Potato Crust Mushroom and Swiss Quiche

Sometimes it is a Monday night and you realize you have like 12 mushrooms in your refrigerator and two random russet potatoes - both of which were purchased at some point with another recipe in mind.  But now you don't care about those recipes.

So what to do?  Potato Crust Mushroom and Swiss Quiche probably does the trick.  I am a quiche fan - it is easy, filling, and completely customizable.

Potato Crust Mushroom and Swiss Quiche Ingredients

5 eggs

2 egg whites

3/4 cup skim milk

2 large russet potatoes

1 onion

10 - 12 mushrooms

10 stalks skinny asparagus 

6 slices Swiss cheese, or shredded Swiss

1 tbsp of grated parmigiana cheese

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper to Taste

 I know there are quiche enthusiasts who will say a good quiche has to be with a proper pie crust, and usually that is true.  However, in the pursuit of healthy living and delicious eating, this is a fast and quite good alternative.

Slice the potatoes crosswise into 1/4" coins. In a colander drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper -this is a tip, place the colander over the pan you'll be baking in to catch the oil. Then neatly layer the potatoes in a to cover the base of the pie pan. I sprinkle a tablespoon of grated parmigiana cheese on to the potatoes and then set in the oven for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

While the crust is baking chop the onion, mushrooms and asparagus.  In a large nonstick pan saute the onions and when they are softened add the mushrooms and then when the mushrooms are just a moment from being down add the asparagus.

Cooled vegetables with the Swiss cheese on top

While the vegetables and crust cools - this is very important - prepare the egg mixture.  I used 2 egg whites and 5 whole eggs and I think you could adjust that to your liking. Whisk egg, milk and salt and pepper and then add the cooled vegetables and cheese.

Bake in the 375 degree oven for 30 minutes - at this time the egg should have a slight bounce but be firm and an inserted knife should come out clean.  This is beautiful served with a fresh salad or on it's own because it is filled with delicious and nutritious vegetables - and yes, in our house it is breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Enjoy! 

P.S. Mark and Carly secret: During a bridal shower game I had to guess what Mark's favorite food was that I made.  Not lasagna, or crab cakes, or cookies, quiche. 

Grilled Eggplant Pesto Parmigiana

Sometimes I realize that the recipe featured here require a mixer, or an immersion blender, and for as much as I try to simplify recipes by using simple tools, it can become intimidating if your kitchen equipment is pieced together with hand-me-downs and college left overs.

This recipe requires not much more than George Foreman grill, the staple of every college "registry", and it looks and tastes a bit more sophisticated than college.

Grilled Eggplant Pesto Parmigiana

Ingredients

1 large Italian eggplant

Pesto Sauce (either premade, or homemade - do it!  It is soo easy)

Grated Parmigiana cheese

Marinara sauce

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  On a cutting board slice the eggplant into 1/2" coins.  Sprinkle generously with Kosher salt.  Salting the eggplant adds flavor and it also helps the eggplant to "sweat" out some of it's moisture.

In a small bowl prepare the pesto sauce, come on, I know you went homemade.  Another even lower calorie option that is strong on flavor is crushed basil, garlic and olive oil - I recommend the frozen basil and garlic cubes at Trader Joe's.

Lay the eggplant coins out on the grill and cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown grill marks appear and then rotate for a beautiful cross pattern.   

Lay all of the grilled eggplant slices on a cookie sheet and spread each slice with a 1/2 teaspoon of your spread.  (If you're  not into pesto, or garlic, or basil, or whatever, a tapenade would be amazing, or just your basic marinara sauce).  Sprinkle with the grated parmigiana cheese and bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until the cheese is a little bit melted.

If you can help it, arrange the grilled eggplant slices on a plate and serve with fresh sauce.  If you can't help it, try not to burn your fingers as you eat them right from the pan.  We ate them both ways in my house, and they taste just as good with or without the fancy presentation!

This makes for a healthy, affordable, and really satisfying dinner or appetizer for a crowd.  Buon Appetito!

Baked Eggplant Parmigiana

Eggplant Parmigiana is an all time favorite comfort food of mine, and a great vegetarian substitute for chicken parmigian and more filling than a similarly stacked lasagna.  The only downfall is that traditionally the eggplant has to be fried in oil before it is layered with delicious sauce and cheese.  Not so fast, it can also be baked which is healthier, takes up less "active" cooking time and doesn't leave your kitchen smelling like a fry house.

Eggplant Parmigiana Ingredients

1 Medium Italian Eggplant

2 Eggs
1/2 cup of All Purpose/Whole Wheat flour

1/3 cup of Italian style bread crumbs

1/3 cup of Panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup of Skim Milk Ricotta Cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmigiana

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley/Italian seasoning

Set the oven to 350 degrees

Serves 6, or 4 very hungry eaters!

