Who doesn't like Cheez-Its?  It was an eye opener this year when I realized just how many different flavors of Cheez-Its there were on the market these days.  One of my favorite is the smoked cheddar, but alas, that flavor you cannot buy in a box yet....too bad as that one I would definitely indulge in instead of trying to reproduce the crackers at home.  Since I learned to bake with my grandma when I was young, I have tried to recreate things that I love to smell in the kitchen and of course eat as well!

I came across the book Real Snacks by Lara Ferroni which covers a lot of the snacks that I grew up with, but this book shows how to make them from scratch.  Coworkers always thought I was crazy to make things at home that take time in order to be able to make things from scratch, when you can spend just a few dollars and buy them in a box at the store.  Cooking and baking really isn't about that for me.  I like to cook and bake when I am stressed, when I feel like I need some good food to eat in the warm of my kitchen, when I want to be creative, and really just to see if I can do it.  This cheese cracker recipe is somewhat time consuming for the amount of crackers it makes, but in the end I thought it was well worth the effort.

Cheese Crackers

5 ounces cheddar cheese, finely shredded

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/4 cup flour

1/8 teaspoon ground dehydrated onions

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl (cheese, butter, flour, onion powder, salt and milk).  (NOTE: I used dried onions and then ground them in a coffee bean grinder to a fine dust for the onions...in essence it is onion powder.)  Mix all ingredients into a ball.  You can do this by hand or in a food processor.  At this point you can wrap it and refrigerate for ease of rolling or roll it our straight away.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.  Roll to about 1/8 inch thick.  Brush the dough with milk.  Cut the dough into inch squares.  Make a hole in the center of each cracker.  Bake on prepared pans for about 10 minutes or until the crackers are golden brown on the edges.  The crackers will puff up as they bake.  Do not over back them as they get crisper once they cool.  Cool completely before eating.  Enjoy!

Celery Salad

This is another recipe I found when I was reading through Cook This Now by Melissa Clark.

I have always made a celery based stuffing for my turkeys.  I seems to use one or two stalks and then I have so much left over.  Fortunately, my grocery store frequently sells by the stalk, but I don't like to buy them often as they are frequently starting to wilt and I like to get the most fresh ingredients which means I can't buy just a stalk.  At the same time, I don't want to waste any food I buy and like to use as much of the item as I can.  If you have heard of the farm to table movement, they frequently use as much as possible of each item as well.  It is a good idea and if you are a more adventurous cook, you can make some really cool items from the leaf tops of beets or turnips or many vegetables.

At any rate this is a quick salad to put together.  Really the only two things that take time and relatively little of that are the roasting of the walnuts and the chopping of the celery.  This salad also convinced me to reintroduce walnuts into my cooking (though I am still not sold on them in baked goods).  You can also roast the walnuts on the stove top if you don't want to turn on the oven (though you might need more than one batch since you want the single layer).  You can also up the portions if you have more celery or more people.

Celery Salad

About 1.5 cups walnuts
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2- 3/4 teaspoon salt (try a flaky one for bigger chunks of flavor)
Black pepper to taste (I like a lot, but taste it and see how much you would like)
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
12 celery stalks, chopped finely (leaves and all)
Parmesan cheese to taste  (Good Quality - from a large round)

Toast the walnuts in a 350 F oven for about 10 minutes, tossing in the middle.  Toast lightly until golden or aromatic.  Then chop into smaller pieces (or sometimes I break them into smaller pieces).  Whisk together the red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Combine the nuts, cheese and celery.  Toss with olive oil and red wine vinegar mixture.  Serves 6.

Making Homemade Cheese

Homemade cheese is something I never thought I would be doing or that I could do without a lot more things which I don't already have in my kitchen.  However, I was happy to find a couple of cheese recipes which do not require anything out of the ordinary.  This recipe for a simple cheese comes from a cookbook I recently purchased called Home Made by Yvette van Boven.  I was excited to read through this book as I love to make things from scratch.  Her photos and procedures are easy to follow and several of them have step by step procedures like the one for making the cheese.

The recipe is simple....4 cups milk and 4 cups buttermilk. Plus a few drops of lemon juice and a teaspoon salt.

 This is what is looks like as you heat the milk, buttermilk and lemon juice.  You can see the edges starting to separate into whey and curds.  Once they have separated you have curds.

 

 These are the curds which are left behind.  They are better known as ricotto cheese.  To continue to a block form, add the teaspoon salt and stir.  This is now lightly salted fresh cheese.

To actually make the form you will need a can with both ends cut off and cheese cloth.  You place the curds into the cheesecloth and place a weight on the can (with a plate below).  Keep the weight in place for about 12 hours and you will end up with a small block of cheese.  You can even see the pattern from the cheesecloth on the cheese.

 It makes about 8 ounces of fresh cheese.  I served it with the artisan bread that I have been making consistently now for a year.  It went vary well with the sesame version of it.  Enjoy!

