Archive for: main dish
Crustless Quiche is one of my favorite easy dinner dishes to make. Quiche doesn’t sound like it would be a quick-fix dish at any time, but this quiche doesn’t use a traditional pastry crust, which really cuts down on the prep time. Instead, the quiche filling includes some all purpose flour and baking powder, in addition to eggs, milk and other standard quiche ingredients. In the oven, the filling separates into a very thin crust layer and a tender egg/custard layer. The crust provides just enough stability to make the quiche easy to slice and give the dish some texture, but it doesn’t add any of the extra fat or calories that the traditional pastry crust has.
From start to finish, it takes very little time to throw this recipe together and, like most quiches, you can use just about any kind of vegetables or cheese that you like. It’s very easy to make these vegetarian, but I used a combination of sausage and mushrooms in this quiche. The sausage, mushrooms and any other vegetables need to be cooked beforehand on the stove, since the oven cooking time is relatively short.
I used Chicken Chipotle sausage (I get them at Trader Joe’s) in my batch, but you can use any type of sausage that you like. Since the chipotle adds a lot of spice – and I tend to like spicy sausages in general – I kept the additional peppery spices to a minimum in the recipe. If your sausages are mild, add in some more pepper, or even some red pepper flakes to jazz things up a bit.
+Continue Reading
Pasta salad is a staple food in the summer. This type of dish is easy to make, can always be made ahead and there are an almost infinite number of variations out there for it. It’s great to take to a barbecue or picnic, but because they keep for a couple of days are served cold, they’re also something that you can keep in the fridge at home and have for lunch without much additional fuss.
The salads always start with cooked pasta, to which a variety of veggies and sometimes meats are added. The whole mixture is tossed in a usually mayonnaise-based sauce and chilled before serving. I didn’t want to go with this traditional route for a pasta salad this summer and took inspiration from a pack of Thai rice stick noodles – the same type of noodles used in dishes like pad thai – and made a lovely dressing using some of my favorite asian/Thai flavors.
The dressing for this salad is mostly made with soy sauce and peanut butter, with some honey thrown in to sweeten things up and take a bit of the edge off of all that salt. Creamy and chunky peanut butter both work really well here, although using crunchy will guarantee you a bit of extra texture from chopped peanuts. Supporting flavors are sesame oil, ginger and garlic. I used all kinds of vegetables in here and have also made the salad non-vegetarian by including thin slices of cooked tri-tip steal; the base recipe is vegan. From start to finish, it only took me the time that I needed to boil water and cook the noodles!
+Continue Reading
Many times, the flaky and buttery crust is the best part of a quiche, supporting the filling and adding a wonderful contrasting texture to the dish. But crusts can be a bit time consuming and more than a bit fattening. I like this crustless quiche as a quick and relatively low fat dinner. It takes about 15 minutes to assemble and get into the oven – and I will never be one to complain about food that is tasty, healthy and fast.
Although I’m calling this a crustless quiche because it doesn’t have a pastry crust, it does have a crust of sorts. The flour mixed in to the egg mixture separates during baking and forms a very thin crust along the bottom and sides of the pan. It’s not the same as a “real” crust, but it does help keep the quiche slices together neatly and adds a bit of substance to what would otherwise be just some baked eggs. If you’ve had a clafoutis, which is a relatively hardy baked custard dish, or even a Dutch Baby pancake, you’ll probably notice some similarities in consistency.
You can use just about any base you want for this dish, which means you’ll get a lot of variety with just one basic recipe. I almost always have onions and fresh spinach on hand, as it’s a popular combination in my kitchen. Some diced up sausage, ham or leftover, shredded chicken would work well in here, too. I like the feta cheese on top for extra saltiness and flavor, but again, you can opt for a different type of cheese if you prefer (parmesan and cheddar are nice) – or even skip it entirely if you want to go cheeseless. Regardless, it’s always satisfying to make and eat.
This can be a simple dinner or an easy breakfast dish, but it can also be served as an appetizer or first course by slicing it thinnly for several guests.
+Continue Reading
It’s great to have friends that are good cooks. Not only do they appreciate your efforts in the kitchen when you cook for them, but they are a great source of new recipes. My friend Dave gave me his excellent turkey chili recipe, which is popular with his firefighting buddies (he’s a firefighter, too), as well as with anyone else who has it.
This chili is a favorite for several reasons, the most important being that it tastes fantastic. In addition to that, it is healthy, can be used to serve a crowd and is very easy to make. Instead of requiring a half-dozen individual spices, the recipe calls for the use of a grill seasoning blend or spice rub. If you’re like me, you’ll always have a versatile spice rub on hand for grilling and general seasoning. A rub will already have multiple spices in it, as well as salt and pepper, saving time but delivering lots of flavor.
You can do a lot to play around with the heat level in this chili (or any chili), too. The amount of chili powder can be adjusted up or down, as can the amount of hot sauce. There is something to be said for milder chilis, where you can really taste the individual flavors of the ingredients, but I like my chili on the spicy side and so I increased the heat by adding red pepper flakes to my batch. If you end up making the chili too spicy, you can cut the heat by adding some more tomato sauce to the mixture. The chili is very meaty and, if you prefer your chilis to be a little saucier, this might be a good option for you, too.
Serve this chili with some sour cream, grated cheese, avocado and bread or cornbread. If you’re looking for another side dish, grilled corn on the cob can be a great accompaniment, too.
+Continue Reading
Soups can be beautiful in person, but unlike most solid foodstuffs, they can be extremely difficult to “style” for photographs. Soups that are a solid color and smooth in texture are usually the most photogenic. Soups that have a lot of components, such as lentil soup or chili, tend to look overly busy, like a jumble of random, mushy ingredients. This soup fell into the unphotogenic category the first few times I made it, since the onions and cabbage – its main components – just turned sort of brownish. It tasted good, but I didn’t want to take a picture. Then, in a moment of food blogging epiphany, I decided to use red onion and red cabbage. Suddenly, the soup looked as vibrant and delicious as it tasted.
The soup is originally from a Sara Moulton recipe and I think that I first copied it down during one of her shows, back when she was still on the Food Network. It is very easy to make and involves minimal prep work. For anyone who has ever chopped up a cabbage, you probably know that it is one of the easiest veggies to work with after you cut out the core. The “hot” part of the soup comes from the red pepper flakes and the head level can easily be adjusted by eliminating a quarter teaspoon or so. The “sour” part comes from the balsamic vinegar, which adds a very slightly sweet-sour taste to the soup. Choose a good vinegar, since you’ll be able to taste it in the finished dish.
+Continue Reading
