Deep (and I mean DEEEEP) Dish Quiche

Last night we hosted our home fellowship group for Bible study and prayer.  I decided I wanted to make something a little different for our snack/dinner meal.  Several months ago my mom had given me a recipe for a "makes-its-own-crust" quiche, and I decided to give it a try.  I've always been intimidated by making my own pie crust, so I thought this recipe would be an easy alternative

About half-way through the baking process I was shocked to see this in my oven:

This photo doesn't capture the quiche's true size, but this quiche is at least 3.5" deep!  I quickly called my mom and asked her if she had indeed made her recipe in a 9x13" pan.  She responded, "Well, maybe I split the mixture between 2 pans..."  Our guests definitely had a good laugh when they saw the massive quiche. It was delicious and I'll be making it again... but in 2 pans in stead of 1!

In case you're interested, I've posted my mom's recipe below.

Egg Mixture Ingredients:

12 eggs

1 ½ cup all purpose flour  

1.5 tsp teaspoon baking powder

1.5 or so teaspoon salt

Pepper

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 quart half and half (next time I may just use milk)

Filling Ingredients:

Chopped sautéed onion, sauteed in  3 tablespoons butter.

1 lb pork sausage, browned and drained of grease (next time I'm going to try ham or bacon)

1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 package chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and drained

Instructions:

Use mixer to beat eggs and flour, add the other Egg Mixture Ingredients and stir until blended. Taste to make sure not too salty. Yes, take a taste of the egg mixture.

Distributute onions, sausage, spinach and cheese etc in bottom of a greased pan (1 very DEEP 9x13" pan or 3 8" square pans). Pour egg mixture over top.

Bake at 400°F for 30 – 35 minutes (longer for deep dish version), or until the top is nice and brown and the center of the quiche does not wobble too much. Do not overbake. Top with extra cheese to make it more attractive before serving.

Allow quiche to rest for 5 – 10 minutes before cutting to serve. 

Triple Ginger Cookies

I love ginger, so when I saw a recipe for Triple Ginger Cookies in Bon Appetit Magazine, I knew I had to make it.  These cookies are similar to a molasses cookie, but include three types of ginger: ground ginger, fresh ginger, and crystallized ginger (I used dehydraded sweetened ginger found at a Chinese grocery store).  The flavor was delightful and not too intense; the texture was just how I like it: firm edges, soft and chewey in the center.  If you like a spicy ginger cookie, I would increase the amount of crystallized ginger.  My husband loved these cookies.  He is carefully rationing them so that he can have one in his lunch each day.

Triple Ginger Cookies (courtesy of Bon Appetit)

INGREDIENTS


2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup minced crystallized ginger

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/4 cup light (mild-flavored) molasses

1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated fresh peeled ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup (about) sugar

PREPARATION

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, crystallized ginger, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy and light, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in both brown sugars. Beat on medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, molasses, fresh ginger, ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat to blend. Add flour mixture in 2 additions, beating on low speed just to blend between additions.

Place 1/3 cup sugar in small bowl. Measure 1 tablespoon dough. Roll into ball between palms of hands, then roll in sugar in bowl to coat; place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cookie dough, spacing cookies 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until surfaces crack and cookies are firm around edges but still slightly soft in center.  The recipe suggested baking cookies for 15 minutes; however, I only left mine in for 13 minutes.  I prefer a softer cookie.

My Very First Loaf of Bread

Last Friday, I decided to make homemade bread for the very first time. Baking bread has always intimidated me, but I figured I'd give it a try. I consulted my three cookbooks and settled on a challah recipe I found in my Cook's Illustrated cookbook, given to me by my sister. After mixing up the dough, I was feeling quite smug at my bread-making abilities. Bread making seemed much easier than I thought it would be. After about an hour, I checked to see how far my dough had risen. To my surprise, the dough had not risen at ALL. I reviewed the recipe three times, wondering what I could have possibly done wrong. Finally, it dawned on me...

