Quiche, Two Ways

What's better than the best omelet you've ever had? The best omelet you've ever had, with a buttery flaky crust.

That, my friends, is quiche.

{Quiche, two ways}

{Ham & Cheese Quiche}

Ingredients:
1 pie crust
1/2 pound oven roasted ham, sliced
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 cups spinach
4 eggs
1-1/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

{Mushroom, Onion & Feta Quiche}

Ingredients:
1 pie crust
1 cup feta cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 cups spinach
4 eggs
1-1/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
cherry tomatoes, for garnish

Assemble each quiche separately; then, follow joint directions.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two pie dishes with the crust, crimping the edges. Place a layer of cheese on the crusts. Saute the onion and mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat, add spinach and cook for a minute or two. Layer on top of the cheese.

Place the eggs, cream, milk and salt in a big bowl and whip with a hand mixer for one minute on high speedy, until frothy. Pour custard over the vegetables in each pie dish until it comes almost to the top of the crust. Top with more cheese.

Bake for one hour, then remove from oven and jiggle the pan from side to side. If it looks liquidy, it needs more time; If it jiggles just a bit, it's set and is done. Do not overbake.

You can serve the quiche when it cools or, even better, wait until the next day — it tastes even better and reheats beautifully. Let the quiche cool completely, refrigerate overnight. The next day, preheat oven to 350, cut the quiche into slices and reheat in the oven for about 10  minutes, until warm.

I made this for my sister's engagement party, a little get-together featuring heavy appetizers, lots of wine and no sit-down meal. The quiche was a hit, and always impressive. 

And to up the ante a little bit more, add bacon to the mushroom, onion & feta quiche. Trust me on this one.

Great Lakes Porter Ice Cream

It's the weekend. That means beer by night, ice cream by day... but why not both — by night and day? Why not have the best of both worlds? Why not make beer ice cream?

So here we go.

This is crafted with my all-time favorite beer — the rich, smoky, dark, coffee-infused, chocolate-esque porter by Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland: Edmund Fitzgerald. For all you fellow beer geeks, this one's for you.

{Great Lakes Porter Ice Cream}

Adapted from the Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream Book

Ingredients

12 oz. bottle of Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, or any other strong dark beer

1/2 cup brown sugar

1-1/2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

3 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate

2 cups frosted almonds (recipe to follow)

Directions

In a large 4-quart saucepan, combine the beer and brown sugar over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, for about 15-20 minutes until reduced by half.
Add the molasses and salt and stir to dissolve. Add the cream and milk. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a bare simmer (small bubbles form along edges of pan). Do not boil.
Meanwhile, in a medium-sized bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until just blended.
Remove the cream mixture from heat and slowly pour a half cup of the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Repeat with another half cup. Then transfer the yolk mixture to the remaining cream mixture and return to medium heat.
Cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until slightly thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Place a large clean bowl in the ice bath and fit the bowl with a fine-mesh strainer.
Pour custard mixture through the strainer into the bowl in the ice bath. Let cook, stirring occassionally. When cooled, cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight. Freeze according to ice cream instructions.

While chilling, melt chocolate over a double boiler. Set aside. When ice cream is almost finished, add chocolate to form stracciatella. Transfer to a air-tight container. To serve, top with frosted almonds. Or, if you're feeling daring, toss a scoop in a pint of your favorite porter for a beer float!

{Frosted Almonds}

Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2 cups whole, unsalted almonds 

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Whisk together ingredients. On a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, spread out the coated almonds. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a plate to cool.

Blueberry Peach Sour Cream Scones

It's the perfect Saturday for baking. Seventies, sunny, with just a hint of chill in the air. Out my window, the leaves are just starting to change. Perfect for being in a sunny kitchen, aproned, music blaring, windows open, whisk whirling, elbows deep in dough ... my perfect Saturday.

Especially when these come steaming out of the oven.

{Blueberry Peach Sour Cream Scones}

Ingredients

two sticks unsalted butter, very cold

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

1 cup peaches, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream, or plain non-fat yogurt

2 cups flour, plus extra for the work-surface

1/2 cup sugar, plus some from sprinkling 

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions 

Preheat oven 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir the wet ingredients together. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Cut the butter into pieces and drop into the dry ingredients. Using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with the flour.  The butter will be in small chunks of all different sizes.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork. Don't overdo it or the scones will be flat, not fluffy. Next, knead the dough a few times until it is slightly springy.

Lightly dust a counter with flour. Take about a third of the dough and press in onto the counter and pat it into a rough square. You're going to make a layered scone: push a mixture of the blueberries and peaches into onto a third of the rolled-out dough. Roll the dough over it, and continue the process on the next layer. Fold it over again, cut it in thirds and sprinkle sugar over the top.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and eat greedily.

These are fluffy, fruity and delicious for breakfast or, who am I kidding, at any time of the day. For more varieties, making my chocolate chip cherry scones, or substitute any fillings for these babies.

Reese's Cup Cookies

I have this friend. She likes these cookies. And by like, I mean she eats entire batches.
Entire batches.
This weekend — when she was in town — I made them. And she ate them. The entire batch.

This is why I love my friends.

{Reese's Cup Cookies}
Adapted from Real Simple

Ingredients

1-1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup crisco

3/4 brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

12-oz package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, roughly chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together baking soda, salt, crisco, brown sugar, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir in flour, then fold in Reese's Cups.

Drop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto a baking sheet and bake until light brown around teh edges, 8-9 minutes.

I guess if I only got these cookies once a year, I'd eat 12 in a row too.
Seriously though.
Try to eat just one.

Chocolate Ice Cream

I've always had this not-so-secret ambition to open my own ice cream shop. It will double as a coffee shop and book store and local hangout. It will be full of delicious smells and comfy chairs and everyone will leave with an ice cream cone in one hand and a latte in the other.

Until then, when the only items in your freezer are 5 quarts of ice cream and a bottle of vodka you know it's time to do something about it. Minus the vodka.

So, it's time to perfect my ice cream. Time for decadent, creamy ice cream, time for amazing flavors, time for the best ice cream ever.

And for my first revamped ice cream, we'll go with a classic — Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate.

{Chocolate Ice Cream}

Ingredients

3 egg yolks

6 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder

1-1/2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup whole milk

1-3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk egg yokes just until broken. In a large heatproof saucepan, stir together cocoa, 3 tablespoons sugar and 3 tablespoons brown sugar. Slowly add in 1/4 cup of the milk and stir. When hot, add in chopped chocolate and whisk until melted. Add in milk, cream and salt. Bring to a near simmer over medium-high heat (remove when mixture swells slightly and bubbles appear around the edges of the mixture).
Remove from heat. Using a ladle, spoon 1/2 cup of the cream mixture into the egg yokes, stirring constantly. Then do the same with another 1/2 cup of the cream mixture. This will keep the eggs from scrambling as they are cooked. Then, while constantly stirring the cream mixture with a spatula, add the egg mixture to the cream mixture.
Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat immediately and pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl.
Chill the mixture thoroughly. Just before freezing, stir in vanilla extract. Freeze according to ice cream maker instructions.

For the true chocolate lover, this makes a beautiful, rich and creamy chocolate ice cream with emphasis on the chocolate, as it should be. And boy is it smoooooth. While this method involves a lot of steps, it's totally worth it for the end result! Try it. Eat it. Love it.

My favorite way to eat this (besides spoonfuls from the container, of course) is topped with butter toasted almonds, hot fudge and a dash of sea salt.