Puff Pastry Quiche

Adapted from Pam Anderson’s Meatless Meals

BAH Note: Feel free to use just about any vegetable.  Pam suggests sliced mushrooms, halved cherry tomatoes, thin asparagus, diced leeks, or even thawed frozen spinach.

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 1 cup butter braised onions
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup grated cheese

Place oven racks in the top and bottom position and heat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll the puff pastry out on a lightly floured surface until it is just larger than a 1/4 sheet pan.  Transfer the puff pastry to the sheet pan, trimming off any overhang, and docking the pastry all over with a fork.

Spread the butter braised onions, or vegetable of your choice, into a single layer on the pastry.  Bake on the bottom oven rack for 10 to 20 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden brown.

While the puff pastry bakes, heat the evaporated milk until it is just warmed.  In a separate bowl, use a fork to beat together the eggs, salt, pepper, thyme, and sour cream.  Once the egg mixture is completely combined, stir in some of the warmed evaporated milk, about a tablespoon at a time, to temper the egg mixture.  Whisk the rest of the evaporated milk into the egg mixture before pouring the egg and milk mixture into the puff pastry and evenly sprinkling the cheese on top.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and place the sheet pan on the top rack.  Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until the egg filling is just set.  Then set the oven to broil and allow the top of the quiche to brown for about 2 minutes.

Allow the quiche to cool slightly before serving.

After the underwhelming outcome of my egg experiment, I wanted to give it another try. So I tasked my friend Google to see what other recipes were out there. The short answer is a lot. Most of the ones that I found involved baking the eggs in the oven. But there was one from Williams Sonoma that was more like a poached egg. I liked that approach because poaching, as a gentler cooking method, gives me a little more wiggle room before I go from raw to rubber.

Now, if you’ve ever looked at the recipes in the Williams Sonoma catalog, they are basically vehicles to get you to buy their wares. And I’m sure the fancy-schmancy Breakfast Pan that is specified in the Eggs en Cocotte recipe is the bomb, but a little reverse engineering with a large sauce pan and some glass ramekins worked just fine and didn’t cost me $175.

So I made myself a nice water bath on the stove and got cracking. Unlike last time, I was pretty vigilant about checking the progress of my eggs. Since I was using improvised tools, my cooking times were slightly longer than what the folks at WS said to expect. But that’s ok because after about 15 minutes (10 minutes on the heat, 5 minutes off) the whites were perfectly cooked, the yolks were firm but still soft and creamy, and the cheese had melted into the eggs and ham. I tried to get one of the eggs out of the ramekin and onto a plate can state with all certainty that eating it directly out of the ramekin is a much better idea.

Another good idea? Don’t think that this is just for breakfast or brunch. I think Eggs en Cocotte, as WS likes to call them, is a great dinner option especially if you’re cooking for just one person.

Eggs en Cocotte

Adapted from williams-sonoma.com

I easily made two individual servings in a 4 quart sauce pan on the stove. If I were cooking more than four ramekins, I would probably put the whole thing in a large roasting pan, filled with simmering water to reach halfway up the ramekins, and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

• 1/4 cup cooked bacon or ham (I used canadian bacon), diced
• 1/4 cup, plus 4 teaspoons, shredded cheese
• 4 eggs
• 8 teaspoons heavy cream (I used half and half)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• fresh chives or other herb

Fill a large sauce pan with water (I put my ramekins in the pan, added enough water to reach halfway up them, and then removed the ramekins). Cover the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low.

Lightly coat ramekins with olive oil or butter. Put 1 tablespoon diced bacon or ham in the bottom of each and top with 1 tablespoon of cheese. Break one egg into each ramekin and top with 2 teaspoons cream and 1 additional teaspoon cheese.

Place the ramekins in the simmering water. Cover and cook until whites and yolks are set. The recipe said 6 to 7 minutes for runny yolks and 9 to 10 minutes for firmer ones. Don’t be afraid to test the whites with a fork because after 10 minutes the whites were not cooked. So I let the pan sit, covered, off the heat for another five minutes or so until the whites had cooked and the yolks were soft set.

