Asparagus, Blackforest Ham and Caramelized Onion Quiche

The weather is turning chilly, so it's perfect for baking again. Baking in a tiny studio apartment in mid summer is heat stroke inducing, so I love to warm up my apartment in the fall or winter with a cozy dish...

Going out for brunch is such a Chicago thing. People here love to flock to a eatery around 11 a.m. and then wait patiently in line to enjoy a brunch with a mimosa or other tasty beverages while catching up with friends. Whenever I go to brunch, I can't resist ordering the quiche of the day with a side salad (anything baked in a pie is irresistible to me... I'd probably not even object to the questionable pie served by Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd if I didn't know what was inside... :p). It's usually hard for me to make it to a brunch place and spend enough time with my boyfriend, who has to rush off to work around noon on the weekends, so this time, I chose to make a quiche for enjoyment at home.

Pie crust: adapted from Ina Garent's Perfect Pie Crust recipe - makes 2 crusts
1.5 sticks of butter (frozen)
.5 stick of butter flavored shotening (or sub with extra half stick of butter)
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
half cup of iced water (just put some ice cubes in the water if you don't have iced water)

You'll also need:
saran wrap
rolling pin (I prefer a French rolling pin/one without those annoying handles)
pie tin
aluminum foil

*If you want a healthier quiche- feel free to sub the above crust recipe with this one. But honestly if I'm eating quiche, I'd rather just enjoy one as it is in its gloriously fatty form...

Filling:
1 tbsp of butter + 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 red/yellow onion, diced
1-2 lb of asparagus (about 2 handfuls), ends snapped, rinsed, diced into half inch pieces
5 slices of good quality ham (about a cup diced)
4 eggs
1 cup half & half
1/4-1/2 cup grated Gruyere, cheddar or Asiago cheese (your choice)
salt n peppa (I know they're no together anymore but just try)

Before you start, just read through this quick tutorial about what quiche is and how it's made. I find that it's good to have a general sense of how to cook a dish before you begin, so you are not surprised half way through the recipe that you're missing something or doing something wrong. Given this, I find cooking is about invention and having fun. If you know the general blueprint of a dish, you can easily substitute ingredients and adapt the recipe to what you have on hand and what YOU want to have in your quiche. In this case, I happened to run into fresh asparagus at Aldi's and they also had great pre-sliced ham (yes I shop at Aldi's. They have really good quality things for cheap).

You'll need some time to make the pie crust and then freeze it for half an hour (during which you can be making the filling). It's easiest to make pie crust in a food processor. Add the flour, salt and sugar to the food processor. Cut up the FROZEN (not refrigerated) butter into half inch cubes. Toss the butter and shortening in there. Then press the Pulse (not ON) button repeatedly until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs or small peas.

Add spoonfuls of the ICE water one at a time while pulsing until the mixture starts to stick. Tear off two foot long pieces of saran wrap and lay them on top of each other in a cross shape. Dump half of the loose crust mixture on the plastic wrap. Close the wrap and start to squeeze the dough. If it's not sticking together, add one spoonful of ice water and the resqueeze to combine. Do this until the dough is just lightly sticky and not crumbly (don't over squeeze). Stick the dough into the freezer to rest and get cold again. Repeat with the rest of the flour/butter mixture to make the 2nd dough ball.

While the dough is resting, start pre-heating the oven to 400 degrees. Also start heating a medium sized pan. Add the vegetable oil and butter and heat until melted (the oil prevents the butter from burning). Add the diced onions and start to sautee. Cook and stir for about 8 minutes, until the onion starts to caramelize/turn light brown. Add the asparagus (make sure they're pretty well dried off in a spinner). Sautee until the asparagus starts to turn darker and shrink/caramelize. Add the diced ham. Sautee for another 2 minutes. Add the salt n peppa and taste to see how salty you like it. Turn off the flame when everything is nicely caramelized and seasoned.

Whisk the eggs and half & half together until it's completely combined. Add the cooked asparagus/onion/ham mixture to this custard mixture and stir well. Toss the grated cheese with a tbsp of flour and then add the cheese to the custard mixture (the flour prevents the cheese from sinking to the bottom).

Pull the frozen dough ball from the freezer. Sprinkle/wipe flour over a flat/clean surface like a granite counter or clean cutting board. Wipe flour over the rolling pin and your hands. Then lightly flatten the ball against the board. Roll your pin toward one side of the dough using mild pressure. Then rotate the dough either clockwise/counter clockwise by about a quarter turn (to prevent it from sticking), and roll again toward one side. Continue doing this until the dough is flattened. Keep flouring your pin if it gets sticky. You should see pieces of butter still embedded in the dough.  You can squeeze the overlap edges into a nice pattern. Watch this video if you're confused but note that I advise rolling toward one direction instead of back and forth for better results.

