Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

My friend Mark came over for lunch yesterday. He's a fantastic cook. During law school he was constantly whipping up delicious treats in his kitchen and bringing them to class. You'd think all that cooking would be a distraction during school, but he was also acing all his classes, teaching legal research and writing to bright young minds, and moonlighting as the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review Journal. Don't you hate people who are good at everything?

Anyway, after drooling over his baked goods for the last three years, I've been dying to cook with Mark. So, when he came over, I roped him into helping me make a quiche. In no time at all, we were rolling out our store-bought pie crust, cooking/chopping fresh spinach, sauteing mushrooms, and whipping up the creamy base for the quiche filling. We were like a well oiled machine, chatting and chopping and whisking. But, hey wait a minute...when did the pie crust go in the oven??? Eff. Turns out, we not only forgot to set a timer for the crust, but also failed to put in pie weights before baking. So yeah, it came out just a little burnt, and very shriveled. Oy. Thank god there was another crust in the package. 

The second time around, we nailed it. The crust was baked, filled, and then stuck back in the oven for one final round. The resulting quiche was flaky, creamy, savory, and every bit as delicious as we hoped it would be. Thanks, Mark!

Spinach and Mushroom Quiche (Adapted from The Faux Martha's recipe)

** Looking back at my recipes, I do seem to do the spinach/mushroom combo a lot. I know there are a lot more interesting flavor combos for vegetarian fare, but spinach/mushroom is just so delicious!

Ingredients:

- 1 store-bought pie crust, rolled out.
- 3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

- 1/3 cup heavy cream

- 3 large eggs

- 3-4 cups fresh spinach, boiled, drained, and chopped (Or, 1 package frozen chopped spinach)
- 1/2 cup grated cheddar
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan

- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 cup chopped portobello mushroom
- Salt/pepper to taste
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 425.
(2) Press rolled out pie crust firmly into a pie dish, making sure it sticks firmly to the bottom/sides of the dish. lay a large sheet of wax paper on top of the pie crust, and line with dried beans or pie weights.
(3) Bake crust for about 10 minutes, then pull it out and set it aside to cool. Leave oven on.
(4) In a large pan, sautee the garlic, onion and chopped mushroom in olive oil until onion pieces are translucent. Season with salt/pepper to taste. Remove from heat, add spinach, and mix until well-combined. Set aside to cool.
(5) Beat cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth.
(6) Add eggs, then gradually beat in cream. Mix until smooth.
(7) Stir in cheese.
(8) Add spinach/mushroom to the creamy mixture, and stir until well-combined.
(9) Pour filling into the prepared pie crust.
(10) Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the filling is set and lightly brown in spots on top.
(11) Cool for 10 minutes, then dig in!

For other great food ideas, click here or here.

Goat Cheese and Colby Jack Sandwich with Kimchi, Spinach, and a Runny Egg

Guys, I just had the greatest sandwich ever for lunch -- wheat toast, two kinds of melted cheese, spinach, kimchi, and a runny egg. So messy, so flavorful, so amazingly delicious. 

I've learned from reading my friend Sam's food blog this year that a runny egg makes everything extra delicious. And, as everyone knows, kimchi and runny eggs are a match made in foodie heaven. So when you get crazy and throw tangy goat cheese and hearty colby jack into the mix, you get something totally divine. Every bite is a study in flavor and textural contrasts -- salty/soft goat cheese, creamy egg yolk, spicy/tangy/crunchy kimchi, toasted wheat bread, and mellow baked spinach. Yum.

This sandwich probably isn't for everyone, since kimchi is more or less an acquired taste. But, if you took that out you'd still have yourself a deliciously creamy, oozy, egg and cheese sandwich. Great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Goat Cheese and Colby Jack Sandwich with Kimchi, Spinach, and a Runny Egg

Ingredients:
- 2 slices wheat bread
- 1 tbsp goat cheese
- 1 slice colby jack cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 cup spinach
- 1/2 cup kimchi
- Sea salt

Steps:
(1) Preheat oven to 350.
(2) Place colby jack cheese on top of one slice of bread in an even layer. Top with spinach.
(3) Even distribute goat cheese over the second slice of bread.
(4) Slide both pieces of bread into the oven, laying them directly on middle rack.
(5) While you're waiting for the bread to toast and cheese to melt, start cooking your egg. Crack a large egg into a hot pan. Nudge/fold the spreading egg yolk until it's roughly the size/shape of your bread. Cook until egg whites are opaque, and yolk is still runny.
(6) Carefully remove bread from the oven, and slide them onto a plate.
(7) Gently slip your runny egg on top of the spinach-laden bread slice. Sprinkle with sea salt.
(8) Layer kimchi on top of the bread with goat cheese, then combine the two slices into a sandwich.
(9) Cut in half and eat immediately. Sop up all the runny egg yolk with your sandwich as you go.