Carefully remove the ramekins from the pan, season with salt, pepper, and herbs.   Serve immediately.

{Printable Recipe}

In a perfect world, we would have had the deviled egg spread conversation right before Easter.  Because really, what happens to all those eggs that have been dyed and decorated after the egg hunt is over?  I wish someone could give me a statistic about egg sales in the two weeks before Easter to gauge the order of magnitude of how many people have hard boiled eggs giving them the stink eye from their fridge in the days after Peter Cottontail has gone hippity hoppity down the lane.

In my not-so-perfect world, this jem has been in the pile to tell you about for months.  That’s horrible, I know.  It’s not that I’ve been hoarding this information.  On the contrary, I gladly shared it with our dinner guests @Yinzerella (Emily) and her fella (Cleve) who were unknowingly my official testers for this dish.  After the deviled egg spread got lots of yummy noises and thumbs up as the hors d’oeuvres du jour for that dinner party, I intended to tell you about them right away.

But my brain, post 40, ain’t what it used to be.  I’ve been distracted by the entire first season of Ink Master, a few cringe worthy episodes of Dance Moms, the return of both Mad Men and The Killing, weekly visits to the yoga studio, and some evenings and weekends working with the ladies of Phi Mu.  There’s just not enough space in my head to keep everything straight….and it appears that deviled egg spread took the hit in this instance.

Let me throw an aside out there to you, the reader.  If you happen to fall in that demographic that makes advertisers drool, ie 18-24 or 25-34, you may be (arrogantly) thinking that this kind of thing will never happen to you.  You think that youthful perfection will always be on your side.  You can not image a day when you will be betrayed by your brain mid sentence when words just disappear or you spend 15 minutes searching for the car keys only to realize they have been in your hand the entire time.  In your mind, hell will freeze over before you will look in the mirror at the end of the day and realize that some crazy hair has been sticking out of your chin for christ knows how long (and nobody bothered to tell you).  Allow me to break the news to you gently….this IS your future.  Enjoy the youthful blessings of perfect recall, flawless complexion, and high metabolism.  Because one day, you will wake up and realize that you’ve become THAT person….the one that you mocked back in your younger days.

I say this from my own stroll down this path…Karma is a bitch and her memory is long.

Now that my public service announcement is over, let’s get back to deviled egg spread.  Because I may have missed my opportunity to get you on board with deviled egg spread in time for Easter, but we’re moving headlong into prime brunch, picnic, and potluck season.  Look at the calendar…Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day are all lined up.  These occasions were made for deviled egg spread.  Whether you make bitty finger sandwiches to take to brunch or stand in the middle of your kitchen and enjoy a a slice of Wonder bread slathered with the spread, deviled egg spread is the right answer.

It is spring weekends served on toast points and summer holiday licked from the back of a spoon.  In an ever changing world, it is one of my constants.

Deviled Egg Spread

BAH Note:  I used small biscuit cutters to get those pita rounds I used to serve the egg spread.  There were dainty and polite for our company but truth be told, I would have happily used my hands to shove this spread in my mouth.

• 6 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard

Place the eggs in pot large enough so that you can cover the eggs completely with water with about an inch or so of water above the eggs.  Add the vinegar to the pot and cook over high heat until you reach a boil.  Once the water boils, cover your pot and take it off the heat.  Allow the eggs to sit in the water for 15 minutes before you carefully remove the eggs from the hot water and cool them in a bowl of cold water.

Once the eggs are cool, pour off the water.  Peel the shells and cut the eggs in half.  Roughly chop half of the eggs.  Place the remaining half of the eggs in the food processor.  Add the mustard and mayo and pulse until smooth.  Transfer the smooth egg mixture to a bowl, stir in the chopped eggs, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

{printable recipe}

The following post appeared on BAH on 3 August 2009.

Prayer to Assist with the Enjoyment of Quality Bacon

O wonderous St. Anthony, please bless me with an abundance of quality bacon and grant me the patience and timing to properly fry each glorious strip. Amen.