You will need to pre-bake this pie shell. Put the aluminum foil on top and either use pie weights or pace a round cake pan on top to weigh the crust down. Bake for about 8 minutes at 400 degrees. Check to see if it starts to puff/harden. If not, bake for about 1-4 minutes more. The crust should be almost golden.

Pour the custard filling into the crust and return to the oven. Reduce the temperature to 350-375. Bake for about 45 minutes. Remove and insert a knife in the center. If it comes out clean, then you're ready to go. If it is coated, return and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Let the quiche cool for about 10 minutes before you cut/serve it! If you decide to store it in the fridge, make sure the quiche is completely cooled first before you refrigerate it (don't want food poisoning right?).

Serve with some arugula and spring greens or baby spinach topped with some chopped nuts, soft crumbled cheeses and craisins/raisins and light dressing. Super yum on a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning!

**If you don't have time to make pie crust (who does?) just buy pre-made pie crust and pre-bake before adding the custard filling. You can also add left over veggies/protein to the quiche to make use of left over food (chopped sausages, ham, cooked spinach, broccoli, shredded chicken etc.). Vegetarians can omit the proteins and add more veggies. Have fun with this! And you can also make tiny quiches by baking the dough inside muffin tins and get party/single serve quiches. So yum...

It's a Breeze! Thai Curry with Acorn Squash

It's cold in Chicago right now. As in 24 degrees high today and we are all rejoicing because it's above the teens and single digits.

So what's better than a tasty warming Thai curry when it's cold out?

Turns out Thai curries are a cinch on a weekday. You basically just simmer everything together in a single pot. No browning or sauteeing needed. AND you can hide lots of tasty nutritious vegetables in there. *I also eat mine with some spinach on the side for extra iron.

I love Acorn squash. It's kind of between a sweet potato and regular potato in terms of starchiness and sweetness, so I sub it for many recipes that call for either for extra green and less calories (40 vs 86 calories per 100 gram serving! Though sweet potato has at least 4 times the vitamin A. More info here).

You'll need the following:

1 can of yellow massaman curry paste (I love yellow curries)

1 can of coconut milk

1 pack of skinless boneless chicken thighs - about 4-5 (you can use chicken breast but thigh is more tender) - cut into 1 inch chunks

1/2 head of cauliflower - cut into thumb sized hunks

1 acorn squash - cut into 1 inch pieces

3 red bell peppers - cut into 1 inch pieces

To cook:

Make some rice first! Otherwise you won't have anything to eat the curry with. I make brown rice in my rice cooker. If you don't have a rice cooker, follow the directions here on making rice. *some people use jasmine rice, which is super fragrant!

Use a big pot or sauce pan that will fit all the ingredients comfortably. Set it on the burners, and turn the heat on to medium. Wait for about 30 seconds and then add about 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Then add the curry paste in and lightly sautee until the fragrance of the paste comes out. Then add the can of coconut milk, including the cream and the liquid. Stir to mix well and simmer for about 2-3 minutes.

You will need to remove the seeds from the acorn squash. First rinse the squash well since you're leaving the skin on in the curry. To slice it in half, first lay it on its side and slice off the top, so you'll have a flat surface. Then lay it on the flat cut plane and slice the squash in half (you may need a large knife). Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Slice the squash into cubes and place them in the simmering curry sauce. Cook on medium-low heat for about 10-15 minutes, or just until the squash starts to become transparent at the edges. *You should cover the pot when simmering to increase the pressure of the steam and decrease the cooking time.

Rinse the cauliflower and remove the green stems. Slice the head in half. Separate half a head of cauliflower into 2 inch sized florets. Place the florets into the simmering pot and combine with the acorn squash 5 minutes after the squash have been cooking (the squash takes the longest to cook so it goes in first).

After 15 minutes, add the chicken thigh pieces and stir well. Cover and simmer for about 5-8 minutes. Add the bell pepper pieces and simmer for another 5-8 minutes or just until the peppers are tender and the chicken pieces are well cooked.

At this point the rice should be ready, and you can serve the curry directly on the rice. Super easy one pot meal. Nutritious and delicious, and you didn't even have to order out! :D

Vegans and vegetarians you can just omit the chicken thighs probably or use some seitan. Yum num num... ***This is also a great recipe to cook to impress some guests. You can run around cleaning your place and everything will simmer to perfection.

