Showing posts with label Quiche Lorainne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quiche Lorainne. Show all posts

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Real Men DO Eat Quiche

We had a classic quiche Lorraine for dinner the past two nights.  I make a shortbread crust of 1 cup flour, 1 stick unsalted butter, 1/2 t. salt and 2 T. half and half  Use  your fingers to blend the flour and shortening, then add salt and half and half.  Press into a 9 inch pie plate.

I used the classic bacon and swiss cheese filling.  Used more like 1/4 lb of bacon than half of pound which seems excessive although delicious.  That (sauteed until done but not crispy) goes into the bottom of the chilled crust  which you have pierced with a fork a few times.

On the bacon, add 1/2 pound grated (or cubed) Swiss cheese (I use Emmental or Jahrlsburg).  The recipe calls for 2 oz. Gruyere, but I had some leftover Mancheco and Iberico (both from Spain) and used that.  Put it on top the bacon. 

My filling calls for 4 eggs and 1 1/2 cups half and half, beaten together with a little more salt, some pepper and a pinch of cayenne.   Pour on top the cheese. 

For ease of cleanup, I line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper, and put the quiche into the oven on that.  400 degree preheated oven.  Bake about 40 minutes or until done in the center.  A bit of parsley or chives on top the filling add a bit of color but are not necessary.  Serves 4 or maybe 6 for lunch, but not at our house.

You can experiment with broccoli, spinach, mushrooms and any number of veggies, although I draw the line at zucchini.  Onion is good.  Combos are better.  With a salad, it's a complete meal.  We had salad AND broccoli last night.  Yummy.

I made a dessert of ricotta
cheese, a soupcon of sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder and instant espresso coffee powder, thinned with a bit of cream.  This is a South Beach Diet dessert and quite good.  You can use artificial sweetener if you like.

The weather is warming up and thoughts of main course salads and grilling are upon us.  Put up the hummingbird feeder yesterday.  Ah, spring! 
Classic Quiche Lorraine with a short bread crust

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Supermarket Trifecta

Trader Joe opened a store a few miles from here.  And Walmart, also a few miles away, just added a HUGE grocery department.  The competition must have caused our local supermarket to offer a whole slew of BOGOs.  (Buy One Get One, in retail parlance.)  We saved hugely shopping at all three stores one week.  French cheese at Trader Joe's, Polish ham at Walmart, and a pound of fresh mushrooms for 88 cents at the local store, where they're having an anniversary sale.  It's not a bad trip to drive up Route 1 and hit all three stores.  We take our own shopping bags and load 'em up with bargains.  Christmas baking and shopping should be a dream. 

With pears on sale, I'm trying a dessert with pears, apple jack and hazel nuts.  Real uptown.  
Tonight we're have a classic Quiche Lorraine with Trader Joe's cheese, and bacon (BOGO) and pie crust from the supermarket. 
 Chicken Chasseur a few nights ago.  Fresh tarragon, the mushrooms (again) egg noodles.  Wine and brandy.  Cooking up a storm and loving it.  Photo of Chicken Chasseur below.  Brussels sprouts (so good for you) on sale too.  When great food is a bargain, one likes to cook even more.  

Here is a recipe from Bobby Flay  (Food Network) that is very close to the one I used. Chicken Chasseur 

Chicken Chasseur from Cook's Illustrated