Nancy's Roquefort Quiche

My dear friend for more than 30 years gave me this recipe. She passed away 10 years ago and I don't imagine I will ever get over missing her. She was amazing, such fun, a true conch (someone born and raised in the Florida Keys) and loved by all who knew her. Nancy's work was in the fundraising field, so as a result, she knew everyone in town, remembered everything and you could call and say...what do you know about this or that...and she'd have the complete skinny. Always. I'm still in touch with her youngest daughter (via Facebook....it does have its uses) even though she moved away. 
When Nancy served this quiche years ago for a luncheon, we all took a deep breath. Quiche Lorraine was the big thing back then, so a quiche made with Roquefort was a walk on the wild side. Typical Nancy. Ever the trailblazer. We loved it. 

I've always served a fruit salad with it, which makes perfect sense...fruit and cheese. Unfortunately, I only had some leftover cantaloupe in the house when I made the quiche for this post, so that's what I used. But for company, my suggestion is to make a colorful salad with a variety of fruits and a nice light poppy seed dressing.

Nancy's Roquefort Quiche

Ingredients:

6 ounces cream cheese, soft

4 ounces Roquefort or blue cheese 

1/2 cup light or heavy cream

3 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion (I grate it)

freshly ground black pepper

1 baked pie shell

Method:

Preheat oven to 375. Beat cream cheese, Roquefort and cream until smooth with electric mixer. Add eggs, onion and pepper. Pour into baked pie shell and bake 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.

Roasted Vegetable Frittata

When I need a fast dinner and don't have anything much in the fridge, I usually throw together something with eggs, as do all of you. A frittata is a great excuse to use leftover veggies AND put a quick meal on the table.
Roasting vegetables to intensify flavor is something I learned from Ina Garten ages ago. Ina's roasted tomatoes are a perfect example: ambrosial when served with mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar. It's my go-to salad for pot lucks, entertaining and, quite frequently, just for me. 

So when I saw Ina make a roasted vegetable frittata recently, I perked up. I don't usually roast anything that goes into my frittata, so this was bound to have more flavor than usual. The great thing is...use any veggies you have. They all work beautifully in this. Besides, all that cheese! Yum. Dinner will be on the table in an hour. Honestly, how easy is that?

Roasted Vegetable Frittata
From Ina Garten's How Easy is That?

6 to 8 servings.

Ingredients:
1 small zucchini, 1-inch-diced 
1 red bell pepper, seeded and 1 1/2-inch-diced 
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and 1 1/2-inch-diced 
1 red onion, 1 1/2-inch-diced 
1/3 cup good olive oil 
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 
2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves) 
12 extra-large eggs 
1 cup half-and-half 
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 
1 tablespoon unsalted butter 
1/3 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (3 scallions) 
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
Place the zucchini, peppers, and onion on a sheet pan. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and toss well. Bake for 15 minutes. Add the garlic, toss again, and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the oven to 350 degrees. 
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. 
In a 10-inch ovenproof saute pan, melt the butter and saute the scallions over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Add the roasted vegetables to the pan and toss with the scallions. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and cook for 2 minutes over medium-low heat without stirring. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake the frittata for 20 to 30 minutes, until puffed and set in the middle. Sprinkle with the Gruyere and bake for another 3 minutes, until the cheese is just melted. Cut into 6 or 8 wedges and serve hot. 

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Leftovers: Crispy Fried Rice Omelet

When my kids were young, I would press leftover rice into patties and fry them until they were crisp. Nothing fancy, because with three kids under three, I did things as simply as possible in the kitchen. Once in a while, I made a quick fried rice from a recipe given to me by a lovely Chinese woman who became a friend during our Air Force years. More recently, I've made leftover risotto into cakes and fried them à la Ina Garten.

And now I've come across another way to use rice leftovers: an omelet. This dish is served for one or two as a main course, with some extra goodies tucked in. Leftover rice (sticky rice is best), peas, scallions or shallots, and eggs. Fresh ginger, if you have it, and any other veggie additions in the fridge you want to use up. You bite into the soft omelet and surprise!  There's the crunchy sticky rice in the center.  Sprinkle some soy sauce on top. Yum. 

Crispy Fried Rice Omelet
From Dinner, A Love Story blog by Jenny Rosenstrach

Ingredients:
canola oil (I added a touch of butter for flavor as well)

2 tablespoons minced scallions or shallots

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

1 small garlic clove, minced

shake of red pepper flakes (to taste)

3/4 cup leftover rice, preferably sticky Chinese takeout

3 – 4 eggs

2 teaspoons soy sauce

handful frozen peas (to taste)

Method:

Preheat broiler. Add a little oil to a cast iron or nonstick skillet set over medium heat. Add scallions, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook about 1 minute until everything is soft and fragrant. Add rice and spread out in one layer, turning up heat a bit. Don’t stir for about a minute so it gets nice and crispy. Stir again, turn over and wait another minute. It's important that the rice is crisp and brown. Meanwhile whisk together eggs and soy sauce and add peas to egg mixture. Turn heat down to medium-low and pour egg mixture over fried rice, tipping the pan so the egg distributes itself evenly over the rice. Cook until underside is crispy, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a broiler and bake another 3 minutes or until egg looks golden and bubbly on top. 

