Artichoke and Cheese Quiche

Have you ever had a day where you were just constantly in a state of "can't wait"? I can't wait to eat lunch, I can't wait to go running, I can't wait to take a shower, I can't wait for this agonizing sunburn to go away, etc. Yesterday that was me. So to get out some of my excess "can't wait" energy, I cracked open my What's Cooking Vegetarian  cookbook and found the perfect recipe: Artichoke and Cheese Quiche. 

If you've read any of my blog before, you know I love a good quiche. I love the flaky crust contrasted with delicious eggy filling. Plus quiche is so versitle, you can eat it for literally any meal! Breakfast? Sure. Brunch? Of course! Lunch? Uh huh. Dinner? Duh. Midnight snacks? Definitely! 

Artichoke and Cheese Quiche

1 1/4 C flour, sifted 

Punch of salt 

2 garlic cloves, crushed 

6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 1 Tbsp portions 

3 Tbsp cold water 

1 red onion, sliced

1 can canned artichoke hearts, drained

1 C grated cheddar cheese 

1/2 C crumbled Gorgonzola cheese 

2 eggs, beaten 

1 Tbsp Rosemary 

Preheat oven to 400. 

Begin by preparing the pastry. Soft flour into a bowl and mix in salt. Cut in butter 2 Tbsp at a time and combine until cough resembles coarse crumbs. Add in water until dough can form a ball. 

On a floured surface, roll out dough until it can be stretched over an 8 inch tart pan, or in my case an 8 inch springform pan. Prick with fork. 

Now onto the filling! In a skillet over medium-high heat, sauté red onion in 2 Tbsp olive oil for 3 minutes. Add in artichokes and continue to cook for another 3 minutes. 

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, cheese and rosemary. Stir in onion and artichoke mixture. 

Pour filling into the pastry and bake for 25 minutes or until quiche is completely set. 

This quiche was absolutely phenomenal! The pastry was perfectly flaky and the taste of garlic throughout was almost magical. I just may be adding crushed garlic to all of my pastry doughs from now on. The filling was slightly briny from the artichoke hearts, the Gorgonzola paired perfectly with the other flavors without being overpowering and the filling was perfectly set. I would definitely recommend trying this quiche out for a busy night meal. 

Cashew Paella

In the spirit of not letting my job get in the way of my life, this past weekend a good friend of mine (SHOUTOUT TO RANDI) and I went to the beach. The sand, the waves, the fish oh, and getting really ridiculously sunburned. My back looks as red as a fire truck and I have horrific pain. To get my mind off the white hot, searing, awful pain, I decided to make cashew paella. Now, I've never had actual paella, but this vegetarian alternative from What's Cooking Vegetatian by Jenny Stacey is pretty much amazing, actually Nate has eaten three helpings. 

Cashew Paella 

2 Tbsp olive oil 

2 Tbsp butter 

1 red onion, diced 

1 C risotto rice 

1 tsp ground tumeric

1 tsp ground cumin  

1/2 tsp chili powder 

3 garlic cloves, crushed 

1 orange pepper, diced 

1 yellow pepper, diced 

1 green chile, seeded and sliced

2 3/4 oz baby corn, sliced lengthwise 

2 Tbsp pitted black olives 

1 large tomato, seeded and diced 

2 C vegetable stock 

3/4 C unsalted cashews 

1/4 C frozen peas 

2 Tbsp chopped parsley 

Pinch cayenne pepper 

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil and melt the butter. Sauté onions until translucent. 

Stir in the rice, tumeric, cumin, chili powder, bell peppers, baby corn, olives, and tomato. Cook for 1-2 minutes stirring occasionally. 

Pour in stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. 

Add the cashews and peas to the skillet and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper, and sprinkle on cayenne and parsley. 

 

My stomach is full of paella, my eyes are watching Jane the Virgin and now I'm off to soak my poor lobster-colored, peely-skinned and chapped lipped body in an oatmeal bath with some white wine and a good book. Nothing like being forced to relax in a tub of oats. 

Kentucky Hot Browns

In celebration of Labor Day, I spent the day cleaning my apartment, doing laundry and peeling an awful lot of Hatch green chile. Thankfully, a local North Carolina grocer carries them and I was inspired to buy pretty much their entire stock. 

