We got a bunch of spinach from our CSA yesterday. I wanted to do something different with it. Spring is a healthy time of year - greens, greens, and more greens - but I get sick of eating greens. I've been trying different recipes this spring that mask the fact that I'm eating greens, while enabling me to actually cook and eat them all. Today I decided to make spinach quiche. I've never made quiche before and really had no idea what I was doing. I made two mistakes: 1) I started too late so we ate an hour later than usual, 2) I used a pizza crust instead of a pie crust (I had an extra unopened Pillsbury pizza crust from my Pampered Chef party and I thought, why not try it?). The pizza crust wasn't bad, it just stuck to the pie pan and only Brett can get any pieces out. But it tasted good, so maybe it wasn't really a mistake. Would I use it again? Probably not. It tasted fine, but pizza crust is not as easy to manipulate at pie crust. Anyway, my recipe is a combination of three recipes. The quiche recipes in Joy of Cooking and the America's Test Kitchen cookbook, as well as this one: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spinach-quiche/detail.aspx. I had to use all three because I couldn't find one for a simple spinach quiche.
I'm convinced that the cheese you use will make or break this recipe. Be sure NOT to buy wax posing as cheese. Ask the cheese specialist at your store which of the cheddars, etc. is worth buying. For this we used Romano cheese that Brett bought in Germany and 365 sharp cheddar.
Spinach Quiche
Crust:
Brush your pie pan with olive oil.
Insert pie crust.
Prick and make the edges pretty (something you can't do with pizza crust).
Brush with olive oil and minced garlic.
Pre-bake 7 minutes or less at temp for pie crust.
Remove from oven.
Set oven to 350.
Filling, etc.:
Cube 1/2 cup strong cheese (Romano, feta, etc.) and 1/4 cup sharp cheddar.
Saute together olive oil, one bunch of spring onions chopped, ~10 oz fresh spinach (stems removed) chopped until the spinach wilts and the water cooks off. Remove from heat.
Beat together 2 cups milk, 4 eggs, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, some nutmeg, a little chopped fresh parsley.
Mix cheese with the spinach and immediately spread the mixture on the bottom of your pie crust.
Open oven and pull out your middle rack. Place pie pan on rack.
Rebeat custard mixture (because all the pepper will have sunk to the bottom) and poor evenly over spinach until 1/2 in from the top of the crust.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown and a knife can come out clean 1 in from edge of quiche.
Allow to cool at least 15 min.
Enjoy!
By the way, when I made this I had a whole bunch of custard mixture left over. I poured it into my mini muffin tin and added a chunk of garlic to each cup. Then I baked them at 350 for 20 min. I haven't tried them yet. I just didn't want to throw away any food. I'm thinking I could put these little cups on a salad or something.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Spring Is Here!
Hello again!
It is spring and spring means ASPARAGUS! We are avid asparagus lovers, but decided a couple of years ago only to eat it when it is in season locally. It appears at the farmer's market for about a month when it's in season. It is so delicious! Barbara Kingsolver, in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle convinced us to wait until the spring to eat asparagus. It's better for the earth: since it hasn't been shipped from South America or California we are not paying for shipping. In other words, local, in-season asparagus (or any food for that matter) is not gas-guzzling, carbon-monoxide emitting food. Plus, it tastes better fresh. There's nothing like it!
Barbara Kingsolver also taught us to cook asparagus with mushrooms, something we had never thought of before. Wild morel mushrooms are available at the same time as the asparagus. Morels are AMAZING! However, if you don't know where to forage for them yourself, they are very expensive. You can substitute crimini or shitake for them.
Mark Bittman wrote an article called The Flavor of Spring in the Wednesday, May 13, 2009 New York Times (D2). He wrote, "In an ideal world, here's what a spring dish might look like: you take morels from your foraging trip, cream and butter from your cow, and asparagus, shallots and herbs from your garden. You combine them in any way that makes sense to you, and then you thank the forest, the cow and your backyard for providing such amazing bounty." In our case, we thank the farmer's market. We adapted the recipe found in the article. Here's how we combined these spring delights!
Asparagus and Mushroom Stir Fry
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs butter
1 bunch chopped spring onions or leeks, chopped
1 pound of mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (or more, you could never have too many): crimini, shitake, morel, porcini, etc.
1/3 lb chicken cut into stir fry strips
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 bunch of farmer's market asparagus (~ 1 lb), trimmed and cut into 1.5in pieces
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp flour
~1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro, tarragon, or chervil
salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat butter and olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions/leeks, mushrooms, and chicken. Cook until mushrooms have released their liquid and it has cooked off, about 10 min. Add the garlic ~half-way through. Be sure to flip the chicken often until it has cooked through. Feel free to break up the chicken as it cooks. The chicken will cook through before the mushroom juice cooks off.
2. Add the asparagus and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduced heat, and simmer for 2-4 min.
3. Whisk together milk and flour in a cup. Add to the skillet with the herbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue cooking uncovered until the sauce thickens slightly and the asparagus is tender, about 4 min.
4. Serve over angel hair pasta.
It is spring and spring means ASPARAGUS! We are avid asparagus lovers, but decided a couple of years ago only to eat it when it is in season locally. It appears at the farmer's market for about a month when it's in season. It is so delicious! Barbara Kingsolver, in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle convinced us to wait until the spring to eat asparagus. It's better for the earth: since it hasn't been shipped from South America or California we are not paying for shipping. In other words, local, in-season asparagus (or any food for that matter) is not gas-guzzling, carbon-monoxide emitting food. Plus, it tastes better fresh. There's nothing like it!
Barbara Kingsolver also taught us to cook asparagus with mushrooms, something we had never thought of before. Wild morel mushrooms are available at the same time as the asparagus. Morels are AMAZING! However, if you don't know where to forage for them yourself, they are very expensive. You can substitute crimini or shitake for them.
Mark Bittman wrote an article called The Flavor of Spring in the Wednesday, May 13, 2009 New York Times (D2). He wrote, "In an ideal world, here's what a spring dish might look like: you take morels from your foraging trip, cream and butter from your cow, and asparagus, shallots and herbs from your garden. You combine them in any way that makes sense to you, and then you thank the forest, the cow and your backyard for providing such amazing bounty." In our case, we thank the farmer's market. We adapted the recipe found in the article. Here's how we combined these spring delights!
Asparagus and Mushroom Stir Fry
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs butter
1 bunch chopped spring onions or leeks, chopped
1 pound of mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (or more, you could never have too many): crimini, shitake, morel, porcini, etc.
1/3 lb chicken cut into stir fry strips
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 bunch of farmer's market asparagus (~ 1 lb), trimmed and cut into 1.5in pieces
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp flour
~1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro, tarragon, or chervil
salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat butter and olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions/leeks, mushrooms, and chicken. Cook until mushrooms have released their liquid and it has cooked off, about 10 min. Add the garlic ~half-way through. Be sure to flip the chicken often until it has cooked through. Feel free to break up the chicken as it cooks. The chicken will cook through before the mushroom juice cooks off.
2. Add the asparagus and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduced heat, and simmer for 2-4 min.
3. Whisk together milk and flour in a cup. Add to the skillet with the herbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue cooking uncovered until the sauce thickens slightly and the asparagus is tender, about 4 min.
4. Serve over angel hair pasta.
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