Posts filed under 'Side Dishes'
Good heavens, I really love Quiche! My husband calls it “one of those divisive foods”. I guess that means it falls into the same category as sauerkraut, brussels sprouts, and bleu cheese… foods that wars are fought over. Some folks are ga-ga over it, others gag. Very few people fall into the middle ground on foods like these. It seems like a lot of men think quiche is “gay” and are afraid that eating it will severely lower their manliness. (Wow! I hope their manliness is not that fragile!) Ladies seem to often think that it is just the ideal thing when eating together, say, for tea — especially if the quiches are very tiny and you can pop them individually into your mouth. I have no idea why - maybe we think it increases our femininity.
I made quiche for dinner last night. Normal-sized, not mouth-pop-able. To be safe, I also made French Onion soup and garlic toast, hoping there would be something on the table to please everyone. It was the first time I made quiche without a recipe - just “winging it”. I do have an old favorite of crustless spinach quiche which I got from an ancient cookbook in the early years of my marriage, but it has never gone over really well and instead of trying to improve on it, I just made this up as I went along.
The quiche I made last night, thankfully, turned out yummier than I expected. I just enjoyed it again for lunch. It’s crustless, but with a crunchy crouton topping. Here’s the recipe:
Spinach Quiche
6 slices of bacon
1 bag fresh spinach leaves
3 cloves fresh garlic
2 T. olive oil
5 eggs
3/4 c. milk or soymilk
1 1/2 c. shredded monterey jack cheese
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
croutons, crushed
Start by frying up the bacon as you usually would. I like thick sliced bacon - it’s what I always use. If you are using the thin stuff, consider increasing the amount to 8 slices. Drain the bacon on a paper towel and set aside. Discard the bacon fat and clean your skillet or switch to a large, clean skillet.
Next, crush and dice the garlic and put it into a large skillet with your olive oil. Set the heat to medium, and while it warms up, chop the spinach up into bite-sized pieces. Often, frozen spinach is recommended for quiches and other spinach recipes, but I say “the fresher, the better!” Add the spinach to your now-hot oil and garlic. Stir and fry for a few moments until the spinach is wilted. That’s all it needs. Then remove from the heat and set aside. (You now have both the bacon and the garlic-spinach combo waiting on the sidelines.)
In a large bowl, break all five eggs and whip them up with the milk, salt, and pepper. Use a spatula to add the cheeses, then the spinach. Finally, cut up the bacon with your kitchen scissors and add that, too! Grease a regular 9 or 10 inch pie pan and pour your quiche mixture into it.
This needs to go into a 350 - 375 degree oven for 45-55 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, sprinkle the crushed croutons on top and return to the oven. You know it’s done when the middle doesn’t jiggle and you poke a knife into the center and can see cooked instead of runny eggs.
ENJOY!
I’ll be honest about the thumbs up count: There are 7 in our family. 1 was not home, 1 did not even eat the quiche, 2 (the little guys) were forced to eat the quiche. My husband ate a little but LOVES French Onion soup, so he focused on that. Really, only 2 of us dug into this quiche and really enjoyed it. Divisive foods. Ugh.
Signing off now–
the chow hall chef
September 4th, 2009
They say necessity is the mother of invention and I sure believe it. This morning I realized I was out of bread. This brought on a mini baking frenzy which ended this afternoon. The result: 2 new bread flavors I’d never even considered before.
Some people, probably most people, would have just skipped off to the nearest grocery and picked up a loaf or two of bread. Not me. I try to stay away from the grocery mid-week. I mean, hey, a trip to the grocery for a gallon of milk can easily cost me $40 or more. I pick things up simply because they are on sale, I am hungry, I’ve got a winy kid with me, or they just look good. So, when I run out of bread, I bake bread. It may take more time, but it saves the dough (pun intended.)
Experimenting with the whole grains is another thing I like to do, and since I’ve got a bread machine, all of this is really pretty simple. Exchange a few ingredients and you have an entirely different-tasting fresh homemade bread. The trouble is that when it’s homemade, the family eats more of it and faster so I have to make 4 or even 6 loaves to replace 1 or 2 store-bought loaves of bread.
The first of today’s batches included Old-Fashioned Oats and Almonds. YUM! I suspect this will be delicious tomorrow morning with butter and orange marmalade.
Almond Crunch Oatmeal Bread
makes 2 loaves
1 1/2 c. water
2 T. olive oil
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1 c. finely chopped whole oats with almonds
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 1/2 c. white flour
2 1/4 t. yeast
Into the bread machine goes: water, oil, sugar, salt.
Next, into the chopper: Old Fashioned oats and slivered almonds. Sorry, folks, I didn’t measure before chopping, only afterward. It looked like maybe 1 1/2 cups before chopping. Maybe 1/3 c. of this was the almonds. Obviously, these amounts are very forgiving. Basically, you need 4 cups of dry ingredients.
Add the oats, nuts, and both flours to the wet ingredients that are in the bread machine already. Make a little well and add the yeast. I’ve always added my yeast this way and never have a problem with it.
Set the bread machine cycle to “dough.” I never use my machine for baking. The crust is always too thick and tough. When it is done with the dough cycle, I turn it onto a floured cutting board, knead it a few times, and then divide it in half. Form each into a small loaf shape. Next I spray my trusty old glass loaf pans and place the dough into them.
After about an hour, the dough should be roughly doubled in size. This could be more or less than an hour, depending on the room temperature. At that time, heat the oven to 375 and bake for 20 minutes or until nicely golden brown on top.
Remove from the oven. About 10 minutes later, remove from the pans. Do not attempt to cut it yet. (This is where my kids always fail me. They cut, the loaf smashes and is a flattened, non-loaf shape ever after. But, hey, the important part is that they got a piece of it while it was warm!) It will slice much better after cooling. If you absolutely HAVE to have a warm slice, wait at least 5 more minutes - the longer you wait the better it will hold its shape.
And THAT, my friends, is how you make Almond Crunch Oatmeal Bread. A sure way to please any bread-lover. If you’re trying to get out of the doghouse with the husband (or wife) for some reason, try this one out. Serve with butter and jam.
April 2nd, 2008
This dish, of course, accompanied our Lemon Basil Salmon a couple of nights ago. I wanted a light sauce for our pasta because the Salmon was the main event that night. Steering away from heavy, creamy, or cheesy sauce, I invented this:
Lemon Basil Linguine
serves 6 as a side dish
4 oz. Linguine
3 T. lemon juice
2 T. olive oil
1/2 c. chicken broth
1/2 t. dried basil
dashes of salt, pepper, and garlic powder
Naturally, start with a large pot of salted, boiling water and cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. When it’s done, drain in a colander.
Toss everything together and serve. This pasta had a mild lemony flavor that went really well with the fish.
March 12th, 2008
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