Real Men Don't Just Eat Quiche
So today is Valentine's Day. The traditional day to take your special someone to a fancy restaurant, for a romantic dinner. Well, not only am I cheap, but I hate thinking ahead so reservations were probably not to be had for any place we wanted to go. The other day epanther mentioned something about not having had a good chocolate mousse in awhile, so this got me to thinking about menus. The results follow.
Smoked Salmon and Feta Quiche.
1 recipe of your favorite savory pie crust.
2 eggs
1 egg yoke
1 cup heavy cream
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cayenne
a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp fresh dill chopped.
5.5 oz warm smoked salmon (as opposed to lox, or scottish style)
8 oz good feta cheese.
1/2 of a sweet onion
1 tablespoon butter
Blind bake the pie crust in your favorite 8 to 10 inch tart or pie pan. I used a 9 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom
Beat the eggs and yoke, add the cream and beat until combined, then add the salt, cayenne, nutmeg, and dill. Stir the seasonings in, set aside.
Break up the salmon and the feta cheese into bite sized chunks.
Slice the onion thinly and saute in the butter until it just starts to caramelize and get some brown color, remove from heat.
Time to assemble. Spread about half of the cheese in the bottom of your crust, then spread the onions over the cheese. Add the salmon on top, followed by the rest of the cheese. Pour the egg and cream mixture over it all. (If you are using a pan with a removable bottom you might want to consider placing this in a half sheet pan, or something else with sides.)
Place in a preheated oven and bake. How hot and How long? Now there is the question. For some reason I decided to bake it at about 400 degrees for 45 minutes, I think I might have gotten a better result at 350 for 1 hour, but bake it until a toothpick comes out clean and the quiche is set. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes, then eat.
The chocolate mousse is not my recipe, but since the book it is from is out of print, I am willing to share it. This recipe comes from Pierre Franey's "More 60 Minute Gourmet" which for some reason has gone our of print. This is the best chocolate mousse I have ever made, and the easiest. I will admit that it uses uncooked eggs, but I am not afraid of a little salmonella. The recipe does not specify what kind of chocolate to use, other than it should be sweetened. I chose to use a 73% cocoa mass organic chocolate pieces because I am far too lazy to chop up 75% cocoa mass bar chocolate. But I suspect if your tastes ran more towards the semi-sweet you could use a good quality semi-sweet chip, or bar but I suspect milk chocolate might be a bit too light. But this recipe is all about the chocolate, so don't skimp there.
Chocolate Mousse
Pierre Franey
4 oz sweetened chocolate broken up
1/4 lb unsalted butter cut into small pieces
3 egg yokes
3 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar.
Place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. When the chocolate starts to melt add the butter, and continue to stir until everything is melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg yokes. Place the chocolate mixture in the refrigerator and let chill down to lukewarm, but no cooler or it will become to hard to stir.
Beat the egg whites until they are frothy, and then slowly add the sugar. Continue beating the egg whites until they have soft peaks. Fold the beaten egg whites into the lukewarm chocolate mixture. You can either chill it in the bowl, or portion it out into some elegant serving piece and chill it. If pre portioned it should be set in about 2 hours.
Can it get any simpler than this? I have been using this recipe since I bought the cookbook in 1984 when I had my first real place of my own and was learning how to cook.
Serve the quiche with a green salad. Serve the mousse with freshly whipped cream (I omit the sugar and use some vanilla extract). Eat until stuffed like a little piggy.
Oh, the whole effect is heightened if you have pate and cheese with some champagne as an appetizer. I love Whole Foods. and the truffled mousse pate is really good.
Of course there is also the advantage of having someone to cook this for. Quiche and Mousse are two of the more aphrodisiacal dishes that I know about. But thank goodness that Valentines Day comes only once a year.
Smoked Salmon and Feta Quiche.
1 recipe of your favorite savory pie crust.
2 eggs
1 egg yoke
1 cup heavy cream
a pinch of salt
a pinch of cayenne
a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp fresh dill chopped.
5.5 oz warm smoked salmon (as opposed to lox, or scottish style)
8 oz good feta cheese.
1/2 of a sweet onion
1 tablespoon butter
Blind bake the pie crust in your favorite 8 to 10 inch tart or pie pan. I used a 9 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom
Beat the eggs and yoke, add the cream and beat until combined, then add the salt, cayenne, nutmeg, and dill. Stir the seasonings in, set aside.
Break up the salmon and the feta cheese into bite sized chunks.
Slice the onion thinly and saute in the butter until it just starts to caramelize and get some brown color, remove from heat.
Time to assemble. Spread about half of the cheese in the bottom of your crust, then spread the onions over the cheese. Add the salmon on top, followed by the rest of the cheese. Pour the egg and cream mixture over it all. (If you are using a pan with a removable bottom you might want to consider placing this in a half sheet pan, or something else with sides.)
Place in a preheated oven and bake. How hot and How long? Now there is the question. For some reason I decided to bake it at about 400 degrees for 45 minutes, I think I might have gotten a better result at 350 for 1 hour, but bake it until a toothpick comes out clean and the quiche is set. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes, then eat.
The chocolate mousse is not my recipe, but since the book it is from is out of print, I am willing to share it. This recipe comes from Pierre Franey's "More 60 Minute Gourmet" which for some reason has gone our of print. This is the best chocolate mousse I have ever made, and the easiest. I will admit that it uses uncooked eggs, but I am not afraid of a little salmonella. The recipe does not specify what kind of chocolate to use, other than it should be sweetened. I chose to use a 73% cocoa mass organic chocolate pieces because I am far too lazy to chop up 75% cocoa mass bar chocolate. But I suspect if your tastes ran more towards the semi-sweet you could use a good quality semi-sweet chip, or bar but I suspect milk chocolate might be a bit too light. But this recipe is all about the chocolate, so don't skimp there.
Chocolate Mousse
Pierre Franey
4 oz sweetened chocolate broken up
1/4 lb unsalted butter cut into small pieces
3 egg yokes
3 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar.
Place the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. When the chocolate starts to melt add the butter, and continue to stir until everything is melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the egg yokes. Place the chocolate mixture in the refrigerator and let chill down to lukewarm, but no cooler or it will become to hard to stir.
Beat the egg whites until they are frothy, and then slowly add the sugar. Continue beating the egg whites until they have soft peaks. Fold the beaten egg whites into the lukewarm chocolate mixture. You can either chill it in the bowl, or portion it out into some elegant serving piece and chill it. If pre portioned it should be set in about 2 hours.
Can it get any simpler than this? I have been using this recipe since I bought the cookbook in 1984 when I had my first real place of my own and was learning how to cook.
Serve the quiche with a green salad. Serve the mousse with freshly whipped cream (I omit the sugar and use some vanilla extract). Eat until stuffed like a little piggy.
Oh, the whole effect is heightened if you have pate and cheese with some champagne as an appetizer. I love Whole Foods. and the truffled mousse pate is really good.
Of course there is also the advantage of having someone to cook this for. Quiche and Mousse are two of the more aphrodisiacal dishes that I know about. But thank goodness that Valentines Day comes only once a year.