Caramelized Onion, Spinach and Feta Quiche

I've always loved caramelized onions. My mom used to make it with eggs and I could eat the whole platter all by myself, with rice on the side. This quiche is just delicious with caramelized onions. And spinach. And feta. There's layers and layers of flavor. It's good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Great for dinner parties (unless you planned on having leftovers). I got too caught up in the partying and forgot to take pictures of individual slices. Oh well, next time.

Caramelized Onion, Spinach and Feta Quiche

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

8 tbsp chilled butter, diced

4 tbsp iced water

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

2 medium onions, sliced

1 cup frozen spinach, defrosted

4 oz Feta cheese, crumbled

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Salt & pepper

Prepare crust by cutting butter in the flour and salt mixture until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Add iced water until dough comes together. Refrigerate at least half an hour. Roll out the crust for the pan and refrigerate for another half hour. Preheat over to 400. Line the pie crust and add baking beans (or rice). Bake for fifteen minutes. Remove the foil and bake the crust for another ten minutes until golden brown.

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sliced onions. Sprinkle on salt. Stir occasionally over medium heat for fifteen minutes or until caramelized. Add a layer of spinach, a layer of onions, and a layer of feta in the tart.

Mix eggs and heavy cream in a mixer. Add Parmesan, nutmeg, salt & pepper. Pour custard into the tart.

Bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 400 degree.

Lasagna With Fresh Pasta

I got a sweet present for Christmas. Not trying to brag here, but I have the best in-laws. It's the pasta attachment for my KitchenAid. I'm super excited about making pasta for the upcoming year. I made some ravioli to test it out. It was so much fun, though the pasta was a little thick for ravioli. Since now I know what to do, I decided to make lasagna for the family.

Here are the instructions for making pasta. The ingredients are just flour, salt, and eggs. The first time I made it the eggs spilled out. Make sure to make a big enough well in the middle of the flour.

Knead the dough just enough to mix the egg with the flour. 

Then the fun part! Watching the dough roll out kind of reminds me of a weaving machine or a newspaper press.

You have feed it three or four time through to make sure the dough is nice and smooth. 

The first few times I fed  it too much dough and my pasta came out extremely long.

To make the lasagna, boil the pasta for two minutes. I cut up my pasta sheets in half, then in thirds length wise to fit my pot. Meanwhile prepare the vegetables for the ragú. I didn't think chopped tomatoes were necessary because of the tomato sauce, but I ended up adding some at the end for color.

Cook the vegetables with olive oil for three minutes. Then add the ground beef and cook for a few minutes until the meat is browned. Stir in the bacon. Then add tomato sauce and red wine. Season with oregano, salt  and pepper.

Make the white sauce by melting the butter in a large sauce pan. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Then add the milk and stir until it boils. Add the ricotta cheese, salt & pepper, and nutmeg. 

Assemble the lasagna by adding a layer of ragú, a layer of white sauce, and a layer of pasta. Repeat again, then top with another layer of ragú and white sauce and sprinkle on the Parmesan. You can bake it now or freeze it until later. 

To bake it frozen, bring the casserole dish to room temperature or set it in an inch of warm water to take off the chill. Bake it covered at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Take off the foil and bake for another 15 minutes at 375 degrees to brown the top.

Making it ahead of time worked out well. We had a much needed relaxing day after our adventures in NYC, with board games, reading, and TV while the lasagna cooked in the oven.

Here's the ingredient list:

Lasagna

Serves 6

1 tbsp oilve oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tomato chopped

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 lb ground beef

2 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

2 cups tomato sauce

1/3 cup red wine

1 tsp dried oregano

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup ricotta

1/3 tsp ground nutmeg

salt & pepper

8oz lasagna, cooked

1/2 grated Parmesan

Make the ragú: Cook vegetables with olive oil for three minutes. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Stir in bacon, tomato sauce and red wine. Season with oregano and salt & pepper. 

Make the white sauce: Melt the butter on medium low heat. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Add the milk, stir until it boils. Stir in the ricotta. Season with nutmeg and salt & pepper. 

Assemble with one layer ragú, one layer of white sauce, and one layer of pasta. Repeat. Then add a layer of ragú and a layer of white sauce. Top it off with Parmesan.

If frozen, preheat the oven to 350 and cook for an hour covered, 15 minutes uncovered. If not frozen, cook for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.

Acorn Squash and Leek Tart

Yesterday I mentioned the appetizers we had for dinner last weekend. Along with the pita chips and hummus, we also had some mulled wine to help us get into the holiday spirit. For the main course, we had an Acorn Squash and Leek Tart, adapted from the Squash and Gorgonzola Tart recipe from The Kitchen Bible.

Acorn Squash and Leek Tart
Makes 6 servings

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbsp chilled butter, diced
4 tbsp iced water
1 acorn squash, seeded
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large leeks, pale green and white parts only, thinly sliced
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 oz Gorgonzola
Salt & pepper

First roast the acorn squash. This can be prepared ahead of time. Set the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the acorn squash in half horizontally. Bake for 30 minutes. Chill for half an hour. Cut the squash into thick slices and peel them. I only used 4 slices in the tart.