Instead of using instant yeast, as the recipe had called for, I had used active dry yeast, a slower acting yeast that must be activated in water before it is mixed in with dough. In a panic, I searched the internet for instructions on how to revitalize dough that fails to rise. I revitalized the dough with fresh, activated yeast. Thankfully, the dough rose as expected and baked up quite nicely.

The bread was a little heavier and flatter than I had expected, but considering my mistake, it wasn't that bad.

The bread also made excellent French toast. Yum!

Pesto White Lasagna with Sausage, Spinach and Zucchini

Last night I attempted my own version of a white lasagna. Borrowing from several recipes, I ended up with the most delicious white lasagna I have ever tasted. Not too wet, not too dry, with a delicate pesto flavor and a little kick from Italian sausage.

This picture doesn't really do the lasagna justice- I should have taken a photo of a sliced piece. Oh well, next time!

This lasagna contains spinach, zucchini, Italian sausage, and onion. However, you could substitute chicken and other vegetables. Next time, I think I'm going to try it with chicken and artichoke hearts...maybe even sun dried tomatoes.

Warning: this recipe is a little time consuming. I would recommend doubling it and making two batches at once, one for the freezer.

Here's what you need:

9x9 baking pan

Filling:

1 package no boil lasagna noodles (If you're short on time, soften noodles in boiling water).

1 package fresh spinach

1/4 to 1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 tsp pesto

1 medium sized zucchini, sliced medium thin

1/2 medium sized white onion, chopped

3 Italian sausages (in casings)

1 tsp minced garlic

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Seasonings

Sauce:

3T butter

3T four

3 cups milk

Splash of white whine

1 tsp (generous) pesto

1/8- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Seasonings

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Submerge spinach until just wilted (30 seconds), remove promptly and place in a bowl of cool water. Remove spinach from bowl, squeeze out excess water, and chop. Add to a small bowl with cottage cheese and 1 tsp pesto. Stir, lightly salt and pepper, and set aside.

3. In a frying pan, brown Italian sausage. Once cooked, remove and set aside to cool.

4. Saute onion and garlic in pan used to brown Italian sausage. When onion is semi-soft, add zucchini, a little bit of olive oil, and salt and pepper (or my favorite: Garlic Salt & Pepper seasoning). Saute until zucchini is fork-tender. Remove mixture and place in bowl.

5. Slice Italian sausage into thin disks. Return to frying pan and brown. This adds a nice flavor.

6. Meanwhile, begin making white sauce. Over medium heat, melt butter. Once butter is melted, add flour, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Slowly add milk one cup at a time, until mixture is smooth. Turn heat up to medium high until mixture starts to boil. Continue whisking. Bring to a simmer, whisking frequently, until mixture reaches desired thickness (about 10 minutes). Add a splash of white white to thin sauce, if desired. Add plenty of salt and pepper, Parmesan, and pesto. Adjust seasonings as necessary.

7. Layer noodles, sauce, cottage cheese mixture, zucchini mixture, sausage, and shredded mozzarella in pan, finishing with a final layer of noodle, sauce, and cheese. Cover loosely with foil.

8. Bake in oven for 35 to 50 minutes, until bubbly. Remove foil for last 5 or 10 minutes. This will produce a nice golden, brown color on the top.

Bad Apples...Good Cake!

I bought some apples at a farmer's market recently, which turned out to be horrible... you know the type that disintegrate into mush in your mouth? In general, the apples were inedible. So, last night I decided to make apple cake out of them! I found a new recipe online and decided to give it a shot. It was delicious! I have reproduced the recipe below, which I found here: http://www.the4cs.com/~cathy/Apples/cake.html

Apple Cake

• 4 cups peeled and diced apples (I used slightly more)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I left out the nuts)
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (I put in a little extra)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix apples and sugar thoroughly. Add oil, nuts, eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and add to apple mixture. Bake in a greased 9x13 inch pan for 1 hour (I actually used a 9x9 inch pan and baked for about 50 minutes).

I was very pleased with how this turned out (John was too!). The edges of the cake had a nice crisp (but not too crisp), chewyness to them, and the center of the cake was moist and tender. I wish I would have taken a photograph of the cake, but I'll have to do that next time!