I cut the eggplant into coins about 1/4 of an inch thick and give them a light sprinkle of kosher salt.  Eggplant is full of water and the light sprinkle of salt helps them to release a bit of the moisture and and brings out the flavor.

At your work station set up a small bowl with two eggs, beaten, and a shallow dish with with the mixture of bread crumbs, grated cheese and few cracked of fresh ground pepper. 

Dip each coin of eggplant into the egg and then into the bread crumbs coating each slice on both sides.

With all of the prepared eggplant slice on a parchment covered baking sheet; bake in the 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  After baking the eggplant will be softened, the edges browned and the bread crumbs crisp and golden.

While the eggplant is baking in a small bowl mix the ricotta cheese, some pepper, parsley, and Italian seasoning.  Now here is where the fun happens.  Grab a baking dish and your favorite sauce - if it came out of a jar, it's no big deal, I'm not telling anyone.  Spoon a thin layer of sauce on the base of the dish, add your first layer eggplant coins, another layer of sauce, and thin layer of ricotta cheese.  Repeat until you run out of eggplant.

On the top layer of eggplant add another layer of sauce, one more round of ricotta and some grated parmigiana. 

Look at those layers!  Where is the fork?

If you are preparing this on a Sunday for a Monday night dinner you can wrap this is tin-foil and keep in the refrigerator for a day.  If you're looking for a more instant satisfaction this can bake in the oven at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted on the top and the sauce is looking a little bubbly.

When you're ready to serve I like to portion out the stacks and serve with a fresh salad.  As they say in Italy, Buon Appetito!

Setting the Table for Family and Friends

In my immediate family there are four of us.  Pretty average, nothing anyone would consider "large".  However, my family doesn't do holidays with just the four of us.  Holidays with my family include everyone: all the grandparents (I am blessed to have four healthy, amazing grandparents), all of the cousins, aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings and children of all of the cousins and aunts and uncles and of course friends that feel like family.  It is not unusual to gather around the table for Passover or Rosh Hoshanah or be spread throughout the house on Thanksgiving with 40 - 50 people.

Not quite this long, but you get the idea

Let me ask you, how do you set a table for 40 - 50 people?  Most people do not own a set of China for 40-50 people, and rarely does the heaviest stock of paper plates hold up to a good Jewish brisket...  

Necessity being the mother of all invention the table would be set  communally; beautiful China would come from an Aunt here, a cousin there, a sister from nearby.  At the end of the day a beautiful table would be set in creams and gold that was worthy of the best crowd and food.

When we got married I registered for plain, everyday white China from Pottery Barn, but now that we have moved and I have more storage in my kitchen and a proper dining room for entertaining the idea of expanding my collection is not lost on me.  Here are some entertaining must haves, for now:

Dazzle Dinnerware by Crate and Barrel

Wood-Slices Dinnerware by West Elm

Vera Wang for Wedgwood "Gilded Weave"

Growing up I would volunteer for table setting duty at my cousin Deborah's house, and the look and feel of an extra long table, with shining glassware and matching mismatched plates has always stuck with me. The Holidays are special and are meant to be treated with extra care, a little extra sparkle and spent with the most important people.

It doesn't even matter if you eat take out Chinese on your China, just make it special!

Roasted Potatoes, Poupourri You Can Eat

To be fair this is not so much of a "recipe" as it is a suggestion.  

I know that this weekend is dedicated to running around for last minute costumes, carving pumpkins, excessive makeup, buying candy, consuming lots more candy, and indulging on some other celebratory vices.  And that is all good.  But, the weekend is long, and eventually you'll want something that is healthy, and easy.  This is so easy that while you're setting your hair in curlers and finishing the details of your meat dress this can cook.

Roasted Potatoes is the most homey non-recipe recipe there is.  I like to mix a large variety of potatoes (white, red, purple, sweet, yellow) and chop them all up into chunks that are about 1/4 - 1/3 of an inch thick.

Set the oven to 400 degrees and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  And get chopping. 

 

Ta da!  All chopped.  When all the chopped potatoes are in a bowl drizzle on some olive oil, sprinkle on some Kosher salt, crack some black pepper.  

Okay, now here is where you have some creative license.  Are you feeling traditional?  How about some rosemary and thyme.  Want some heat?  Sprinkle on some cayenne.  Want Italian flavors?  Try oregano, parsley, and maybe some  finely grated Parmigiana-Reggiano, or do as we do and go a little crazy with the Old Bay.  There is no right or wrong amount, but you'll want to see the flecks of flavor on each piece of potato.  This is truly an instance of "flavor to taste".

Throw in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, the longer it's in there the more browned the edges will become, again this is a personal preference.  Also, I am going to again recommend mixing up the variety of potatoes, they each have a different flavor and texture and so all together they are like a little (healthy) party in your mouth.

Enlarged to show flavor intensity detail!

Happy Halloween, this year instead of a pre-trick or treating peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or pizza (which are all more than fabulous), mix it up with this!