Prepare the dough an hour ahead. Mix salt into the flour. Cut in the butter, until it resembles cornmeal. Add iced water. Pack into a disc and wrap with plastic. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Roll disc out on lightly floured surface, then transfer to a tart pan. I used a pie pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, and fill it with baking beans, or rice. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and bake for 10 more minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan on medium. Add the leeks and cook for 5 minutes.

Add to the prepared tart shell.

Spread the squash and Gorgonzola on top.

Mix together the eggs, egg yolk, heavy cream, Parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture in the tart.

Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Make sure to save room for dessert!

Apple Tarte Tatin

Finally a post about dessert! If you have apples laying around that nobody is interested in anymore, this is the recipe for you. At first, I tried to follow The Kitchen Bible's recipe, but I didn't have the right apples or the foresight to take out the butter, so the result really is a pleasant surprise.

Apple Tarte Tatin
4 Golden delicious apples
2 Empire apples
Juice from half a lemon
10 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar

Pastry
2 cups all purpose flour
10 tbsp butter
1/4 sugar
1 egg

One of my favorite things about moving to New York is all the apples. When I saw that the farmer's market sold apples at half the price of those sold in Alaska, I--of course--bought too many. Then we went to an apple farm, which I loved, but I couldn't imagine bringing back even more. With all these apples laying around and one person to eat them (Bill had lost interest), I had to cook them into something more enticing. This recipe's short ingredients list made it a choice candidate.

I made the pastry like a pie dough because I didn't take out the butter soon enough. Mix the flour and the sugar together, then cut in the butter. Mix the egg slightly with a fork then add it to the flour. Use the fork to incorporate it into the dough so all the flour is hydrated and starts to come together. Then press it into a disk, wrap it in plastic and chill in the fridge for an hour.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the apples. I started cutting the apples like I would for an apple pie. Then I realized I should quarter them instead so the pieces are smaller and flatter.

Toss the apples with some lemon juice to preserve them.

Melt the butter on medium heat, then stir in the sugar. I think you're suppose to let it cook for a bit to liquefy the sugar, but I followed the recipe book and kept stirring. The result was a bubbling brown sugar mixture. But it wasn't all a loss. The product was still delicious, you'll see!

Add the mixture to the baking pan. Another liberty I took was using an spring form pan. Thinking ahead, I put a sheet pan to catch the liquid that would leak out. But I didn't anticipate how much of a bubbling mess it would be. It took a miracle to transfer it to a serving dish. The recipe book suggested a flame proof baking dish.

Place the apples round side down. I was only able to fit 2/3 of the apple pieces. Then I just threw all the rest on top of that.

They were well hidden under the crust. Tuck in the sides of the crust.

Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. The drained butter-syrup was probably a blessing in disguise. The upside down tart had just enough sweetness and a good balance of soft topping and crust. The sides were caramelized with a delicious crunch. Without any spices, this dessert really allows the apple flavor to shine. It smelled as wonderful as it tasted.

I had to take a picture of the last piece before it was all gone!

Don't worry, Bill and I had some help eating it. Stay tuned for a post about the dinner that went with this dessert (not themed)!

'Tis Pumpkin Season!

The luncheon this weekend was a great success. The pumpkin cheesecake was a hit and the pumpkin gorgonzola tart was "good enough to sell"! Too bad in all the frenzy, I forgot to take pictures. So I will include a picture of the pumpkin from which we took a chunk out for the tart...the "front"side is still carvable though!

I also got two sugar pumpkins. Making a pie or cheesecake from a sugar pumpkin is terribly easy. I'm glad I decided to try it. The flavor is amazing. As this was my first time making a cheesecake, I had some leftover filling, perfect for mini-cheesecakes in the middle of the week. I will have to remember to take pictures when I make those.

The pumpkin gorgonzola tart was a modified version of Squash and Gorgonzola Tart from The Kitchen Bible.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
8 tbsp cold butter, diced
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp iced water, as needed
1 lb pumpkin, peeled and seeds removed
olive oil, as needed
14 oz baby spinach
2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/8 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp rubbed sage
4 oz Gorgonzola, crumbled

Cut butter in flour and salt mixture until it resembles corn meal. Add water until all the flour is moistened and form it into a thick disk. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll it out for a 8 inch tart pan (I used a pie pan). Chill for 30 more minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake about 15 minutes. Lift off the parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes more.

Slice the pumpkin into thick slices and spread on a baking sheet. Toss with 1 tbsp oil. Bake for 30 minutes, or until tender. Cook the spinach and 2 tbsp olive oil in covered saucepan for about 4 minutes, until wilted. Drain and let cool. Whisk the eggs, egg yolk, cream, Parmesan, and nutmeg together and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle salt and sage on pumpkin slices. Squeeze the spinach dry. Spread it in the pastry shell, and top with the pumpkin and Gorgonzola. Pour in the custard. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the custard is set. Cover with foil if top is too brown. Let cool for 10 minutes. Serve hot.

I can't wait to have our friends over for lunch again!