Saturday Morning Chef

So, Saturday morning has become my cooking day. I did a cassoulet last week (I'm working on the post) and a quiche yesterday. I find the routine to be comforting, but I do wish I had someone in the kitchen to keep me company. I'm guessing I'll have to settle for a Mother's Day request of an ipod dock so I can listen to music, at the very least. Of course, an ipod dock won't do me much good without an ipod...

Nonetheless, the cooking continues, with or without company. And if I don't get company soon, I may as well add a freezer to my Mother's Day list!

Saturday Morning Chef

Today I made a quiche from scratch. I’m still working on the whole portion thing, but in my life, the easiest thing to do is make extra and freeze. This recipe makes two quiche with dough for four.

 

A word about the crust. As I age I’m prone to repeating myself, so if you’ve heard this before, I beg your pardon. I am no baker. I love to cook, which I consider an art form, but baking is a science. My sister is a fantastic baker, but I’m the cook (no pun intended) of the family. That said, I’m trying to branch out and take some risks. I recently learned to make lemon sugar cookies without burning them (a big deal for me!). Thus it was I came across a great starter site for crusts. According to Perfect Pie Crusts at allrecipes.com , you need only four ingredients to make a great pie crust: flour, fat, water and salt. And by “water” they mean “liquid.”

I wanted to make a Piggery-based quiche, so I chose bacon lard as my fat. I had a bit of leftover sour cream (the liquidy part), so I used a quarter cup mixed with a quarter cup water. I was in a bit of a hurry, so rolling out the dough was not perfect (but you can see from the picture that the crust still looks okay); ideally, I would have let the dough cool another hour or so, instead of the 20-30 minutes I gave it to set.

Spinach & Ham Quiche

For the crust:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 2/3 cups pork lard
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 sour cream
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Mix or sift dry ingredients together. Cut in lard until course. Remember that lard melts very easily, so if your kitchen is warm, you may want to pop this mixture into the fridge for a bit. In a separate dish, combine water and sour cream until smooth. Beat in egg and vinegar. Make sure liquid mixture is cold enough that it won’t melt the lard, then mix liquid in until dough forms a ball. If ball is solid enough, divide into four pieces and refrigerate. Excess dough can be wrapped and frozen for future use.

When you are ready to bake, remove ball of dough (one at a time) from fridge and roll out on a flour-covered surface. If you are an expert at making dough, you don’t need this piece of advice: Fold flattened dough into quarters for easier movement to an 8- or 9-inch baking dish (I didn’t grease mine, but I did add some flour to keep the dough from sticking). For the quiche recipe below, you’ll need to do this twice.

For the quiche:

• 3 cups diced fresh ham (I used my “ends” from the Piggery)
• 10 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• Optional spicy ingredient (more on this below)
• 5-6 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded Mozarella
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

If you haven’t already done so, chop and place into quiche crust (evenly dividing the ingredients between the two pies) in this order: ham, spinach, green onion, optional spicy add-on*, and mixed cheddar and mozzarella (preferably both are freshly shredded).

*I like a bit of “zing” to my food. I also like to use up stuff from my kitchen that might not stand well on its own. Thus it was I came upon some incredibly spicy pickles. These were the kinds of things that no one in a sober state would ever eat. I diced into relish size about ¼ cup and added this into the pies.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, and salt and pepper to taste (I used very little salt, since the ham was cured). Pour over the quiche ingredients. The top of the ingredients should just be moist, not covered. You may want to use a rubber spatula to spread the egg mixture.

Cook for 20 minutes and then sprinkle on 1/8 cup (per quiche) grated Parmesan. Cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes until quiche can be cut with a knife (from center). Do not burn your quiche! Crust should be puffy and brown, not overcooked.

If serving at a meal other than breakfast, a nice side of greens with a light vinaigrette complements a quiche quite well.

Eating my share (03.11.11)

So, I admit to being a bit lazy today. It's a Friday night and I had a really busy work week, having just started a new in-house gig (on top of my other writing assignments). On nights like these, I fall off the whole foods (NOT the grocery, thank you very much) bandwagon and look for some short cuts. Well, opportunity is a dish best served cold. Or something like that.

