Quiche Me, Quick

Quiche is one of those flexable "everything but the kitchen sink" dishes that you can make with whatever you have on hand.  Keep the proportion of eggs to milk/cream/half-n-half/ yogurt the same (roughly 4 eggs to 1 1/2 c. dairy), and you can add cheese, meat, veggies, etc. to your heart's content.  If you add too much, just divide the mixture in half and make two quiches.

We glazed a spiral sliced ham earlier this week, and made steamed broccoli florets, so this particular quiche is a perfect exmple of how to use leftovers.  When I teach my cooking classes, I  have a hard time convincing students that the stalk portion of broocoli is not only edible, but delicious, especially in cassaroles, pot pies and quiches, where the florets might be distracting to the overall texture of the dish.

I wanted this to be a relatively quick breakfast dish, so I cheated a little and used a packaged pie crust.  Can it get any easier? 

Ham and Broccoli Quiche

2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 c. onion, diced
1/2 c. broccoli stalk, diced
prepared pie crust
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 c. ham, diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a heavy skillet. 

Add onion and broccoli stalk.  Sautee these vegetables until the onion turns translucent and the broccoli softens.  Set aside to cool.  Roll out pie crust into a 9" pie plate, and prick the bottom of the crust with a fork. 


In a large bowl, scramble eggs.  Add milk, salt, pepper, cheese, ham and cooked vegetables. 

Combine well and pour this mixture into pie crust.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until firm.  Let cool for fifteen minutes before cutting.

Cooking for One?

Want some ideas for cooking solo without waste or excessive expense?  I'm going to be doing a class this Saturday out at The University of Texas, Arlington.

We are going to focus on using a single cut of meat to make a number of weeknight meals.  We will also discuss cooking in bulk, scaling down recipes, ways to delay food spoilage, ways to shop economically for one at the grocery store and more.  Sign up by phone at (817) 272-2581 or on the UTA continuing education web site at http://www.uta.edu/ced/.

 

Mom's Lemon Pie

I usually make the lemon pie recipe that used to be on the back of the Argo Corn Starch box (the old one, before they decreased the amount of sugar and egg yolks), and one thing I like is that you make a meringue to go on top, which leaves you no extra whites.

Today, I was in the mood for the kind of lemon pie that has a condensed milk base. I used this recipe (yeah for a filling that requires only three ingredients), which resulted in a half full crust, ready to be topped out -- after it chills for a couple of more hours with freshly whipped cream.

I’ve also now got a whole bowl of egg whites, which I have got to get into the fridge quick, before my hubby throws them out. Tomorrow, I’ll post a couple of ideas for what to do with leftover egg whites.

In case you are interested, here is what the Argo recipe used to be (around my family, we call it Mom’s lemon pie, because she used to make it for all get-togethers):

1 baked deep-dish pie crust

½ c. corn starch

1 ½ c. sugar

2 c. water

5 egg yolks, lightly beaten

½ c. lemon juice

1 tbsp. lemon zest

2 tbsp. butter

5 egg whites

½ c. sugar

2 tsp. corn starch

Mix corn starch, sugar water and egg yolks in saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil (about 8-10 minutes). Reduce heat and continue stirring for one minute until very thick. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter until smooth. Pour hot filling into pie crust. Beat egg whites on high until stiff peaks form while gradually adding the remaining sugar and corn starch. Top pie by smoothing meringue over pie filling, making sure meringue touches the edge of the crust to seal. Using the back of a spoon, swirl meringue and draw up into peaks. Place oven rack in the bottom third of a preheated 375 degree oven. Bake 10 minutes, until peaks are lightly browned. Cool at room temperature for 30 minutes. Chill for a minimum of 3 hours before serving.