Serve with a drizzle of soy sauce and a green salad.
For two.

Fresh Tomato Clafoutis and the Giveaway Winners

Much as I like recipes from Patricia Wells (our 11th Game Changer), this one was not exactly what I expected. I was all for trying a savory tomato claufoutis with some Roma tomatoes I had on hand but was surprised the clafoutis base ended up like a custard. Well, Mary from One Perfect Bite did mention the recipe resembled a frittata rather than a clafoutis and there's no flour, so I shouldn't have been surprised. The flavors are really good...all that Parmesan, thyme and lovely summery fresh Romas. For a light lunch, it can't be beat, but I don't think males in your family are going to like this much. Not enough substance.

The tomatoes MUST be dry...that is key. Which requires a lot of tomato preparation before you get to the simple recipe. After I drained them for an hour on paper towels, I wiped them dry, squeezing a bit. Once the tomatoes are prepared, the ingredient list is short. If you're having a friend or two over for lunch, this would be ideal served with some lightly dressed greens or a lovely fruit salad.


Tomato Clafoutis
From Patricia Wells via Mary at One Perfect Bite 

Ingredients:

2 pounds Roma tomatoes, peeled, cored, quartered, seeded and juiced

Salt

2 whole eggs + 2 additional egg yolks

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons fresh thyme

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 10-inch round baking dish. Set aside.

Remove the skin from the tomatoes by dipping them in boiling water. Remove the seeds and as much juice as you can. Salt the tomatoes and drain on several thicknesses of paper toweling for 60 minutes. Wipe dry and sqeeze lightly to remove most of the juice.

Place eggs, cream, half of Parmesan cheese and half of thyme in in a small bowl. Whisk to

combine. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Layer tomatoes on bottom of baking dish. Pour batter over tomatoes. Sprinkle with remainder of cheese and thyme.
Bake until batter is set, about 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

The winners of the Make It Now, Bake It Later cookbooks are:
1) Lisa from Lisa is Cooking and
2) Rocky Mountain Woman
Please contact me at bsmithw@gmail.com with your name and mailing address. 
Have fun with them!

Crespéou

This is a dish I had to make immediately once I saw the photo and read the recipe in Sophie Dahl's new book. Basically, Crespéou (pronounced cress-PAY-oo) is a Provençal omelet-cake. It can be an hors d'oeuvre or a main course, party food or solitary supper, hot main dish or cold snack. Fabulous for summer, because you can use anything you have on hand to make the layers and if you're thinking about making this for company, you're in luck because it's best made a day ahead. 

While researching crespéou, one of the recipes I discovered had 20 (!) thin omelets of varying colors and with contrasting ingredients, garnished with lavender sprigs, which must have made a tower of a cake. But the flavors described in this giant crespéou were right up my alley: anchovies, basil, olives, eggplant, zucchini, capers, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes and more.

I also found Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe HERE; his recipe appeals on many levels and I'll make it the next time. He added tomato paste to his red layer, turmeric to his yellow layer and scallions, basil and green chili to his green layer. Those additions certainly would make the colors (as well as flavors) stand out a bit more in each layer, making the presentation much more intriguing. 

By far the easiest way to make Crespéou is just to cook up a stack of open-face omelets, piling them on a plate as they firm up and brown slightly, then cut into wedges to serve right away. But aficionados suggest not only stacking the omelets, but weighting them down overnight so that they compress even more. Which is what I did. The contrasting flavors are more pronounced when prepared this way.

What makes crespéou appealing is that it's so free-form. You can flavor the different layers with just about anything and you can build it as high as you like. Sophie Dahl and Ottolenghi both used three layers, so I did the same. No need to get carried away with 20 or even 8 layers. You don't need a sauce or garnish either, but you can serve it with a green salad or add a tomato coulis. I sprinkled it with herbs, but some niçoise olives, tomato slices with basil alongside would be nice and would add a Provençal touch.

Crespéou
From Very Fond of Food by Sophie Dahl

Ingredients:
For the yellow omelet:
5 eggs
1 tablespoon half and half cream
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped fine (I had a large shallot, so used that)
1 pinch of saffron

For the green omelet:
5 eggs
1 tablespoon half and half cream
salt and pepper
olive oil
a handful of baby spinach
3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

For the red omelet:
5 eggs
1 tablespoon half and half cream
salt and pepper
olive oil
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
any garnishes you wish

Method:
For the yellow omelet: whisk the eggs with the cream and season with salt and pepper. Add some olive oil to a non-stick pan and add the onion, then the saffron. Stir and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the eggs and cook until set. Place the omelet on a plate
For the green omelet: whisk the eggs with the cream and season with salt and pepper. Add some olive oil to the non-stick pan and add the spinach, tarragon and parsley. Stir a bit, then add the eggs and cook until set. Place on top of the yellow omelet.
For the red omelet: whisk the eggs with the cream and season with salt and pepper. Add some olive oil to a non-stick pan and add the tomatoes. Saute for a minute or so, then add the eggs and goat cheese. Cook until set. Place on top of the green omelet.

Wrap the stacked omelets in wax paper, cover with tin foil, pressing them down. Refrigerate overnight. Garnish however you choose, cut as you would a cake and serve.