Quiche Basics

Today, I made a quiche with roasted turkey, chèvre cheese, tomatoes, and parsley. (Total Approximate Cost for 8 reasonable or 4 large servings: 4.56€!)

It's a relatively low-labor, fast, refrigerator-friendly, and easy French dish made with a few basic ingredients and uses up any leftovers you may have. If you are able to buy a store-bought pie crust with no MSG and trans fats, it can also be made with a store-bought pie crust. Here is a healthier version of a flaky, whole wheat, "no-butter" quiche crust: 

Crust

Ingredients (Total Approximate Price: (~0.57€)

2 c. (4dl) whole wheat pastry flour (~0.25€)
1 tsp. salt (~0.01€)
2 tsp. sugar (~0.01€)
3/4 c. (1dl and 3 tbsp) canola oil (~0.15€)
4 tbsp. milk (~0.15€)

Directions

Mix flour with salt and sugar in a large bowl. 

Mix oil and milk with a separate bowl then add to the flour mixture. 

Stir the dough with a fork until it starts to form large clumps. 

Press the dough into a ball then flatten it to form a 5-6 inch (12.7-15.24cm) "pancake". 

Roll out the dough between sheets of plastic or wax/parchment paper. 

Peel off the top sheet and flip the dough into a 9-inch pie pan or tart pan. 

Remove the other sheet and press the dough into the pan. Trim if necessary.

To "blind bake" quiche crust, "dock" the dough (by poking it with a fork several time to let off steam as it bakes) then put parchment or foil on top of dough. Fill the parchment/foil with dried beans. Bake in a 350F (176C) oven for 8-9 minutes. Remove the beans and parchment/foil then return to oven to brown for 3-5 minutes. Add quiche filling (see below) then follow directions for baking the quiche.

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Quiche

Ingredients (Total Approximate Cost: (~0.99€)

1/2 cup (1dl) heavy cream (~0.40€)

1/2 cup (1dl) milk (~0.30€)
2 eggs (~0.25€)
1/4 tsp kosher or coarse sea salt (adjust depending on your personal taste and your filling combination) (~0.01€)
Freshly grated nutmeg (~0.03€)

Directions

In a large glass or stainless steel bowl, beat eggs along with the cream and milk. 

Once thoroughly combined, add the salt and nutmeg. 

Whisk to combine.

Preheat your oven to 350F (176C). 

Evenly distribute the quiche fillings in the crust (see below for filling options). 

DO NOT overfill the crust with the fillings since the eggs will expand and overflow as the quiche bakes. 

DO NOT pour too much of the liquid into the crust. 

Bake the quiche for 40-45 minutes until set like JELL-O. 

Let cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting into the quiche to make sure it is set.
 

Tried and True Quiche Filling Options (Total Approximate Cost: ~1.50€ - 3€): 

• Sauteed onions, bacon (or "lardons" if you live in France), and Parmesan/Comté/Swiss cheese (any hard cheese will do) (~1.50€)

• Smoked salmon, parsley (or cooked spinach), and blanched or canned white asparagus (~3€)
• Roasted turkey, chèvre cheese, parsley, and tomatoes (~3€)
• Canned artichoke hearts, cooked or thawed frozen spinach (make sure it's dried!!!), and Parmesan cheese (~3€)
• Gruyere cheese, sauteed leeks, and bacon (~3€)

• Cooked spinach, sharp cheddar cheese, and cooked ham cut into cubes (~3€)

• Thawed frozen spinach (dried thoroughly!!!) and Swiss cheese (~2€)

(Be creative and try your own combinations as well! Just make sure not to use non-crumbly, soft cheese like mozzarella... otherwise your quiche will be extremely gooey and cheesy, unless, of course, you're into that stuff.)

Quick and Easy Pizza

My brother's finishing his first year at university now and in our last conversation, he complained a lot about having to cook his own meals. He's become a "health nut" in a sense that he refuses to eat any harmful additives, chemicals, and trans fatty acids (just like me!). Problem is, Ken doesn't know how to cook very well nor does he enjoy cooking or baking. Since I don't like to hear my brother suffer, I've decided to post some of my recipes (especially the easier ones) in hopes that it might help him, or others, who are on a tight budget and still want a healthy, good meal. 

Thus, today's recipe is a whole wheat pizza. White wheat flour has less nutritional value and less fiber, so I opt for whole wheat flour, which not only has more fiber but a higher nutrient content. I say it's "quick" because the time to make the pizza (actual physical labor) is probably less than 30 minutes. Most of the time, you have to wait, during which time you can read or go for a run or do something else! I didn't have much in the fridge in terms of pizza toppings, so mine is topped with homemade tomato sauce, tomatoes, parsley, mozzarella and emmental cheeses.

Pizza (8 *reasonable* servings... or if you're my roommates... 2 servings)
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon white sugar (~0.01€)
1 1/2 cups (3dl) warm water (110F/45C) (~0.01€)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (~0.15€)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (~0.05€)
1 teaspoon salt (~0.01€)
3 1/2 cups (7dl) whole wheat flour (~0.50€)
Pizza toppings, sauce, cheese(s) of your choice (~0.50€ to ?€, depending on your toppings)


Total cost for 6-8 servings: ~1.23€!!!


Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar into the warm water.
Sprinkle yeast on top of sugar water and let it stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
Whisk in extra virgin olive oil and salt into the liquid, then add 3 cups (6dl) of the whole wheat flour.
Flour a clean surface with the remaining 1/2cup (1dl) of flour and knead the dough until it absorbs the rest of the flour and forms gluten, making it glossy (approx. 10 minutes).
Rinse out bowl or in a separate large, oiled bowl, put kneaded dough back in, covering with a little more oil.
Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel or plastic.
Let dough rise until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
After the dough rises, tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 pieces for smaller pizzas or leave as one piece for a large pizza.
Knead to form a tight ball and let it rise until it doubles again (about another hour).
Preheat the oven to 425F (220C).
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin (or an empty, clean, wine bottle).
Drape it over your fists and if you're more professional, you can toss it to stretch the dough out further.
If not, gently pull the edges outward to stretch the pizza dough.
(If you want a thinner, crunchier crust, stretch it out as much as you can without tearing it. If you want a thicker, softer crust, don't stretch it out as much)
On a well-oiled pan, place the dough and top with homemade or store-bought tomato sauce, cheese, and any additional toppings to your liking.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your pizza.  


Today's Random Picture: 

 The closest thing to a dragon you'll probably ever see?

Killing Me Softly with His Chocolate

I got some good quality Swiss chocolate today from a French friend who'd visited Switzerland over the weekend. What to do with this besides just eat it all? Hm... I tried my hand at baking some mini chocolate molten lava cakes! They were irresistibly delicious and with some homemade crème anglaise... it was heavenly. 

My uncle taught me this disputed French-American dessert. There's some controversy over whether it was invented in the U.S. or in France but either way, it's delicious and that's all that matters! My roommate were raving about this dessert and even the crème anglaise was gone by the end of the night. Let's hope that my Pascal doesn't go to Switzerland every weekend, or I might die of a chocolate-related heart disease... though dying because of too much chocolate doesn't sound like a bad death =D

Here's the recipe for anyone interested in trying. It's very easy to follow, you don't need too many ingredients, and it's scrumptious!

Molten Lava Cake

Ingredients: 

3.5 oz. (100 g) good quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

4 tbsp. (100g) unsalted butter

2 large eggs

3 tbsp. sugar 

4 tbsp. (30g) all purpose flour 

Cocoa powder 

Butter

Directions:

Butter ramekins then add a little bit of cocoa powder to each ramekin, shaking off any excess. This is just to make sure that the cake will come out of the ramekin after it bakes =) 

Preheat your oven to 350F (176C)

Melt the chocolate and butter together over a double broiler or in the microwave, stirring often so that the chocolate doesn't burn! 

Whisk the eggs and sugar together and beat until very pale and thick (it takes over 10 minutes with a hand mixer... yeah, I said it was easy and good, I never said it was fast!). 

Turn the speed on your mixer to low and add the flour. Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture and mix to combine.

Divide mixture into the ramekins and bake for 10 minutes! Don't bake for longer... then it won't be a molten lava cake but just a regular chocolate cake.

For the Crème Anglaise: 

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup (0.5dl) heavy cream
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. granulated sugar

Directions: 

In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the vanilla and cream together. DO NOT BOIL!
Whisk egg yolk with sugar until it's becomes glossy and smooth.
Temper the egg yolk-sugar mixture with the hot cream.
Whisk constantly so that the egg doesn't curdle!
Slowly, whisking constantly, add the heated egg mixture to the cream mixture. 

Whisk until it thickens (until it's napé as the French would call it) - the mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon and holds a line when you take a finger and draw across it. 

Use immediately or after it cools; if you have leftovers, you can keep it in the refrigerator for a few days.

Today's Random Picture:

Oatmeal Cookies... with Whole Wheat!

Like most people, I have a sweet tooth. Sometimes I crave things that are salty, spicy, crispy, crunchy, it really depends on my mood... but I always have a hard time saying "no" to dessert. I've been baking cookies (or attempting to bake cookies... the first few times, it didn't work out so well) since I was about 9 and while they are delicious, they're not that healthy. I mean, white flour has minimal nutritional value and fiber, butter isn't great for you, sugar isn't good for you in large quantities... so I thought I'd experiment with whole wheat, oatmeal, and molasses sugar/brown sugar to bake some "healthier" cookies. This time, I think it worked! The cookies came out of the oven quite soft, chewy, and delicious!

Here's the recipe, in case you want to try it:

Ingredients

1/4 lbs. (112g or 1 stick) butter, room temperature and soft

1/4 cup (0.5dl) molasses sugar

1/4 cup (0.5dl) brown sugar

1/4 cup (0.5dl) granulated white sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (homemade or store-bought)

1/4 cup (0.5dl) all-purpose flour 

1/2 cup (1dl) whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. fine salt

1.5 cups (3dl) rolled oats

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°F (176°C).

Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugars together until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat until all ingredients are well-mixed.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make sure all the dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Then add the oats and mix until well-combined.

On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, drop rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. If you're like me and prefer chewier cookies, bake for a slightly shorter time (9-10 minutes). If you want a crunchier cookie, bake for a slightly longer time (12-13 minutes) making sure the cookies don't burn!

Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on sheet for 1 minute. Remove to a wire rack for the cookies to finish cooling.

Makes about 2 dozens (24 cookies).

Today's Random Quiz:

You Are Reflective

During your downtime, you like to think about the world around you and develop theories. You secretly wish that you could be a more knowledgeable person. There are a dozen things you'd like to get your PhD in. You are realistic about the world. You may have challenges that come your way, but you can overcome them. You are inspired by high energy. Being around other creative, productive people really motivates you.

The Cafe Test