Dan in the Kitchen -- Grilled Cream Cheese and Colby Jack Sandwich

So, I'd like to introduce a new series of posts called "Dan in the Kitchen," where I document Dan's forays into the kitchen. I figure since I'm not always in the mood to cook, but we still need to eat, everyone would benefit from Dan gaining some cooking skills. Until we moved in together, pretty much all Dan ate was buffalo chicken subs from the student center deli, Cheez-its and pasta with bottled spaghetti sauce. To this day, if I'm not around for dinner, or if I don't feel like cooking, he'll just have a few beers and a pack of Oreos. So unappetizing, not to mention super unhealthy. I have high hopes that this "Dan in the Kitchen" thing is really going to turn things around for his eating habits. At the very least, this will add some variety to his diet. And, it's going to be fun to teach Dan how to cook!

I'm convinced that Dan could actually be a great cook if he put his mind to it. He's an engineer, so he deals with long, complicated instructions and handles delicate circuitry for a living -- surely he could follow a recipe with equal skill and finesse! I mean, constructing a meal is not so different than building a satellite, right?

The first recipe from Dan in the Kitchen is the humble grilled cheese sandwich, jazzed up with cream cheese and colby jack. OK, so maybe this isn't "healthy" per se, but we have to start somewhere, and this is a straightforward, frills-free recipe that's super delicious and satisfying. Just butter some bread, throw on some cheese, and cook it all on a hot pan. The cream cheese was my idea -- Dan was deeply skeptical, but he was nice enough to let me bully him into using it. 

The cream cheese turned out to be a fantastic idea. It added a whole new level of goeey, tangy, cheesiness to the sandwich that provided a wonderful contrast to the crunchy, buttery bread. The bread was perhaps a little too crunchy, but Dan has always liked his breads a little more toasted than I do. Either way, delicious! Not a bad start for Dan in the Kitchen.

Grilled Cream Cheese and Colby Jack Sandwich

Ingredients:
- 2 slices bread, buttered on both sides
- 1 slab cream cheese
- 1 slice of colby jack cheese

Steps:
(1) Heat a pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot, slap on both pieces of bread.
(2) Toast one side of the bread to golden brown, then flip over and layer with cheese -- cream cheese on one slice, colby jack on the other.
(3) Cook for about 30 seconds, until cheese is slightly melted, then place one piece of bread on top of the other (cheese to cheese) and press down until the two cheeses are molded together.
(4) When the bread is toasted to your satisfaction, and the cheese is perfectly melty and gooey, take your sandwich off the heat and slide it onto a plate.
** If you find (as we did) that your colby jack doesn't melt as nicely as you hoped, stick your sandwich in the oven and broil on low heat for about 3-4 minutes.
(5) Cut in half and enjoy hot with a cold soda and some chips.

Hanbagu (Japanese Hamburger Steak)

So, my friend Spike and I have been having intense gchat conversations about what we can do with all the ground beef we've got on our hands.  We each saw family-sized packs of ground beef on sale at the grocery store a couple weeks ago and couldn't resist getting in on the deal. Seemed like a pretty idea at the time, but now we've each got 5 lbs of meat in the freezer. That is a lot of meat, guys.

I used up a little over a pound of the meat for stuffed burgers a few weeks ago, and Spike made both burgers and meatballs.  Not sure what he's going to do with the rest of his meat, but I have grand plans for kimchi fried rice, empanadas, and maybe sliders. Today, though, it's Japanese hamburger steaks topped with a runny egg for lunch. Delicious! 2.5lbs down, 2.5 more to go. Oy.

Hanbagu (Japanese Hamburger Steak)

Ingredients: (Makes 2 hamburg steaks)

- 1 lb ground beef

- 1/2 cup onions, diced and cooked until soft

- 1 tbsp garlic powder

- 1 tbsp salt + more for sprinkling

- 1 tsp crushed red pepper

- 1 cup panko bread crumbs

- 2 eggs.

Steps:

(1) In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Stir until well mixed.

(2) Divide meat mixture into two equal parts. Shape into patties.

(3) In a large pan, fry patties in olive oil until a nice crust forms on the outside -- about 2-3 minutes on each side. Place on plates and set aside.

