1-2-1 Quiche/Tart - Pear and Blue Cheese and more
WARNING: Picture heavy post but I'm putting most under cuts
Before I continue, I'm curious. How much regular/all purpose flour can you get for $20? I mean, if you buy it in 'normal' amounts for your family.
My local Italian grocery store carries these bags as a regular item giving me a lot of material with which to bake inexpensively, especially breads.
Robin Hood or Red Roses flour - 20 kg for $19.99 ... and that includes tax. One of the youngsters will even carry it to your car.
Bringing the cart above down my inside basement steps is a bit tricky so I usually transfer 5 pound portions into freezer bags and store them away in the basement freezer while using up the remainder from the paper bag. We'll have to see how long my purchase takes to use up.
Making quiche or savoury tarts is another way to use up flour and a snap. Especially if you start with this basic recipe for the filling.
1-2-1 Quiche/Custard Filling - enough for 2 x 3 1/2 inch tarts
1/4 cup egg (1 large egg)
1/2 cup light cream (or half regular milk, half whipping cream or half milk and half sour cream)
1/4 cup grated cheese
pinch of nutmeg
~1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Whisk together in a large bowl and pour over the other ingredients in your quiche/tart shell. Bake at 350 deg F until the center is set (35-40 minutes).
I decided to use some of the pear and blue cheese remaining in my fridge as filling for a quiche/tart. I wasn't sure if I would like the combination so I made a small tart rather than a full sized quiche. I included some of the candied walnuts that I had made for yesterday's pear and blue cheese salad.
1. Caramelized onion, pear and blue cheese tart - You can add some candied walnuts to the quiche filling as well. Just before serving, drizzle some honey over the tart. The crunch of the walnuts give a nice texture contrast to the creamy filling and the sweetness of the honey offsets any bitter note from the blue cheese
Diced ripe pear and crumbled blue cheese
Caramelized onion, pear and blue cheese tart with a garnish of candied walnut which unfortunately sank into the filling during baking.
What does it look like inside, you may ask?
2. Caramelized onion, bacon and kefalotyri cheese tart
You don't need to add a lot of ingredients to the filling to get a lot of taste.
I replaced the blue cheese with Kefalotyri cheese and the pears with some diced bacon for this tart.
And, the full sized quiche ended up being ... Bacon, caramelized onion and spinach
Bacon, Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quiche - serves 6 to 8 portions
3 large eggs (3/4 cups)
1 1/2 cups milk and whipping cream (I replaced some of the milk with sour cream as I'm running low on milk and it's snowing AGAIN)
3/4 cup grated Swiss cheese (or a mix of Swiss and Kefalotyri cheese)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
5-6 strips crispy bacon, chopped
1/4-1/3 cup caramelized onion
1 10 oz package of frozen, chopped spinach
1/3 recipe of Zsuzsa's pie crust
Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit.
Roll out the pie crust about 1/4 inch thick and line your 9 inch baking dish. Trim the pie crust, leaving about 1/8 of an inch excess and refrigerate the crust while preparing the fillings. NOTE: Prebake the crust if making your quiche in the ceramic quiche pan otherwise the bottom won't get as crisp as desired.
Defrost the frozen spinach according to package directions. Drain well. A spinach ricer is an excellent way of squeezing excess water out of the spinach. Let spinach cool to room temperature.
Lay spinach over the pie crust base. Distribute the caramelized onion evenly over the spinach. Sprinkle chopped bacon evenly over the other ingredients, then the grated cheese.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk/cream mixture, salt and nutmeg.
Pour the custard mixture carefully over the other ingredients and let it soak in for a few minutes.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the middle is set.
Cool, cut and serve.
Pie Crust from Zsuzsa - makes 5 single crusts
1 cup lard, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
3 cups all purpose flour
salt
2 large eggs, cold from fridge
ice water
Cream the lard and butter in your food processor.
Blend in the flour and salt.
In a measuring cup, beat the eggs slightly and add ice water to make 2/3 cup liquid. Combine the egg mixture with the flour mix. Wrap up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour while preparing filling. Or freeze until needed.