As I was heading off to my CSA meat distribution yesterday afternoon, two very nice ladies were handing out what appeared to be free samples of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I generally buy this brand because it's easy and my kids like it (sometimes we make allowances; I get the fresh baked bagels, then schmeer with the Philly brand). When I finally got home (several hours later), I realized that what I had been handed was a new mass-produced product, a sauce, from the makers of the ubiquitous cream cheese. I hesitated, but after reading the ingredients (milk, water, whey protein... I had to get to the 12th ingredient before I found anything suspect, i.e. maltodextrine), I thought maybe this could pass the Velveeta test (that's what I consider the worst food we'll consume; it's saved for those really bad mommy days where the kids are in a bad mood and I'm in a worse mood... out comes the Velveeta shells and cheese, although, in my defense, I usually slice in some nitrate-free hotdog).

Thus it was, I managed the following recipe. It turned out really well. A nice end to the winter season (although maybe not appropriate for a Friday during Lent!).

Garlic Pork Casserole

• 2-3 medium grass-fed pork chops (de-boned)
• 1 1/2 cups short grain brown (or your favorite) rice
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 container Savory Garlic Philadelphia-brand Cooking Cream
• 1 cup chicken broth + 1 cup water
  
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

In a saute pan, flash grill the pork chop until slightly brown. Cut into small pieces and remove from heat. Turn oven on to 400 degrees.

I like cooking in a Romertoff clay cooker, but any covered casserole dish will do. Put in rice and stir in peas and sauce until well distributed.Combine chicken broth with 1 cup water. Mix into rice mixture. Add meat. Stir in with salt & pepper.

Cook in oven for 30 minutes, then stir. Another 30 minutes should have the rice fully cooked (you may want to "peek" after 20 minutes to make sure rice is not overdone. Serve with garlic knots.

Just Food's 11th Annual CSA in NYC Conference

This past Saturday was Just Food's 11th (and my 2nd) CSA in NYC Conference. I spoke with Jacquie Berger at the Expo, and she said the biggest complaint she heard this year was, "There were too many workshop options to choose from!" I told her that I thought that's the best kind of problem to have, but I admit that I have to agree. I wanted to attend no fewer than five of the AM workshops and had bulleted three of the afternoon sessions. In the end, I let my extracurricular obligations dictate my attendance.

Thus, in the morning, as a staff representative for GetDirtyNYC, I went to the Urban Food Production panel, where John Ameroso (Cornell University), Aley Kent (Heifer International), Kristen Schafenacker (Added Value), and Anastasia Cole (Brooklyn Grange) all spoke about urban agriculture projects going on in the five boroughs. John carefully explained the evolution of growing food in the city, beginning with community gardens that were meant mostly for individual consumption during a time when the cost of living in NYC was even worse (if you can believe it) and community gardens allowed people access to affordable food. Next came the idea of an urban garden, whereby a group of people farmed collectively, perhaps sharing the various crops among their garden community. Finally, there now is urban agriculture, which is all about production and growing food more efficiently with an aim to feed people who are not necessarily working the farm.

Interestly, the morning keynote was given by Roxbury Farm's Jean-Paul Courtens, who gave several pertinent statistics about small farms and the global food supply. Among the more surprising figures was that seven percent of the world's food supply is provided by urban gardens. The work being done by the urban agriculturists backs up this statistic. (On a side note, 12 percent of the world's food supply comes from hunting/foraging; nearly 50 percent comes from 1.5 billion family or "peasant" farms.)

In the afternoon session, I joined in with Cathy Erway and Hungry Filmmakers as the representative of Jimmy's No. 43. Technical issues aside (next year, I'll bring my speakers so Cathy doesn't have to hold a microphone over the computer!), the biggest problem was all thse great short films couldn't be viewed in a one-hour, 15-minute timeslot. However, those who are interested to find out what is going on with the media should definitely join Hungry Filmmakers on May 11 for their next viewing/talkback.

The favorite part of every Just Food CSA in NYC Conference is the farmer panel. John-Paul was joined by Chris Cashen (The Farm at Miller's Crossing), Zaid Kudieh (Norwich Meadows Farm), and Elizabeth Henderson (Peacework Farm and NOFA). Among the many serious issues discussed, there were some moments of levity and tenderness, as these farmers spoke of the bonding that takes place between them and their significant others while running a family farm. (Elizabeth got the biggest laugh of the day, however, when she admitted that she preferred not working with a "pillow partner.")

The Expo gave us all a chance to mingle over Brooklyn Brewery and Kelso beer, Clover Bee Foods chocolate truffles, lovely cheeses, and wine from Upstate Wine Co., among many others. Because I love that this conference is so affordable ($15 for members, and that includes lunch!), I'll give a shout out to Jarden Home Brands (makers of Ball Brand), which was the main sponsor of the conference.