With the rest of my time, I wanted to make Nate a nice meal while he was at work, so I turned to Kentucky Hot Browns from my Southern Living Feel Good Food cookbook. According to my cookbook, the Kentucky Hot Brown was developed in the 1920s at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Kentucky Hot Browns 

4 thick white bread slices (or brioche buns) 

3/4 lb thick sliced roasted turkey 

Mornay Sauce (recipe below) 

1 C shredded Parmesan cheese 

3 plum tomatoes, sliced 

8 bacon slices, cooked 

Preheat broiler with oven rack 6 inches from heat. Place bread slices on baking sheet, and broil 1-2 minutes on each side until toasted. 

Arrange bread slices in 4 lightly greased broiler-safe individual baking dishes (or if you don't have them, just on a baking sheet). Too bread with turkey. Pour hot Mornay Sauce over turkey. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

Broil 3 to 4 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned; remove from oven. Top sandwiches with tomatoes and bacon. 

Mornay Sauce 

1/2 C butter 

1/3 C flour 

3 1/2 C milk 

1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese 

1/4 tsp salt 

2/4 tsp pepper 

Melt butter in 3Q saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour; cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, and cook, whisking constantly, 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. 

Mornay Sauce is a rich, velvety, cheesy luscious sauce that I would honestly eat on absolutely anything. 

After a VERY filling dinner, Nate and I settled in for an evening of movie watching and Lego Harry Potter video game playing. Man, I love my husband. 

Chile, Not Chilly

Hi readers, so lately I've been letting a lot of things get in the way of my goals and priorities and had to really take a step back and reevaluate things. I've been so caught up in my job and stress resulting from that that I've been forgetting what's important to me. 

So Saturday I did something purely for me: cracked open a bunch of cookbooks and picked recipes. 

One recipe I picked was from a cookbook my Sissy bought me: Grandpa's Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs Cookbook by Judi Barrett. This adorable book is filled with fun recipes that I'm sure any child (or adult-sized child) would love cooking and eating. 

Chili, Not Chilly

2 Tbsp olive oil 

1 onion, chopped 

1 clove garlic, chopped fine 

1 red pepper, chopped 

3 Tbsp chopped roasted green chile (optional) 

2-3 Tbsp chili powder 

1 lb ground turkey 

28 oz can diced tomatoes 

Salt and pepper, to taste 

2 15 oz cans cannellini or black beans (I used great northern beans because they were on sale) 

Dollop of sour cream, for serving 

Shredded cheddar cheese, for serving

In a large pot, add olive oil and sauté onion, garlic and red pepper and 1 Tbsp of the chili powder. Cook over medium heat until the veggies are soft, about 7-9 minutes.

Add the turkey and break it up finely. Add the rest of the chili powder and sauté until the turkey is cooked through, about 5 minutes. 

Add tomatoes with the liquid, salt and pepper, and the beans. 

Bring to a boil, then summer for 40-45 minutes, partially covered. 

Serve with corn bread and enjoy! 

Thanks to Hurricane Hermine, we here in Raleigh had rain and 73 degree temperatures. It was utterly fantastic and felt like fall! We invited over some friends for beers, chili, corn bread and horror movies and it made me feel back to my old self. I realized I need to do more things for me and let work take a back seat to everything else. 

Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme

Why ever did I think this was going to be easy? This evening I attempted (at Nate's urging) to cook an entire 3 pound chicken.

Nate chose this recipe for me out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and upon first glance it looked pretty straightforward -- buy chicken, butter skin, do some other things. Sounds easy enough, yeah? HELL NO!

My culinary journey began at 6:45 this evening. I did all the prep work first so that entailed peeling 15 pearl onions and boiling them in salted water for 5 minutes, creating potato rounds with my mandolin and then boiling them, and gently simmering bacon lardons in water; this process took roughly an hour and a half. I felt I was then ready for the task of preparing my chicken.

I opened my little 3 pound bird and was immediately discouraged. The cavity still held the...um...innards, it looked far more chicken-y than I was expecting and just plain-old looked unappetizing.