(4) Cook two eggs sunny side up, and top each cooked patty with an egg. Sprinkle a dash of salt/pepper on the egg for flavor.

(5) Serve with some nice vegetable sides -- spinach, potatoes, carrots, etc.

Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)

Any time Dan and I get Chinese delivery, we make sure to get an order of scallion pancakes and crab rangoons. They are equally delicious, but I always feel kind of bad eating (and loving) crab rangoons. I mean, they're fake Chinese food! As a good Chinese person I feel like I should turn my nose up at it and treat it with the same disdain that I have for orange chicken and General Gao's-anything. But they're just so creamy and fried and delicious, and I can't help myself from going back to them again and again. I'm not a strong person.

(BTW, we painted our walls. You like?)

Scallion pancakes are different, though. My mom used to make me scallion pancakes for lunch when I was a kid. And, they're offered on all the menus at even the most authentic Chinese restaurants. Surely that means they are legit?  And I can love them without shame? Umm, I'm going to go with "yes" and help myself to another pancake.

Scallion Pancakes

Ingredients:

- 2 cups flour
- 1-1/2 cups water

- 1 egg

- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil this time though. Seemed fine.)
- 1 tbsp seasame oil

- 1/2 cup scallions/green onions, chopped

- Salt to taste (I used a heaping spoonful)

Steps:

(1) In a large bowl, mix dry and wet ingredients + egg until a pancake-like batter has formed.
(2) Add scallions and stir until well-combined. Taste a little bit of the batter to make sure it's salty enough for your tastes. Set aside

(3) Heat a pan on medium/high heat. Spray with a light coat of cooking spray.

(4) When pan is hot, pour about 1/2 cup batter into the center of the pan. Using a spoon or spatula, spread batter out into a circular shape, about 1/4 inch thick.
(5) Cook for about a minute, then flip. Cooked side should be golden brown. Cook other side until the same.
(6) Repeat previous step until all batter is cooked. Slice pancakes into squares or wedges. Serve hot with soy sauce for dipping. (I like to add some crushed pepper, seasame oil, chopped garlic and green onions to the dipping sauce)

Chicken Salad Sandwich

I secretly look forward to the days when we run out of deli turkey. Why? Because it gives me an excuse to make chicken salad. I mean, I could probably just make chicken salad whenever, but turkey goes bad so quickly that I feel like I have to eat it for lunch everyday when it's around so that I don't end up throwing any away.

I read in one of my chick lit books that Southern women judge the measure of a lady by the quality of her chicken salad. That can't be true, but if it were...I'd be a pretty low maintenance lady. I don't use chicken that I've personally roasted, I don't make my own mayonnaise, and I don't throw in any fancy pants ingredients for textural/flavor contrast. I just throw some chopped chicken (usually Perdue grilled chicken strips), diced red onion, Helmann's, and paprika in a bowl and mix it all together. Done in fifteen minutes, but super yummy. Great on top of a spinach salad or sandwiched between toasted wheat bread.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

Ingredients:

- 1 packet of Perdue grilled chicken, chopped; or, 1 grilled chicken breast, chopped

- 3 tbsp mayonnaise

- 1 tsp paprika

- 1/4 cup red onion, diced (I like the spicy crunch of red onion in my chicken salad, so I usually use more)

- 1/4 avocado, sliced thinly

- 3 tomato slices

- 4 large lettuce leaves, or 1 handful baby spinach

- 2 slices wheat bread, toasted

Steps:

(1) In a medium bowl, mix chicken, mayo, paprika, and red onion until well combined. (If you're feeling fancy, chop up some green onion or apple slices and throw that in too.)

(2) Layer one slice of toast with lettuce and tomatoes.
(3) Scoop two large spoonfuls of chicken salad on top of the lettuce/tomatoes. Spread out in one even layer.

(4) Arrange avocado slices on top of the chicken salad. Cover with second slice of bread.

(5) Cut in half and serve with pickles and chips.

Baked Taquitos al Pastor

There is so much al pastor in my fridge right now, I almost don't know what to do with it. Almost. I'm toying with the idea of combining it in some form with kimchi, but I haven't quite decided which direction to go with that yet. For now, I'll have to settle for taquitos. Why baked? Because I just spent the weekend gorging on steak and lobster and brownies, and I'm feeling a little guilty. Nothing about this recipe is healthy, per se, but surely baked is less sinful than deep-fried?

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of the Pink Parsley blog. 