Norwegian Baked Cheese Omelette

I have visited Norway a few times and each time I have been met with delicious food and hospitable people.  I never did eat this omelette there, but I can imagine eating it in one of the cafe's my friend took me to during my stays with her.  I have long dream of a cafe of those ranks in the U.S.  It was set on the shore of one of the waterways which lead to Oslo.  Just out of the distance on the water, you can just imagine Oslo there.  From this town as well you can take a ferry into Oslo, which we did take once.  The view in the morning from the cafe is crisp and clean in October, but on that weekend day, the cafe was filled with friends and family who were enjoying each others company while eating a sandwich or a pastry with coffee.  This omelette recipe also comes from Scandinavian Feasts by Beatrice Ojakangas.  Try it out and share with friends and family as I did when I served it...Hot from the oven with bread, juice and friends.

Norwegian Baked Cheese Omelette

4 eggs

¼ cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

4 whole green onions, sliced

1 cup cooked diced ham

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped thinly

8 ounces Jarlsberg cheese, cut into ¼ inch cubes

Preheat oven to 400F.  Whisk together eggs, milk and salt.  In a frying pan, melt the butter.  Add the ham, onion, and bell pepper and sauté over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until the onions are bright green and the pepper is hot.  Pour the egg mixture over the sauté and sprinkle with the cheese cubes.  Bake for about 20 minutes until the egg mixture is set and cheese is melted.

Makes 4 servings

Chicken Enchiladads Verde

Since I am still stuck on Pam Anderson's Perfect One Dish Dinner cookbook, here is another easy to prepare recipe for chicken enchiladas. I really love enchiladas and though this is simple to prepare, I think I need to tweek it a little next time as I like it spicier than this version. I should have tried out the salsa verde before I made it with them, but oh well. You can always spice it up afterward with some lovely chipotle tabasco sauce or just some spicier salsa which is what I did. I also think that if the chicken is cooked in advance, letting it sit in salsa over night or for a little while before throwing it all together would help the flavors mesh together better.

4 cups cooked chicken

4 cups green chile salsa

1 can diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions

8 ounces cheese, I prefer sharp cheddar for more flavor, but you can use a milder one as well

Fresh cilantro (I like a sprinkle, but you can add more if you like the flavor)

Corn tortillas (16 or more to fit your pan)

½ onion, chopped

Sour cream for garnish

Heat oven to 400F. Mix chicken with diced tomatoes and onions. Add half the green chile salsa and stir together well. Add 1 ½ cups cheese, sprinkle of cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. Spread one cup salsa in baking dish.

Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave on high until warm, about 30-45 seconds. Spoon in chicken filling and roll. Place seam side down into your baking pan. Fill the rest of the tortillas. Spread another 1 1/2 cups salsa over the tortilla rolls, then sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Cover with aluminum foil sprayed with cooking oil to prevent sticking. Bake for about 30 minutes or until heated throughout. Sprinkle onion slices and a little more cilantro. Let stand for a few minutes and then serve with sour cream and salsa.

Long Pause - Salad without lettuce

After a month of random friends and family staying, eating and socializing, I am back to my blog.  First up really should be the most wonderful recent salad that I threw together this weekend when I was craving fresh vegetables.  I really can't wait until summer comes with all the great fresh ingredients.  In the meantime, I looked to see what I could find that would satisfy such a salad craving.  When I questioned my boyfriend if he wanted to join me in salad eating, he informed me that it wasn't a salad if it didn't have lettuce in it.  While I disagree with him, I explained what I was making and he whole-heartedly ate it with me.  This is a twist on the classic caprese salad since I wanted to balance the colors with the fresh veggies in my refrigerator.

Twisted Caprese Salad

 Since I didn't have large slices of tomatoes, I cut everything into the same sized pieces.  So I chopped the tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and cucumber into bit-sized pieces.  I chopped fresh basil for the top and added a touch of salt and pepper.  Then a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil later, this salad was ready for the eating. 

Eggs - it's what for breakfast.

I have to say that after butter, I use more eggs than any other ingredient.  At least I can get fresh and delicious eggs in addition to the regular store bought ones.  If you have never eaten freshly laid eggs, then you are truly missing out on some wonderful tasting food.  Even the color of the eggs is better than regular store bought eggs.  I highly recommend to find someone who has chickens and invest in their product.

So yesterday morning after a day on the powder filled slopes I was craving some decent protein for breakfast.  I was also craving green things.  My boyfriend always gives me a hard time for describing things as tasting green, but I really think that is the best description for some green things (like spinach or kale).  However, this morning I opened up the refrigerator and pulled out the herbs I had been hiding away in there which included tarragon and chives.  I chopped up the red pepper I had leftover from something else while my boyfriend beat the eggs.  With the olive oil heating in the pan, we soon had everything ready for a pleasing looking and delicious breakfast.

Basically the recipe is (for 2 servings):

4 eggs, beaten with some milk (1/2 cup maybe)
Olive oil
1/2 red pepper, diced
Shredded cheese
Chives, chopped
Tarragon, Chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the pan with a few tablespoon of olive oil.  Once hot add the beaten eggs and then wait for a minute to cook.  Add the red pepper, chives and tarragon.  Add salt and pepper.  Turn the eggs so they cook throughout (though not quite completely or they will loose their creamy texture).  Just before cooking throughout add the shredded cheese.  Serve and consume immediately.