Before I continue, I'm curious. How much regular/all purpose flour can you get for $20? I mean, if you buy it in 'normal' amounts for your family.
My local Italian grocery store carries these bags as a regular item giving me a lot of material with which to bake inexpensively, especially breads.
Robin Hood or Red Roses flour - 20 kg for $19.99 ... and that includes tax. One of the youngsters will even carry it to your car.
Bringing the cart above down my inside basement steps is a bit tricky so I usually transfer 5 pound portions into freezer bags and store them away in the basement freezer while using up the remainder from the paper bag. We'll have to see how long my purchase takes to use up.
Making quiche or savoury tarts is another way to use up flour and a snap. Especially if you start with this basic recipe for the filling.
1-2-1 Quiche/Custard Filling - enough for 2 x 3 1/2 inch tarts
1/4 cup egg (1 large egg)
1/2 cup light cream (or half regular milk, half whipping cream or half milk and half sour cream)
1/4 cup grated cheese
pinch of nutmeg
~1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Whisk together in a large bowl and pour over the other ingredients in your quiche/tart shell. Bake at 350 deg F until the center is set (35-40 minutes).
I decided to use some of the pear and blue cheese remaining in my fridge as filling for a quiche/tart. I wasn't sure if I would like the combination so I made a small tart rather than a full sized quiche. I included some of the candied walnuts that I had made for yesterday's pear and blue cheese salad.
1. Caramelized onion, pear and blue cheese tart - You can add some candied walnuts to the quiche filling as well. Just before serving, drizzle some honey over the tart. The crunch of the walnuts give a nice texture contrast to the creamy filling and the sweetness of the honey offsets any bitter note from the blue cheese
Diced ripe pear and crumbled blue cheese
Caramelized onion, pear and blue cheese tart with a garnish of candied walnut which unfortunately sank into the filling during baking.
What does it look like inside, you may ask?
2. Caramelized onion, bacon and kefalotyri cheese tart
You don't need to add a lot of ingredients to the filling to get a lot of taste.
I replaced the blue cheese with Kefalotyri cheese and the pears with some diced bacon for this tart.
And, the full sized quiche ended up being ... Bacon, caramelized onion and spinach
Bacon, Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quiche - serves 6 to 8 portions
3 large eggs (3/4 cups)
1 1/2 cups milk and whipping cream (I replaced some of the milk with sour cream as I'm running low on milk and it's snowing AGAIN)
3/4 cup grated Swiss cheese (or a mix of Swiss and Kefalotyri cheese)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
5-6 strips crispy bacon, chopped
1/4-1/3 cup caramelized onion
1 10 oz package of frozen, chopped spinach
1/3 recipe of Zsuzsa's pie crust
Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit.
Roll out the pie crust about 1/4 inch thick and line your 9 inch baking dish. Trim the pie crust, leaving about 1/8 of an inch excess and refrigerate the crust while preparing the fillings. NOTE: Prebake the crust if making your quiche in the ceramic quiche pan otherwise the bottom won't get as crisp as desired.
Defrost the frozen spinach according to package directions. Drain well. A spinach ricer is an excellent way of squeezing excess water out of the spinach. Let spinach cool to room temperature.
Lay spinach over the pie crust base. Distribute the caramelized onion evenly over the spinach. Sprinkle chopped bacon evenly over the other ingredients, then the grated cheese.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk/cream mixture, salt and nutmeg.
Pour the custard mixture carefully over the other ingredients and let it soak in for a few minutes.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the middle is set.
Cool, cut and serve.
Pie Crust from Zsuzsa - makes 5 single crusts
1 cup lard, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
3 cups all purpose flour
salt
2 large eggs, cold from fridge
ice water
Cream the lard and butter in your food processor.
Blend in the flour and salt.
In a measuring cup, beat the eggs slightly and add ice water to make 2/3 cup liquid. Combine the egg mixture with the flour mix. Wrap up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour while preparing filling. Or freeze until needed.