I somehow gained the courage to remove the unmentionables, season the cavity and rub the skin with butter. At this point I was staring to feel confident, "yeah, Julia, I can throw this chicken breast-side down into the casserole and brown it" however, my courage was quickly robbed from me when I began browning and my skin was sticking, the chicken wasn't trussed (I couldn't find any twine anywhere), and it looked frankly disgusting.

It is now 8:30 and the sad, pale, skin-ripped bird has yet to even make it into the oven yet.

After making a bed of potatoes, bacon and onions I put the pathetic excuse for poultry into the casserole dish with a sheet of foil and the lid and prayed to whatever kitchen god could save this meal.

The oven alarm just sounded (it's 10:00 now) and the chicken doesn't look much different than when it went into the oven. No one likes to admit their failures, especially not to friends and family or random people on the internet but this time, I deserve my failure. Cooking a whole chicken is a nightmare!

Below is the recipe and I wish you all luck. I think I will be spending awhile licking my wounds before I attempt this again.

Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme (Casserole-Roasted Chicken with Bacon, Onions and Potatoes)

1/2 pound chunk of bacon
A fireproof casserole for cooking the chicken
4 Tbsp butter
 3 lb ready-to-cook chicken trussed and buttered
15-25 peeled white onions, about 1 inch in diameter
1-1 1/2 lbs "boiling" potatoes or small new potatoes
1/4 Tsp salt
Cheesecloth
4 parsley sprigs
1/2 bay leaf
1/4 Tsp thyme
Bulb baster
Aluminum foil

As I said before, I started with the onions. Peel them and then toss them in a saucepan filled with salted boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes, drain and set aside.

Move on to your potatoes. Slice them into rounds 2 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. Use a mandolin if you have one, it'll make your life so much easier. Place into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and drain immediately. Set aside.

Onto the bacon. Slice the bacon into lardons, or 1/2 inch wide and 1 1/2 inch long strips. Simmer for 10 minutes in 2 quarts of water. Rinse in cold water and dry.

In your casserole dish, saute for 2 to 3 minutes in 1 Tbsp butter until lightly browned. Remove to a side dish leaving the fat in the pan.

Make an herb bouquet using the cheesecloth, parsley, bay leaf and thyme.

Preheat the oven to 325.

Now for the...ugh...chicken. Season the cavity of the chicken with 1/4 Tsp salt, a pinch of pepper, 1/2 Tsp of dried taragon. Truss the chicken (assuming you actually have twine) and butter the outside of the bird.

Over medium-high heat, brown the chicken in the hot fat breast-side down. Brown for 2-3 minutes, "regulating the heat so butte is always very hot but not browning," thanks, Julia. You make it sound so simple. Turn the chicken to create even browning without breaking the skin (something I failed to achieve). This process SHOULD take 15 minutes. Dump out the fat (not into the drain though, use an old can or something).

Heat 3 Tbsp butter in the casserole over medium heat until it is foaming. Add the potatoes and coat them in butter for 2 minutes so they lose their moisture. Spread them around the sides, salt the chicken, and place it breast-side up over the potatoes, onions, bacon and herb bouquet. Baste with the butter. Cover with aluminum foil and the lid of your casserole dish.

Roast for and hour and 15 minutes or until chicken is done.

As I said, mine looked a pitiful excuse for a french chicken but at least it tasted alright. The meat was tender and moist, potatoes were soft and onions were succulent.

Good luck, readers, may your Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme turn out better than mine.

Roasted Potatoes O'Brien

Good morning, readers! Man, do I love Sunday mornings! Wake up late, drink extra cups of coffee just because you can and, my personal favorite part: BIG BREAKFASTS! 

Nate and I call them "bun breakfasts" because our pet names for each other is "bun" and we're enjoying breakfast together. Adorable, right? 

Anyway, so this particular Sunday we were a little short on ingredients but I put on my Chef's thinking hat and whipped up some fried eggs and roasted potatoes O'Brien. 

Roasted Potatoes O'Brien 

2 Tbsp olive oil 

1/4 large yellow onion, diced 

1/2 orange bell pepper, diced

4 red potatoes, washed and diced

Salt and pepper, to taste 

Sprinkle garlic powder 

Sprinkle red pepper and garlic seasoning  

Sprinkle Sriracha seasoning 

Preheat oven to 400. 