I’ve fried my share of bacon over the years and I know that sometimes it does take the intercession of the Saints to keep things from going to hell in a handbasket. But I’ve learned that you don’t need the patience of a Saint to cook bacon. And you don’t need to spend hours degreasing your kitchen either. What’s my secret? My bacon never sees the inside of a frying pan anymore.

It may seem radical, but I cook my bacon in the oven. I got the idea from Ina, the Barefoot Contessa herself. And then I wondered why it never occurred to me before. It’s the perfect solution. All you need is a hot oven, a baking sheet, and a wire rack and you too can enjoy quality bacon. Amen.

Ina’s Oven Cooked Bacon

• Thick cut slices of smoked bacon
• Sheet pan
• Wire cooling rack

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place the wire cooling rack in the sheet pan and arrange the bacon on the rack in a single layer. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes until the bacon is browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels and enjoy.

{Printable Recipe}

Back in my college days of the early 1990′s, Crunchy Granola was the phrase we used to describe someone who was a little, shall we say, outside the mainstream.  Of course, this was before the mainstream engulfed the ideas of conservation, ecological stewardship, grunge, or angst…often as a means of convincing consumers to part with their disposable income.  Wow, how jaded did that sound?  Or maybe I’ve just watched too much Mad Men for my own good.

Regardless, Crunchy Granola was not used in a complimentary manner at that point in my life.  Thankfully, through the kind intervention of Pork Cracklins, that has changed.

I came home one day to find a #lovebomb on my front porch.  Inside was a card that brightened my spirits, some lovely artisanal chocolate, and a batch of her homemade crunchy granola.  And right then and there, I changed my tune.

Crunchy Granola is not all sticks, hemp, and patchouli as life on the campus of UMBC from 1990 to 1994 indicated.  Crunchy Granola is perfectly baked oats and coconut that has been lightly sweetened, salted, and spiced before being married with dried fruits.  Actually, that is my idea of Crunchy Granola.  The beauty is that it can be anything you want it to be.  Nuts, other fruits, or even little bran like sticks if that’s your thing….they’re all good.

I’ve made this a number of times since that first #lovebomb encounter.  I make it by the gallon, or so it seems, and it’s never enough.

Crunchy Granola

Adapted from Serious Eats and Melissa Clark

BAH Note: Don’t make my mistake and add the dried fruit to the oats before the granola is cooked.  The fruit will end up rock hard and capable of doing some serious dental damage.

• 3 – 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 – 1 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon or 5 spice powder
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped (optional)
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped (optional)

Heat your oven to 300 degrees and line a half sheet pan with parchment.

In a large bowl, stir together the oats and coconut and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, cook the brown sugar, canola oil, maple syrup, spice, and salt over medium-low heat just until the sugar dissolves.  Use a spoon and carefully taste the sugar mixture.  If you want a saltier granola, add salt 1/4 teaspoon at a time until it is to your taste.  Pour the heated sugar mixture over the oats and coconut and stir with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon until the oats and coconut are thoroughly coated in the sugar mixture.

Or, if you prefer, skip this step entirely and just add the canola oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, salt, and spice to the bowl of oats and coconut.  Use a spoon, or your hands, to make sure everything is evenly combined.  Taste and adjust the salt and spice to your liking.

Spread the oat mixture onto the sheet pan and bake until the granola is golden and crunchy, anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes, stirring every 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven, transfer the granola to a large bowl, and add in the dried fruit and ginger (if using).  Store in an airtight container.

{printable recipe}

I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with ideas about how The Mistah and I can finance an adoption without sending ourselves to the poor house.  The economy is tight with some people unable to find jobs at all so the likelihood of me finding a second job, any second job, isn’t promising.

I thought about opening up an Etsy shop.  But after a quick check of the competition, I determined that I would have to sell something like 10,000 jars of jam in order to turn enough of a profit to make it a viable option.  Really Etsy people, how can you sell a jar of jam for $3 or $4 dollars?  By the time you add up all of your supply costs and account for your time to make the product, does that price even cover those?

