Bacon & Leek Quiche

Now that I have kids, all the excitement of Easter has returned. The getting together with family and friends, basket decorating, egg hunting and of course, Easter brunch. One of my favorite things to make for a brunch is quiche. It's easy, elegant and darn tasty. The perfect marriage of breakfast and lunch. Here is the one I made for this year's Easter brunch.

Bacon & Leek Quiche

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 leeks (light green and white parts only), cleaned and sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick
• 1 large shallot, sliced thinly crosswise
• 6 slices of thick, center cut bacon; cooked until golden brown and crispy, crumbled/diced into 1/3 inch pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 6 jumbo eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 tsp ground thyme
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss and/or Gruyere cheese
• 1 pie crust(homemade or store-bought frozen), fitted to a glass pie plate or 10 inch tart pan

Directions

If you are using a frozen pie crust, let the dough defrost a bit by letting it sit in room temperature.

When it has softened, place the dough into your tart pan or pie plate and spread out the dough with your fingers until it fits the pan all the way up to the edges. Then leave it the fridge until you are ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat up a medium pan over medium heat. When pan is hot add the butter, olive oil, leeks and shallots. Cook for about 5 minutes or until softened, stirring constantly. Set aside in a bowl and allow to cool.

Combine the eggs, cream, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a food processor or blender. Blend for about 20 seconds.

Pour a small amount of egg mixture into the pie dish, just enough to cover the bottom. Add your leeks, evenly spread them out. Then evenly scatter the crumbled bacon on top of the leek layer. Next evenly sprinkle the cheese on top of the bacon layer. Finish off by pouring the rest of the egg mixture on top until it fills it completely without overflowing. Place on a baking sheet (in case there is overflow) and into the oven for about 40 minutes or until the egg mixture is firm and the top is a golden brown. Don't overcook.

Let rest for at least ten minutes. Cut into 6-8 pieces. Serve hot or room temperature.

Waffle of Insane Greatness

My family and I just went through a fast and furious bout of the stomach flu. We are all feeling much better but there is still very little we can eat and keep down. 

Strangely, I had this huge hankering for Belgian waffles. It may have had something to do with watching Bobby Flay whip up the most sinful looking waffles ever on the Food Channel. I think he must have used three stick of butter at the end of the day. As much as I love butter, I couldn't make that for my family in good conscience. So I found this recipe on the internet that wasn't low-fat by any means but a lot less trouble than I could have gotten in. Okay and how could you bypass a recipe that has "Waffle of Insane Greatness" as a title?

Waffle of Insane Greatness 

Recipe courtesy Aretha Frankensteins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cup whole milk or buttermilk
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Butter and syrup, for serving

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.
Preheat a waffle iron. *Do not use non-stick spray on the waffle iron; the oil in the batter will allow the waffle to release easily. Follow the directions on your waffle iron to cook the waffles. Serve immediately with butter and syrup.

* I ended up brushing a little vegetable oil onto my waffle maker before adding the batter. Depends on your waffle maker.


Cool Tools:

Home skillet...

A great way to get rid of leftovers is to throw them into an omelet or frittata. Most veggies and cheeses will work. All you need to do is cut up your leftover veggies and heat them up a bit in the microwave. Then it all goes into the pan and you have a healthy, tasty meal in about ten minutes.

This morning I was able to finally say goodbye to a handful of roasted red potatoes I had. There wasn't enough to serve the whole family again but too many to just throw away. I also found a bit of goat cheese that had to go soon. So it all became a part of a breakfast frittata.

Breakfast Skillet Frittata

• 5 large eggs
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
• 1 large shallot, chopped fine
• roasted potatoes, cut into bite-size pieces, heated up in the microwave
• 2-3 oz of goat cheese

Turn oven on to BROIL (500 degrees F). Adjust the oven rack to the middle position.

Beat eggs well with salt and pepper in a bowl, set aside.

Heat up the oil in  a medium-sized cast iron skillet pan on medium-low.

Add the shallots and saute for about 5 minutes until softened. Evenly spread out the shallots and pour the eggs on top.

Add the potatoes and goat cheese, evenly dispersing everything. Cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes.

Then place the entire pan into the oven under the broiler for about 3 minutes or until the eggs are set. Remove from the oven and serve hot or warm.


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Egg-cellent...

I was supposed to do a big grocery shop today but it never happened. I stepped foot into the store with my two-year-old girl and for reasons I still haven't figured out, she threw a major tantrum. I put the few items I had put in my cart back on the shelves and walked out with my mini terror.

Back at home, Little Miss Sunshine was still in a funk. She isn't able to verbalize her feelings yet and I know it must be frustrating. We were low on food but there was no way I was going to back to the store.

The only vegetables I had, besides lettuce and onions, was this package of frozen grilled eggplant and zucchini. I had no meat or fish but I did have a lot of eggs and cheese...

...a frittata was born.

Grilled Veggie Frittata 

• 8 jumbo eggs
• 3 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup cheese of your liking, shredded
• 1 cup grilled veggies of your liking, cut into bite size pieces
• Vegetable or olive oil

Turn on oven to broil and adjust the rack to the middle position.

Heat up one tablespoon of oil in a 12 inch non-stick pan over medium heat. Swirl it around to coat the pan.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs, salt, pepper and cream together with a whisk. Stir in the cheese and veggies until well combined.

When the oil is glistening, add the egg and veggie mixture.