On a large cookie sheet, arrange the onion and bell peppers to make a "bed" for the potatoes. 

Place potatoes on top. 

Once the pan is arranged drizzle with olive oil and season like there's no tomorrow! 

Roast for 30 minutes, taking the pan out at 15 minutes to rotate and flip the potatoes. 

That's it. The potatoes are done. Easy, right? The onions get crisp, the peppers get sweeter and the potatoes have that perfect soft-with-a-bite texture. Yummy! 

Now everyone one knows how to fry an egg, however I decided to swap my cooking spray for a teaspoon of butter and a teaspoon of olive oil and it changed everything!! The egg was flavorful, moist, and cooked perfectly. Must admit, I may never use cooking spray to cook eggs again. 

Well, enjoy your Sunday, readers! Look forward to come tasty meals coming up soon! 

Filets de Poisson Poches Au Vin Blanc

Hello readers! Sorry I've been on hiatus, I unfortunately have not been cooking much lately due to beginning to bartend at nights. However, today is my day off so I wanted to treat Nate to a nice dinner. I bought a bottle of Riesling about a month ago and have been waiting for the perfect fish dish to pair it with. So, I cracked open my trusty copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking because, duh, Julia Child is queen and I found a recipe that sounded just perfect! 

Filets de Poisson Poches Au Vin Blanc

This is just a fancy French name for Fish Filets Poached in White Wine. 

I adjusted the recipe for 2 people but Julia has it for 6. 

2 fillets of flounder or sole

Salt and pepper, to taste 

1 Tbsp finely minced shallots or green onions (I used green onions) 

2 Tbsp butter cut into bits 

2/3 C dry white vermouth 

1/4 C bottled clam juice

Waxed paper 

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

While your oven is preheating, butter a oven-safe sauté pan. 

Sprinkle half of your minced shallots or green onions in the bottom of the pan.

 

Season both sides of your fish with salt and pepper and place on top of the green onions. Slightly overlap the fish and sprinkle on the remainder of the green onions. 

Pour the cold liquid on the fish, but barely cover it. 

Put the pan over medium heat until the liquid is almost simmering, then cover with the wax paper (I pressed mine onto he top of the fish because I was using a Dutch oven, not sure if you were supposed to do that or not...Julia wasn't clear on that.) 

Place the saucepan (or Dutch oven in my case) in the bottom part of your oven and  poach away for 8-12 minutes. Don't overcook the fish because overcooked fish is just truly terrible; seconded only to overbooked octopus or squid. Basically, when you can pierce the pierce the fish with a fork easily it's done. 

Remove the paper, cover and pour the poaching liquid into another saucepan. This is going to become the most magnificent sauce you've ever had.

Now I know what you're thinking: where do the bits of butter come in? After the fish has been drained, put the dots of butter onto the filets of fish and let them melt into delicious pools of salty and creamy goodness. 

In a separate small bowl, melt 1 Tbsp butter and stir in 2 Tbsp flour to make a paste. Add to the reserved poaching liquid and bring to a boil. Once sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (it's not a glaze, the sauce will be thin. Don't get discouraged!), season with salt, pepper and lemon. 

I served this magnificent fish dish (thank you, Julia!) with sautéed asparagus and mashed red potatoes. 

Sautéed Asparagus

1 Tbsp butter

1 bunch asparagus

2 cloves garlic 

1/2 lemon 

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and brown the garlic. Once you can smell the intoxicating aroma of sautéing garlic, add in the asparagus and sauté until bright green and coated in butter. Drop the heat to low and sprinkle with lemon juice. 

Red Mashed Potatoes 

3 C water

4 red potatoes, cleaned and cubed

1 Tbsp butter 

Salt and pepper, taste 

1/2 C heavy cream 

In a pot over high heat, heat water and add in potatoes and boil until tender 

Drain into a colander. 

Add in butter, cream, salt and pepper and mash until the perfect consistency.

Allow me to say: this meal had enough butter to stop your heart, paired flawlessly with the 2015 Terrassen Riesling and reinvigorated my passion for cooking and now blogging! 

To thank Julia properly, here's a picture of me at Julia Child's kitchen at the Smithsonian a couple weeks ago. Thank you, readers!