Asian Style Chuck Beef Stew with Bell Peppers

Winter in Chicago can really be unpredictable. Over the weekend it was 40+ and I went jogging. Today it's in the 20s and everything is frozen.

On days like this, I really love tucking into some sort of stew for lunch or dinner. And with my new studio/work schedule being as hectic as it is, I really don't have time to cook except once a week. So last of late, everything gets cooked in one go, and I have massive fridge tupperware party all week with lunch and dinner (breakfast is poached eggs, which sadly do not tupperware well. Though I've been tempted by the baked eggs in muffin tin idea...).

One of my shopping mantras is to buy whatever ingredients are on sale, and make something from it rather than go in with a fixed menu and spend extra money on things you may need for just one meal (obviously if you're making a special meal then buying specific ingredients would be a must!). This week, green bell peppers and super fresh looking chuck roast steaks were on sale. That got me thinking of something warm and Asiany for my lunch meals at work. *I like to wolf down my food in the office then dash out for a 30 minute walk every day, rain or shine. Otherwise I turn into a kabocha (Asian pumpkin).

This recipe can be made really quickly using a pressure cooker. If you don't have one, you could use a crock pot by setting it before you leave the house in the morning or several hours ahead. If you don't have either, this dish would take about an hour to tenderize the beef, and it's probably better suited for a lazy weekend rather than a super rushed weekday. You will also need to prepare ahead by marinating the beef the night before or at least 4 hours prior to making the dish. Otherwise make something else!

You will need:

Chuck steak - 2 lbs or size of your two hands (I'm bad at guessing weight), cut into 1 inch cubes

Bell peppers - 4 large ones, cut into 1 inch cubes or rough chop

Black Bean/Black Pepper/ or Oyster sauce - 2 tbsps (technically this recipe is SUPPOSED to use black PEPPER sauce, but I ran out and used black bean and it was still delish)

Soy sauce 1/4 cup - for marinating the steak


Chinese sherry 1/4 cup - or just some regular sherry, red wine, or even rice vinegar will do fine. Do NOT use beer. It will not taste right.

1 thumb sized piece of ginger- sliced

2-3 stalks of green onion - roughly chopped into 2 inch sections (use the whites too but chop off the roots!)

Salt and black pepper to taste

Corn starch - half a cup for marinating the beef and for thickening the sauce

Freshly boiled HOT water - 1 -2 cup depending on type of cooking method for the beef


Directions

To start - marinate the beef by tossing the cubes with a tbsp of corn starch, a half cup of the Chinese sherry and soy sauce. It's best to do this in a tight tupper ware and just store it in the fridge over night or for at least 4 hours.

You will cook the beef separately from the bell peppers, so that the beef is stew tender while the peppers are still lightly crunchy. To cook the beef, you will need to brown the cubes at a high temp, then either pressure cook or slow cook it in in crock pot or traditional pot. For the pressure cooker and crock pot, you will use just a cup of hot water, since too much water will result in a soup. For regular pots, use about 2 cups of water.

Heat a medium sized pan with some oil. Toss in the sliced ginger and scallion to sear and release the flavors. Then add the beef and quickly stir to brown all sides. It will stick so stir this until everything is lightly browned, about 5-7 minutes.

At this point if you have a pressure cooker, add the beef to the pot, add the hot water, and bring to pressure. Cook for about 8 minutes. Release the pressure by placing the pot under running cold water and waiting for the pressure gauge to drop. For the crock pot, you will place the beef in the pot with the hot water and cook it slowly throughout the day for at least 4-6 hours (best when you're gone for the day). For regular pots, you will cook the beef with 2 cups of water instead of 1, and simmer at the lowest setting for 1 hour, until cubes are tender/falling apart.

You will now sautee the bell pepper slices with some oil. No salt at this point so that the peppers scorch a bit under high heat. Stir continuously until peppers start to wilt a bit. The beef from the pressure cooker should be ready in about 10 minutes. You will add the beef and liquids to the bell peppers and cook them together. Mix 2 tbsp of corn starch with equal amount of water to make a slurry. Add the slurry to the pot and cook on high. Count to 10 seconds and then stir (this prevents the sauce from being too cloudy).

At this point, the corn starch will cause the liquids to thicken and bubble. You want the sauce to coat everything nicely. Taste the sauce to gauge the saltiness, and add either 1-2 tbsp of the Chinese black bean/ black pepper/ or oyster sauce. Stir to mix the flavor. Et voila you have a tender and succulent beef dish with crunchy peppers covered in a luscious sauce. Serve over rice/noodles/ or even couscous. I have a side of sauteed cauliflowers with this. Num num num...