I’ve got an extensive portfolio of (mainly food) photos.  It would be ideal if I could turn them into “boutique” note cards.  I’ve got to think about that one a little more.

It’s seriously too bad that I can’t do a waffle fundraiser.  Because I have what may very well be the most perfect waffle recipe.  It pains me to say that it is an America’s Test Kitchen recipe.  It pains me, but it doesn’t surprise me.  They nailed this one.  The outside of the waffle is beautifully crisp while the inside is achingly tender.  It is a perfect balance.

These are what waffles aspire to be.  These waffles are money.  I just wish there was a way for me to turn them into actual money.

ATK Buttermilk Waffles

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen

BAH: Despite the temptation to dig right into these waffles, let them sit in a warm oven for 10 minutes.  Your patience will be rewarded with a perfectly crisp exterior.

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups plain seltzer water (not sparkling water or club soda)

Heat your oven to 250 degrees, set a wire rack inside a sheet pan and place it in the oven. Heat your waffle iron.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, buttermilk powder, and baking soda.

In a separate bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and oil until thoroughly combined.  Slowly add the seltzer water to the wet mixture and gently stir to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Gently stir the batter until it is just combined. A few lumps and streaks of flour are ok.

Cook the waffles according to your waffle iron’s directions.  Transfer the cooked waffles to the warm oven to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

{printable recipe}

This is the tale of two muffins.  Two bran muffins.  On the surface, they are completely identical.  I used the exact same recipe for both batches of muffins.  So what could possibly be different about them?  I’ll give you a hint, it has everything to do with how I baked them.

One muffin was baked in my big oven.  400 degrees for 20 minutes.  The other muffin was baked in my Advantium.  380 degrees for 16 to 18 minutes.  One muffin was made on a lazy afternoon.  The other muffin was made after a long day of work.  Can you tell which is which?

I typically avoid baking on weeknights because I’m tired, I’m cranky, and it’s tiresome to have to haul out all of the pots and pans that live in the oven in order to heat it up and bake something.  But after the Advantium arrived, I wanted to challenge myself to see if its super powers could make baking accessible to me during the week.

The proof is in the picture.  The muffin on the right is from the batch that I made on a Thursday night.  It helped that the recipe I used was minimally fussy and didn’t require me to break out the stand mixer, let the batter rest, or otherwise allow me to get sidetracked from my muffin mission.  It also helped that I halved the original recipe and only baked up a dozen of these on a weeknight.  Sometimes the smaller capacity of the Advantium totally works to my advantage.

So the two muffins may look the same, but how did they taste?  If I hadn’t known which batch of muffins of which, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you which came out of the big oven and which came out of the Advantium.

Weeknight baking mission accomplished.

Bran Muffins

Adapted from The Muffin Myth

BAH Note: There’s nothing fussy about these muffins.  They are full of wheat bran which I was readily able to find in the grocery store.  Look for Bob’s Red Mill brand.  I think they are the bran muffin equivalent of a blank canvas…sturdy and up for the job but they aren’t out to wow you.  So you might want to add in some fresh fruit and spices you like to give them a little something special.

Advantium Tip: To modify the recipe below for use in your Advantium, place the metal cooking tray on the turntable (instead of the glass tray) and install the wire rack in the bottom position.  Select Convection Bake from the menu and set the temperature to 380 degrees.  You will want to start checking for doneness after about 15 minutes.  Depending on how full you’ve filled your cups, the muffins should be done in approximately 16 to 18 minutes.

• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat your oven to 400 degrees and line approximately 18 muffin cups with liners.  Mix the applesauce, brown sugar, eggs, milk, water, and vanilla together in a large bowl.  Combine the wheat bran, flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in another bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill your muffin cups (the muffin myth said she got 12 out of the recipe but I made mine a bit smaller and got about 18) and bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are firm.

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning the muffins out on a wire rack to cool completely.  Leftover muffins can be wrapped in plastic and frozen.

