Quiche, from scratch, in less than an hour

I've made quiche loads of times before but before today had never attempted my own crust. But high on the success of my sfeeha (middle eastern meat pies) last week, I thought I'd give it a go and soon found out it is super easy!

I took one cup of flour and forked it together with 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a large mixing bowl. Then, using the same cup measure, I whisked together 1/4 cup olive oil with 1/4 cup cold tap water. Once it was thick, I poured it into the flour and mixed together to form a dough. Press that into a 9-inch pie pan and it's ready for the quiche filling of your choice!

I went with spinach, mushroom and cheese, and also threw in a little bit of red pepper that I had lying around. The spinach was the chopped, frozen kind so that needed to cook first. Then, I lined the crust with the chopped mushrooms and red pepper, added the cooked spinach, then poured over a batter made from 3 eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk and about 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, seasoned to taste. 

Bake the whole thing at 400º F until the crust is golden and the center of the quiche is firm, about 30 minutes.

Quick and easy pickled carrots

For a jar this size (20 oz), use about 2 cups of white vinegar.

Add salt and sugar to taste and dissolve completely before pouring over the carrots. I used about 4 tablespoons of sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, but play around with it to get it just right for you.

Optional: add sliced chili peppers and/or julienned ginger.

My favourite cheeses

In honour of National Cheese Lovers Day, here is a selection of my favourite cheeses:

The smell of zucchini bread on a snowy day

I'm not ashamed to say I frequent the discount produce rack at the supermarket. There are often things on there that are clearly past their sell-by dates, but just as often there are perfectly usable, if ugly, fruits and vegetables.

Two days ago I bought a bag of zucchinis that were not too beautiful. I used two in a vegetable soup and two more today in a nice and easy zucchini bread. One of the best things about this recipe is that it doesn't require a cake mixer, which is good since I can't find mine!!

Here's the recipe:

EASY ZUCCHINI BREAD 

3 eggs, beaten
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Grate the zucchini and combine with the beaten eggs, vanilla and oil.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients.
3. Using a spoon or rubber spatula, combine the wet and dry ingredients.  Add the walnuts, if using, and mix thoroughly. Mixture will look like a thick batter or wet bread dough.
4. Grease and flour a loaf pan (or a lined muffin tin). Pour the batter into the pan until about three-quarters full.
5. Bake at 350°F for 50-60 minutes (20-30 minutes if using a muffin pan).

Non-non-dairy creamer

Um.... FAIL!

"Non-Dairy Coffee Creamer. Contains: Milk"

Frangipane and mixed berry tart

Last weekend we picked masses of wild blackberries from our seaside property in Riverport, N.S. We also managed to scrape up the last of the season's wild blueberries and a few raspberries.

With friends coming over for a Sunday dinner, we searched for an interesting way to serve the berries and came up with this fabulous frangipane tart, which is now my favourite new recipe. I plan to make it again in the fall with pears or apples in place of the berries.

You could cut the pastry dough to form a round, but we decided to go with a rectangular tart, sort of like a 'pizza rustica.'

Frangipane is an almond cream filling that can be used in tarts, pastries and cakes. Some say the name is derived from the Italian 'frangere il pane,' meaning 'break the bread.' The pastry filling is generally thought to be of Belgian origin.

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon white sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup mixed berrie
1 package of puff pastry (we used Tenderflake)
 With a hand mixer, cream together the butter with 1/4 cup sugar.

1. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
2. Add the almond flour and all-purpose flour and beat until the mixture forms a smooth paste.
3. Transfer to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate.
4. Place the berries in a mixing bowl with 1 tablespoon sugar. Lightly toss to coat berries with sguar.
5. Roll out puff pastry dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick.
6. Place on a large baking sheet.
7. Leaving about a 1/2 inch border around the edge of the pastry, prick the dough with a fork to stop it from puffing up.
8. Smooth the frangipane over the pastry - leaving a ½ inch border.
9. Bake in the oven for 4-5 minutes.
10. Remove tarts from the oven and arrange berries on top.
11. Bake until pastry is crisp and golden brown - approximately 8 minutes.