Roasted Vegetable Sauce for an Easy Weeknight

Weeknight dinners are always a little bit tricky; I want something healthy, good tasting, fairly quick and comforting.  So last night was an opportunity for some easy, hearty and full of vegetables sauce.

Roasted Vegetable Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cups Chopped Cherry Tomatoes

2 medium Zucchini

1 medium Eggplant

Salt and Pepper

Dash of Olive Oil

Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

Garlic

Basil

Pepperoncino

1 tbsp Skim Ricotta Cheee

**I really like zucchini and eggplant and so we nearly always have some variety on hand.  If you are not a fan of one you could always do without or swap in a different vegetable.  If you don't like either you'll just be eating tomatoes and cheese, which come to think of it isn't so bad either.

 Chop the zucchini and eggplant into rounds about a centimeter thick.  Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, and then cut the eggplant into smaller chunks.  Combine the chopped zucchini and eggplant with the chopped tomatoes in a large bowl.  Add to the bowl a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, salt, pepper, and some diced garlic.  Mix all of this up, so that flecks of oil and vinegar touch everything.

On a cookie sheet lay out a piece of parchment paper and pour out all of the vegetables.  Place the sheet in a 400 degree oven for 35 minutes.  If by chance the OnDemand Yoga video, or self applied manicure is taking longer, you can let these roast for up to 45 minutes - you just don't want the vegetables to be burned.

On the stove top set up a large sauce pan with some olive oil, chopped onion, garlic and basil over low heat.  At the same time start boiling water for your pasta. 

Now, I need to share a secret with you.  I rarely keep fresh garlic on hand at home.  This is probably shocking but in our old apartment we'd have heads of garlic and we'd lose them, and then they'd dry out and it was a waste.  Then we discovered the frozen crushed garlic and basil at Trader Joe's.  They are perfect in a pinch, and hopefully there is a Trader Joe's somewhere within reach.  To my Florida readers; perhaps I'll bring you some on the next visit!

When the onions are translucent add the roasted vegetables to the saucepan.  Pour in two ladles of pasta water, and stir vigorously.  

You can keep it chunky, and stop here.  I wanted a more saucy sauce so I used my immersion blender for a few quick pulses and then added a spoonful of ricotta cheese for an smoother taste.  I paired this with a favorite pasta in the pantry, but I think I would also love this on crusty, warm bread as a bruschetta topping, or as a dip with pita.  The whole prep from beginning to end took about 45 minutes; and the bulk of that was inactive cooking time while the vegetables were roasting.  Not too bad for a healthy, well balanced dinner, ever better for a weeknight!

Buon Appetito!

What a peach!

Last Sunday we went to the Farmer's Market in our new neighborhood - ahh! yes, we have a farmer's market!!! - and picked up a variety of fresh produce, some zucchini flowers, blueberries, eggs, lettuce greens, gelato (that somehow never made it beyond noon on Sunday) and peaches.

Peaches were not a fruit I grew up loving, I was more of a basic kind of girl, apple, banana, orange, grapes, but after visiting enough Farmer's Market and seeing and smelling the ripe little fruits they were hard to resist. Sometimes I'll cut up the peaches with oatmeal for breakfast, or grill them with yogurt for dessert but this week I made them the main event for a dinner I am calling, "What Spices do I have in my new Kitchen Peaches and Chicken?"

Bon appetito!

Ingredients:
Two bone-in chicken breasts, with the skin on
Peaches (3)
1 large onion
1/2 lemon
Garlic
Butter for the pan and chicken
Olive oil for the pan and chicken
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Old Bay seasoning
A sprinkle of brown sugar
**You might notice there is a jar of jam (apricot) I never used it. Also the bag of slivered almonds was used for the spinach - yum!
I don't like to clean up a lot of pots and pans so I did everything in an oven-safe pan. Okay butter in the pan, and I rubbed a bit of butter on the skin and sprinkled on a generous amount of Kosher salt, fresh pepper and Old Bay.While this is lightly browning on the stove, it's time to get chopping...


I chop my onions to be a pretty decent size, so that they are a part of the dish, not just for flavoring. Next everything goes right in the chicken pan and into the oven. I also put a bit of chopped garlic under the skin of the chicken just for flavoring.On a whim I decided to throw in a splash of balsamic vinegar for color and a little more tart rich flavor. This baked at 400 with the top on for about 30 minutes. (My oven is a little finicky right now, so I kept checking, and I wouldn't swear by that time or temperature.) With about 10 minutes left in the baking, I sprinkled on a teeny bit of brown sugar on the skin- for an extra sweet surprise.

While this was baking away and making a sweet, and hearty sauce I prepared the spinach. So simple and satisfying. I heated up a little butter and slivered almonds for a light golden color and then replaced the almonds in the pan with sliced garlic. When the garlic was also nice and golden I added frozen spinach (I know, frozen!). When everything was nice and combined I added the almonds again and prepared to serve.

Bon appetito!