{priable recipe}

Disclaimer:  As part of my partnership with GE, I received an Advantium oven.  All opinions posted about my Advantium experience are my own.

You may feel like you’re experiencing a bit of deja vu seeing that photo.  Yes, you saw it when I talked about the quick bread frosting I made with the new Kerrygold Premium Spreadable Butter.  You even got the recipe for the frosting.  But I didn’t really talk about what was under the frosting.  And that must be addressed.

Back in October I was introduced to this pumpkin bread by my friend Mary.  She stopped by for a visit and brought along a wee loaf of it for me to enjoy.  Now let me say that a visit from friends is an absolute pleasure.  But when they also come bearing gifts lovingly made with their own hands….multiply that by infinity.

After only one bite I was badgering Mary for her recipe.  And she told me that she had found it on allrecipes.com.  A few google moments later, I pulled the recipe up on my phone and had her confirm that I found the right one before I could continue in any kind of normal conversation.

A few weeks later, I went about making the pumpkin bread not knowing the chain of events that it was about to start.  First, I used it as the delivery vehicle for the quick bread frosting as part of the Kerrygold competition.  Then, I took some to work for a birthday celebration….congratulations, you’re a year older, please have a slice of quick bread.  I also delivered a loaf to the folks at the coffee shop who get my morning caffeination needs met Monday through Friday and to my chiropractor and his staff for taking such good care of me after the latest fender bender.  Lastly, I sent the rest of the batch off to the Headquarters staff of my sorority to thank them for all of their support in the last few months.

Yes, I was using butter, sugar, and pumpkin to express my thanks and appreciation.  Or in the case of the competition, to share my #butterlove…it’s what I do.  And I do it for the joy that I receive from the act of expressing my gratitude or sharing my love of something with others.  It’s as simple as that.  But sometimes, that gratitude has a way of being returned to me.  Take the Headquarters staff.  They had no idea that a lovebomb was coming their way.  When it arrived, it made them feel special.  And it could have ended there with their enjoyment of the pumpkin bread and cookies.  But they took a moment to sit down and write me a note to tell me how much they enjoyed the treats and to thank me for thinking of them.  It made my heart smile.

And then, most unexpectedly, my chiropractor asked me whether I sell any of the things I bake because he had 16 guests coming for Thanksgiving and wanted to include the pumpkin bread in their holiday meal.  If I hadn’t been so relaxed and dreamy from the adjusting he was doing, I would have probably laughed because it has never been my ambition to do the cooking and baking as my profession.  On the contrary, I do it as a bit of personal therapy.  So I told him that what I don’t keep for our personal enjoyment I give away.  And then I asked whether I could give him a batch of pumpkin bread for his Thanksgiving.  Because really, is there a bigger honor than being asked to share something I have made with someone’s family for Thanksgiving?  In that moment, I felt the Universe beaming my gratitude back to me.

I can’t promise you that this pumpkin bread will bring you fame or fortune.  But it just might bring you a bit of gratitude when it’s least expected.

Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from allrecipes.com

BAH Note: Go ahead and bake up two batches like I did…the quantities below make a single batch. Because according to Mary, the loaves freeze beautifully.  So even if you plan on giving most of it away, stash a well wrapped loaf or two in your freezer for your own enjoyment.   You  will likely need to mix each batch separately, unless you’ve got a ginormous mixing bowl.  And be sure that you’re using canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.

• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour six 3×5 disposable aluminum loaf pans and set them on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, and sugar until combined.

In a separate bowl, using a clean whisk or a fork, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture until they are just combined.  Pour the batter into the loaf pans and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, rotating your pan halfway through the cooking time, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Transfer the loaves to a rack to cool completely before wrapping in several layers of plastic wrap for freezer storage.

{printable recipe}

Filed under: Baking, Breakfast/Brunch, Cooking, Food, Photo, Recipe, Sweets, Tips and Tricks Tagged: Gratitude, Pumpkin Bread ]]> http://bonappetithon.com/2011/12/12/pumpkin-bread/feed/ 13 pmf1852 Pumpkin Bread with Kerrygold Frosting Low Res