Using a spatula, spread the veggies out evenly in the pan. Let it cook undisturbed for 5-6 minutes until the eggs are more than half way set. Make sure the bottom doesn't burn.

Put the pan into the oven and cook for 4-5 minutes more. The frittata should be puffy and starting to brown. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Cut into slices and serve hot or warm.

Griddling around...

I try to cook pancakes for the kids once a week. They go nuts for them so I make plenty to freeze as well. The frozen ones make a quick and easy breakfast option during the week. It is something that I really have to push myself to make though. I am NOT a morning person. It seems that no matter how early I go to bed, I still need to be DRAGGED out of bed by my baby girl.

My favorite traditional pancake recipe is from The New Best Recipe cookbook. It isn't as easy as adding water to a boxed pancake mix but I like to go with quality over ease. If I could find a ready-made mix that tasted phenomenal, trust me, I'd go with that in a heartbeat!

Light and Fluffy Pancakes

1 tbsp juice from lemon

2 cups of milk
2 cups flour

2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Whisk the lemon juice and milk together in a medium bowl or large measuring cup; set aside to thicken while preparing the other ingredients. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to combine.

2. Whisk the egg and melted butter into the milk until combined.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients in the bowl; pour in the milk mixture and whisk very gently until just combined (a few lumps should remain). Do not overmix.

3. Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes; add 1 teaspoon of oil and brush to coat the skillet bottom evenly.

Pour 1/4 cup batter onto 3 spots on the skillet. Cook the pancakes until large bubbles begin to appear, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Using a thin, wide spatula, flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown on the second side, 1 to 1/2 minute longer. Serve immediately. Repeat with the remaining batter, using the remaining vegetable oil only if necessary.

Cool Tools:

A white, ceramic pancake/tortilla warmer from Crate and Barrel. Cute enough to put right onto the table. Unfortunately, it looks like it is no longer available. :(

Well stacked...

Kids love pancakes. The problem is, if you are like me at 6:30 am, you are too sleepy to make pancakes from scratch. That is what happened this morning.

Last night I looked up some recipes for ricotta pancakes. I had quite a bit of ricotta left over from when I made lasagna so this would help get rid of it before it went bad. Now all of these recipes required you to separate the eggs and whip the whites until frothy. Those were two extra steps! Okay fine, I still wanted to make them. Fast forward to 7am...it was not going to happen. Sorry kids!

In the end I decided to make the ricotta pancakes for lunch. Hey, I had sandwiches for dinner. Why not have pancakes for lunch? The extra work of separating the eggs and whipping the whites took about five minutes. Let me tell you, well worth it. Some of the best pancakes I've ever tasted. Super light, moist and delicate. The recipe made almost two dozen. The kids wolfed down three each within minutes and the rest went into a Ziploc bag straight to the freezer. Now I have several future pancake breakfasts waiting no matter how out of it I am.

Ricotta Pancakes With Blueberries

• Recipe by Neal Fraser

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons milk
• 6 ounces ricotta cheese (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• Unsalted butter, for the griddle
• 1 pint fresh blueberries or 2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the milk, ricotta, sugar and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites at medium speed until frothy. Beat at high speed until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter until no streaks remain.

Preheat the oven to 225°. Heat a griddle, then lightly butter it. For each pancake, ladle a scant 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle; be sure to leave enough space between the pancakes. Cook over moderately low heat until the bottoms are golden and the pancakes are just beginning to set, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle each pancake with a few blueberries and press lightly. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden on the bottom and cooked through, about 1 minute longer. Transfer the pancakes to plates and keep them warm in the oven while you make the rest. Serve the pancakes with maple syrup.

*I made some adjustments to this recipe. I didn't have whole milk so I used 1% milk. I also added two tablespoons of sour cream to replace some of the richness. I didn't have blueberries so mine were plain. The eggs I used were extra large/jumbo size and instead of whipping them until frothy, I went for about four minutes. I cooked mine on my electric griddle at 325 degrees F. I flipped them when the edges were starting to set. Oh, and I never did use my oven. They turned out amazing!


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It's a pancake morning...

Last week I made the turkey chili and of course had to have corn bread to go with it. The corn bread muffins I made had buttermilk in them. I can only find large 16 oz containers of buttermilk at the stores and my recipes seem to always call for a small amount. What to do with almost 3 cups of leftover buttermilk? This morning it was buttermilk pancakes. I understand that most of us parents are often groggy and sleep deprived every morning. Pancakes made from scratch is hardly something you want to take on when you feel like the undead. This morning I was up for it. I found a great Martha Stewart recipe but didn't have quite enough buttermilk. I added regular whole milk to make up the amount and they turned out great. The recipe makes way more than my family can eat so I just froze the rest for future breakfasts. Thanks, Martha!!!

Best Buttermilk Pancakes

The key to fluffy pancakes is not to overmix the batter; it should not be beaten smooth. If serving these pancakes with bacon, reserve half a teaspoon of bacon drippings to grease the griddle instead of butter.
Ingredients

Makes nine 6-inch pancakes

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 3 cups buttermilk
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 1/2 teaspoon for griddle

Directions

1. Heat griddle to 375 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
2. Heat oven to 175 degrees. Test griddle by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon of butter or reserved bacon fat onto griddle. Wipe off excess.
3. Using a 4-ounce ladle, about 1/2 cup, pour pancake batter, in pools 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
4. Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes on a heatproof plate in oven. Serve warm.

From Martha Stewart Living, January 2001