quiche, upgraded

I've previously posted about the simplicity of making quiche, and some variations we tried for a party we had. Earlier this week I dropped a carton of eggs and half of them cracked, but I was able to salvage the insides. Since it's six eggs to a quiche, it was the logical thing to do.

Typically my quiche involve rolled out puff pastry, since it is easy, requires no extra prep, and it makes a nice flaky crust. Six eggs, glug of half and half, fillings and cheeses of choice, layer fillings and cheese, whip eggs and half and half, pour over fillings, bake at 350 for 45 min or until it's not so wiggly. I tried a different crust, one made from potatoes, because potatoes are both awesome and typically on sale around St. Patrick's day. I grated about a pound of potatoes, brought them to a boil, and then let them drain and cool a bit. I mixed them with a handful of parmesan and a tablespoon of melted butter, and then patted the mixture into place in a pie plate. I baked it at 425 for about 25 minutes, until it was brown and places and seemed cooked through.

For fillings, I got some baby bella mushrooms, some proscuitto, grape tomatoes, and chives. For cheeses, some good parmesan, some okay mozarella, and some fresh mozarella to cover it with. So the parmesan and normal mozarella went in like normal quiche, then I poured in the egg mixture as above, and then put a layer of fresh mozarella slices on the top.

It is really, really good.

On an unrelated note, I also got corned beef and cabbage, and then chuck roast was on sale, so I got stuff for beef stew as well. I also noticed that they had really nice cuts of brisket, not amazingly huge, for sale. Not sure if that's a St. Patrick's Day thing or regular, but I may have to get some and see what I can get it to do with just an oven.

tuscan kale and cara cara oranges

The farmer's market here is open year round, but it gets a little spotty this time of year, apparently. There's one guy who's there, rain or shine, first to arrive, last to leave. During the fall he had the pluots. Now he's got some nuts and dried nectarines as well as a whole lot of citrus. All of it is local, organic, and the most expensive is about a dollar a pound. The blood oranges have been a regular purchase and I've been eating them as dessert, since the tart and sweet is a really nice finish to a good meal. I also have been getting a variety called Cara Cara (named apparently for the area it originated from, in Venezuala), which have a reddish tinged flesh and are extremely sweet and less tart then standard navels.

I also picked up some Tuscan kale, which is long and skinny kale without a lot of curl to it. It was recommended in the latest issue of Bon Appetit, but I didn't figure that I'd be able to actually find it. The recipe they used to highlight suggested basically roasting it, much the way I approach aspargus, saying it would turn sweet and nutty. I may still try it, but this is what I did.

In a non stick everything pan, I put some thick sliced bacon, got it somewhere close to crispy, but more importantly, the pan full of bacon grease and bits. I then put a few leaves of the kale in there, treating them basically like bacon. Finally, I turned the heat down a bit, and fried two eggs (also from the farmer's market, the color and flavor of the yolk is out of this world). Then I made it all into a sandwich. Wow. The kale really is amazing, if you can find it, get it. Then an orange and some tea to finish it all off. Mmm.

I still have raddicio (two varieties), which I think is going to go into a risotto with the dried nectarines and some smoked gouda (no smoked mozarella at the store, sadly).

Making my own

One of the wonderful things I got for christmas this year was a food processor. A full on, 14 cup capacity cuisinart. I used my moms for the period we overlapped at the Storrs house, and it is an incredibly versatile piece of equipment. What this has prompted me to do is to start making things that I would ordinarily buy.

First up was hummus. I've been eating a lot of celery with peanut butter because organic celery was on sale for a dollar a bunch or something ridiculous and peanut butter is delicious. So I figured I'd mix it up with some hummus. I tried a variant Alton Brown suggested, using peanut butter and sesame oil as a substitute for tahini, since the only tahini I could find locally seemed very overpriced. Not the same, but definitely edible.

I also made salsa, which is not a new thing for me, but something I've been craving to supplement breakfast burritos.

I keep meaning to make bread, since I have all the necessary tools and ingredients, but keep putting it off because I had other things to eat and take for lunch. Tomorrow is another possibility.

A post at the Homesick Texan has me considering making my own chorizo, as while it's very easy to come by here, making it from scratch gives me a lot more control over the ingredients and thus quality.