Tacos al Pastor

Second semester sophomore year, Ana's Taqueria took over the space formerly occupied by a mediocre crepe shop inside the student center, and my life changed. Not in an altogether good way, mind you. On the one hand, I was over the moon because this place had the best Mexican food in Cambridge. On the other hand, I loved the food a little too much too often, and put on ten pounds that semester. Two grande burritos and/or quesidillas per day will do that, I guess. It took me the entire summer to run those pounds off, but looking back, it was totally worth it.

The next year, I toned down my Ana's consumption, but it was Dan's turn, as a newly minted college man, to discover the joys of an Ana's grande burrito with everything in it. I bought him his first burrito at Ana's, but it wasn't long before he was there by himself for lunch and dinner multiple times per week. Of course,  lucky bastard that he is, Dan did not gain a single pound. What a jerk.

You want to know what the best thing on Ana's menu was? The al pastor burrito. And the al pastor quesidilla...and the al pastor tacos. Seriously, the al pastor was amazing. I'd never even heard of "al pastor" before Ana's, but one bite of the fatty, savory-sweet pork and I was totally hooked. And of course, I eventually got Dan hooked. These days we regularly have al pastor cravings that cannot be satisfied, because apparently none of the Mexican places in the area make it, and if they do it doesn't taste right. So sad.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I decided to go wild and make my own al pastor. I marinated a slab of pork shoulder in chili-pineapple sauce over night, covered it with slices of fresh pineapple, and stuck it in the oven for 2 hours. The result was a mound of massively delicious, juicy, fatty pork that had a hint of sweetness and some heat from all the chili peppers I used in the sauce. So good. Not quite the flavor of Ana's, but close enough. 

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of Closet Cooking.

** Note: Two of my favorite blogs, Crumbly Cookie and Confections of a Foodie Bride, said that pineapples contain an enzyme that breaks down meat faster than normal and causes it to become mushy if you marinate the meat too long. I didn't know that at the time, and marinated my pork shoulder in chili-pineapple sauce over night. I don't know if it's because I kept the shoulder intact, while they both cut their meat into slices before marinating, but my pork wasn't mushy at all. Just something to think about...

One year ago: Chocolate Fudge

Egg Salad Sandwich

When I was a kid, my grandmother made me eat a hard boiled egg for breakfast every morning. Every. Single. Morning. She'd get up, boil the egg, get me ready for school, and then feed it to me as we walked to the local day care center. The egg was never seasoned in any way -- no salt, no pepper, just a plain ol' boiled egg; slimy and smooth on the outside, dry and powdery on the inside. Needless to say, I was not happy with my breakfast, brain food notwithstanding, and constantly tried to avoid eating it. Some days I'd whine, other days I'd beg, but mainly I would obediently take big bites of the boiled egg, chew, and then spit it out on the side of the road when my grandmother's back was turned. Wasteful? Yes. Ungrateful? Yes. But, I was three years old, so cut me some slack here.

These days, I love eggs in every permutation. I still think boiled egg whites are slimy and off-putting sometimes, but a little seasoning goes a long way. And, if you throw some mayo and mustard into the mix, you get delicious deviled eggs, or even better, egg salad sandwiches! Not so great for the cholesterol, but oh so tasty.

Egg Salad Sandwich

Ingredients:

- 4 eggs, boiled

- 2 slices bread of choice

- 1 tbsp mayo
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 dash paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp green onions, chopped
- Salt/pepper to taste

Steps:

(1) Chop boiled eggs into small pieces.

(2) Throw eggs into a bowl with mayo, mustard, and seasonings. Mix well.
(3) Stir in green onions.
(4) Salt/pepper to taste.
(5) Spoon heaping spoonfuls of egg salad onto a slice of bread. Layer lettuce or spinach on top. Cover with other slice of bread.
(6) Cut in half and eat immediately.

One year ago: Pad Thai

Grilled Cheese with Kale and Caramelized Onions

Happy Emancipation Day, everyone! Hope you're all enjoying your day off as much as I'm enjoying mine! Wait...Emancipation Day isn't a federal holiday? Only DC government employees get the day off? And I'm the only one of my friends who gets to stay home today? Oh man. That sucks, guys. (I love you all, don't kill me!)

Anyway, being at home all day isn't as great you'd think. Dan had to go to work, so it's just me and the cats. The furry little bastards woke me up at 8:30am and wrecked my plans to sleep in, and now that I'm awake and bored, they have mysteriously disappeared. So now I'm tired, bored, and grouchy. Ugh. 

