Feelin' Quiche-y

 

... as if one slice would ever be enough

Sometimes, you just want to drown your sorrows in a plate of food.
When those 'sometimes' roll around, it's best to (1) step back from the ledge, (2) put down the box of Mac & Cheese, and (3) think 'swimsuit season' before giving yourself a mental shake, and heading to your fridge for reinforcements!

Yesterday was one of my 'sometimes', and THANK GOD I have being 31 weeks pregnant to blame it on. Another thing to be thankful for? An abundance of culinary odds-n-ends in my fridge and cabinets! I instantly knew what I wanted to make... and make it I did.

Ladies & Gentlemen... 

Scrappy Sunday Quiche

Ingredients
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
2 Tbsp butter, divided
Pinch of salt
5 eggs
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. 2% milk
1 c. mozzarella & provolone cheese blend, shredded
1 1/4 c. medium cheddar cheese, shredded
1 Tbsp black pepper
4 tsp salt, divided
1 Tbsp hot sauce
1 Tbsp dill
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 small, sweet onion (or 1/2 large) like Walla Walla or Texas Sweet, chopped large (1'' pieces or so)
6 thin asparagus stalks (or 3 large), sliced on the bias
2 Tbsp lemon pepper
1/4 c. Marsala wine
6 oz. ham, chopped into 1'' cubes (or smaller)
3 green onions, chopped
2 frozen pie shells

Directions
1. Place unpeeled garlic on a square of aluminum foil, and top with 1 Tbsp of butter, and a pinch of salt. Make into a pouch, and place in the oven on 400 F. while preparing the quiche.
2. Combine eggs, cream, milk, cheeses, black pepper, 2 tsp salt, hot sauce and dill in a large bowl. Whisk to thoroughly combine, then set aside.
3. Heat vegetable oil and remaining butter in a medium skillet over medium heat, and add onion. Saute for five minutes before adding the asparagus, lemon pepper, and remaining salt, then saute another three to five minutes until the asparagus starts to soften.
4. Add the Marsala, and turn the heat up to Medium-High to reduce the liquid.
5. Remove the garlic from the oven, and turn the oven down to 350 F. Open the aluminum foil to allow the garlic to cool.
6. Once the liquid has reduced in the pan, divide the onions and asparagus between the two frozen pie shells, being sure to spread the ingredients around evenly.
7. Divide the cubed ham between the two pie shells, reserving ~12 cubes for the topping.
8. Remove the garlic from its skin, and finely chop before adding to each of the pie shells.
9. Divide the egg and cheese mixture between the two pie shells.Top with the reserved cubes of ham and the green onions.
10. Bake in the oven for 50 - 60 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a knife comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Christmas Tree Soup

The only thing I love more than participating in a holiday tradition is creating a new one - whether intentionally, or completely by accident. Last night was probably one of the best "accidental tradition creations" I've ever had!

While my mother-in-law and husband were out looking for a Christmas tree (in lovely Seattle-rain fashion), I dove head-first into my first pureed soup, with all the vegetables coming from our weekly farm share! It was a little daunting, I admit, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted the main flavor to be; Did I want to go exotic? Spicy? Ginger-y? Sweet? Did I want to do as my father-in-law not-so-subtly hinted at and add meat and, if so, what kind? What do I serve with it? Should I leave any texture to the soup and, if so, how much and with what? Will the food processor do a good enough job, or will this come out looking like semi-solid baby food?

As it turns out, I needn't have worried. The mix of vegetables in and of themselves were amazing, and lent a lot of flavor to the soup just by roasting them... and the vegetable stock and wine that I used were perfect. *sigh*

So, here's the final recipe that I came up with while my husband showed our almost two year old son what struggling with Christmas trees looks like:

Ingredients
1 acorn squash
6 medium carrots, peeled
1 large turnip, peeled
1 medium beet, peeled
1 small head of garlic, peeled
Canola oil
Salt and pepper
2 Tbs butter
1 large yellow onion
2 Tbs salt
2 tsp dried ginger
1 Tbs dried sage
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch of red pepper flake
1 tsp chipotle hot sauce
1/2 cup red wine
3 cups of vegetable stock
2 red potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup of heavy cream

Method
Preheat the oven to 415 degrees
Chop the squash, carrots, turnips and beet into roughly the same size chunks, and place on a cookie sheet along with the peeled garlic (leaving the cloves whole).
Drizzle with the Canola oil, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
Roast in the oven for 10 minutes (if you have a "speed back" option, 15 - 20 if you don't).
Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and saute in the butter on medium high in a medium, heavy-bottomed soup pot, adding the spices once the onion has begun to soften.
Take the vegetables out of the oven, and turn them over for even roasting.
Turn the heat on the spiced onions down to medium-low, and sweat for 5 minutes.
Add the wine and chicken stock to the onions, stirring quickly to get the browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
Chop the potatoes into roughly 1'' pieces, and add to the pot, increasing the heat to high. Boil for 5 - 10 minutes, or until mostly tender.
Remove the vegetables from the oven, and place in the food processor and pulse until they all are mixed together fairly well, then add the potatoes and some of the onions from the pot. (It's okay if some of the liquid from the pot gets in to the vegetables.) Pulse together well, until a fairly smooth texture is achieved; you may need to scrape the sides of the processor bowl on occasion.
Carefully add the pureed vegetables to the liquid in the pot, and stir to combine with the liquid.
Once combined, add the heavy cream and taste for seasoning.
Serve while hot!

Serving Suggestions
I made cornbread muffins, which were excellent alongside this soup. You could really serve any kind of bread, although sourdough might be a bit heavy.