Well, if I can't be well rested, I can at least be well fed. One perk of being at home all day is that I get to cook myself something delicious for lunch instead of buying a cold sandwich or salad at the cafeteria. My lunch decision today is inspired by this website, which my friend Smriti sent me yesterday. Forty unique grilled cheese sandwiches? Drool. And considering that about half the sandwiches featured on the website came from Kevin of Closet Cooking, and I had already previously bookmarked a bunch of his grilled cheese recipes to try...well, it's pretty obvious that I was going to have to make a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch.

I haven't eaten a grilled cheese sandwich in years. Probably not since high school. What was I thinking? These things are delicious! Toasted bread and melted cheese are delicious in every instance, but when you throw some onions and kale into the mix (because you're feeling guilty about eating cheese sandwiched between buttered bread)...kaboom. Flavor and texture explosion! 

Grilled Cheese with Kale and Caramelized Onions

Ingredients:

- 2 slices of bread (I like whole wheat, but any other kind should work)
- 3 slices Colby Jack cheese (Obviously, you can use whatever cheese you want)
- 3 slices Butterkase cheese
- 1 large fistful of kale
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- As much chopped onion as you feel  like eating

Steps:

(1) In a large pan, cook onions until caramelized. Then, throw your kale into the pan with the onions and cook until just wilted. Set aside.

(2) Slather each side of both slices of bread with mayo. (Yup, mayo. Weird, but delicious. I got this idea from a Salon.com article)

(3) Toast both slices of bread on one side until lightly brown. Then, flip each slice over and layer cheese on the freshly toasted side. Colby Jack cheese on one slice, Butterkase on the other. 

(4) Spoon kale/onion mixture on top of the cheese on one slice of bread, then place the other slice, cheese-side down, on top. Press the whole thing down with a spatula, then flip the sandwich over.

(5) Finish toasting the other side of the sandwich, then pull off the pan. Cut in half and eat while hot and gooey.

One year ago: Simple Artisanal Bread

Chicken Fried Steak

I haven't eaten (or thought about) chicken fried steak since I moved out of Texas, where everything is bigger, beefier, and more fried. I'm not a health nut or anything, but I generally try not to eat too many fried foods if I can help it. And chicken fried steak is...a slab of steak that is breaded, fried, and then smothered in gravy. Red meat AND fried? That's a heart attack on a plate if I've ever seen one. Still, the Pioneer Woman had a post on chicken fried steak last week and it just looked so yummy that I had to try it.

Chicken fried steak is so different from the way I usually eat steak. I like my steak to be thick and juicy, attached to a bone, and still bleeding. Chicken fried steak is...none of those things. The meat is pounded thin for tenderness, there's no bone, and it's cooked all the way through with no sign of blood. But you know what? It's absolutely delicious. The meat is not at all tough or dry despite being thoroughly cooked, and the combination of breading, meat and gravy is amazingly flavorful and melt-in-my-mouth delicious.

I want to say that I'll be good, and that this will just be a one-time treat, but...there are probably going to be a lot of chicken fried steaks in my life from now on. Damn you, Pioneer Woman!

Recipe can be food here, courtesy of the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.

Kimchi Bokumbop (Kimchi Fried Rice)

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! All last week I had grand plans to make jiao zi (dumplings) and dou sha bao (steamed buns with red bean paste) and other Chinese goodies, but somehow I never got around to it. Fortunately, the New Year is supposed to be celebrated for 15 days, so I've still got plenty of time to make everything.

In the meantime, I just had to satisfy my craving for kimchi fried rice. My friend Grace posted a picture of her husband cooking it for a midnight snack a few days ago, and I've had kimchi on the brain ever since. It's just so pungent and tangy and delicious! So good as a side, but possibly even better in fried-rice form. It's definitely way better comfort food than mac and cheese or ice cream. And, I just happened to have a small jar of very ripe (best if used by 12/10/10...but still tasty in February!) kimchi sitting in my fridge, waiting to be eaten.

Since Dan and I live together now, it's pretty rare for me to cook a meal just for myself, especially on  weekends. Everything I cook these days is tailored to both of our tastes. So, it was with some trepidation that I asked Dan how he felt about having kimchi fried rice for lunch today. I love kimchi, but he hated it the last time we went to a Korean BBQ restaurant, and has steadfastly refused to eat it again since. Fortunately for me, however, he has terrible long-term memory when it comes to stuff that he eats, so by the time I asked about lunch, he had already forgotten that he'd ever eaten kimchi, and was willing to give the fried rice a shot. 

The result? I'm going to remember this moment forever as a shining victory in my Dan-feeding adventures. He not only ate the rice, but pronounced it delicious and went back for seconds. Awesome.

For the recipe and quick explanation of kimchi fried rice, check out www.trifood.com.