Weekend baking - quiche Lorraine

A lazy Saturday lunch - quiche Lorraine

There is little I love more than waking up on a Saturday morning to a cloudy day full of drizzle. Especially on a day when I don't have to be anywhere or do anything. When I can roll over for another hour of sleep, and then spend a good few hours on the couch watching Rage, reading the weekend papers and drinking tea. Bliss.

Yesterday was one of those days.

At some stage I did start to think of food. Which made me think of using up some of the multitude of eggs that are in our fridge. Eggs from our beautiful chickens. Which then made me crave bacon. Which then made me think of quiche. See how my mind works?

So THEN I removed myself temporarily from the couch to see which of my cookbooks had a fabulous quiche recipe - using the absolutely BRILLIANT Eat Your Books website. If you have loads of cookbooks you rarely use, this is the site for you.

Anyhoo, Eat Your Books pointed me in the direction of the gorgeous Jude Blereau and her beautiful book Coming home to eat - wholefood for the family. I'm a massive fan of Jude's and have been for years. Her food philosophy is similar (but far more advanced) than mine, with her advocacy for eating whole foods. I'm seeing her at a Thermomix cooking demo on Monday and I cannot wait! (Massive thanks to Thermomix too, for comping me a ticket - very grateful).

Me (in the brown dress!) with Jude last year when she was in Brisbane

I love this book and was dancing the happy dance when I found it for $7 in my local Lifeline Book Shop. Especially as it's now out of print. 

What I love about this quiche recipe is that it uses spelt flour for the pastry and full cream, non-homogenized milk instead of cream (although I did add a bit of cream...). I used the beautiful milk from a cow named Dolores (owned by a friend), but you can also purchase full cream, non-homogenized milk from health food stores and some good delis.

Jude suggests that this recipe wouldn't work with regular milk, but if that is all you have, perhaps try with 50% cream and 50% milk (just don't blame me if it doesn't work!). Don't use skim, trim, soy or any other variety.

Quiche Lorraine
By Mel Kettle, adapted from a recipe by Jude Blereau 

What you need: 
90g plain wholemeal spelt flour
90g plain white spelt flour
100g chilled butter, cut into cubes
80-100ml ice cold water (I use filtered tap water and stick ice cubes in it to chill it quickly)
butter for greasing
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
450ml full cream, non-homogenized organic milk
50ml cream
80g cheddar cheese, grated
175g bacon, finely diced
1 red onion, finely diced
5-6 button mushrooms, thinly sliced

What you do:
Put the flours and butter in your thermomix (or food processor), turbo pulse 3-4 times until it looks like small breadcrumbs. Add about half the water and mix for 3-4 seconds on speed 6. Slowly add more water until it comes together to form a fairly moist ball of dough (I used about 90ml and in total it mixed for about 8 seconds). DO NOT OVERMIX otherwise it will be too tough.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Once the dough is chilled, roll it out - you'll need to flour the mat or bench, and also flour your rolling pin well as the dough should be a bit sticky. Try not to use too much flour, but make sure it's enough so the dough doesn't stick. Once you've rolled it out, use a palette knife (or an egg flip if you don't have a palette knife) to carefully lift the dough to turn it. Roll the other side - you want it to be about 33cm in diameter and about 2mm thick.

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Grease a 24cm loose-based tart tin that is 3cm deep. Carefully transfer the pastry to the tin (this can be fairly easily done by loosely folding the pastry into four, placing it the tin, then gently unfolding it. Carefully push the pastry into the tin and cut off any excess pastry that hangs over the edge. You might need to use some of this excess pastry to patch any gaps or holes in the pastry. Pop the remaining pastry back in plastic wrap and in the fridge.

Place some baking paper over the pastry and fill it with pastry weights or dried beans or rice. Place the tart tin on a baking tray and in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and remove the pastry weights and baking paper. Reduce the oven temperature to 180c and pop the pastry back in the oven for another 9 minutes.

While the pastry is blind baking make the filling. Cook the bacon in a frypan on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes (I don't add any oil as my bacon had quite a bit of fat, but you might like to add a small amount), then add the onion and the mushroom and cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring so it doesn't burn. Set aside once cooked.

In a medium sized bowl, add the eggs, egg yolks, milk, cream and salt and pepper. Whisk it well. Set aside.

Once the pastry is cooked, remove it from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 200c.

Check there are no cracks in the pastry - if there are, use some of the excess pastry to fill them in (otherwise your filling will leak everywhere and make a huge mess). Scatter half the cheese on the bottom of the tart, then all the bacon, onion, mushroom mix. Put the tart tray on the baking tray and carefully pour the egg mixture into the tart.

Pastry shell after it was blind baked, with the cheese and the bacon, onion and mushroom mix. 

Gently place it in the oven and bake it for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 180c and bake for another 15 minutes. Scatter the rest of the cheese on top and bake for a final 15-20 minutes until the filling is lightly puffed and the centre just set. It should be a light golden colour when cooked.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm with a simple salad (mine was just baby spinach leaves, tomato, red onion and an oil and vinegar dressing).

Ready for lunch! 

What is your favourite thing to do on a lazy Saturday? or Sunday? Baking nearly always happens in my kitchen!

Marinated mushrooms with lemon and thyme

I think I've said before that I was a latecomer to the wonders of mushrooms. Now I just can't get enough of them, and eat them at least once every day. Usually for breakfast, sliced or chopped into chunks, sautéed with a bit of butter, sometimes with rosemary or thyme, and served with an egg, or some haloumi, or bacon, or a combo of.

They are insanely healthy for you [maybe a bit less so with the addition of butter - never margarine] which as far as I'm concerned is just a huge bonus!

Marinated mushies, with lemon and thyme

This very simple marinated mushroom dish is always a winner. Great to serve with anti-pasto platters, or just with a couple of cheeses. Mum introduced me to these many years ago, but for reasons I can't work out, I don't make them all that often. Silly me.

What you need:
400g teeny tiny baby button mushrooms [the smaller the better]
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice [or white wine vinegar - I love LiraH vinegars, but had run out]
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and chopped finely
1/2 tsp salt [I like the Maldon seasalt or the pink Murray salt flakes for this]
freshly ground black pepper
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
4-5 stalks of Italian parsley, leaves only
zest of 1 lemon
whole chilli [cut into big chunks, seeded if you don't like it too hot, optional]

All squashed into one of mum's beautiful old preserving jars. 

What you do:

• Give the mushrooms a good wipe or a quick wash to get rid of any dirt and grit. 
• Pop the mushrooms into a glass jar with a lid - squash them all in if you need to!
• In a measuring cup [or a small bowl with a lip], mix together all the other ingredients. Taste and add extra lemon, salt, pepper if needed. 
• Pour over the mushrooms in the jar. Pop the lid on and swirl the jar around until the mushrooms are all coated in the mix. 

Tipping these upside down wasn't my smartest move as the lid wasn't sealed!

• Leave on the bench to marinate for at least 24 hours. Give the jar a good swirl every few hours or when you walk past. 
• After 24 hours the liquid will start to come out of the mushrooms, adding to the marinade. After about 36 hours your mushrooms will have shrunk. Pop it all in the fridge and eat as desired! 

This is after about 36 hours - see how much the liquid has increased?

The mushrooms are best if brought to room temperature before serving.

Have you made marinated mushrooms? What flavours do you add?

Winter warmers - beef, bacon and veggie pie

I have always loved a good pie, but the homemade variety, not the often dodgy, frozen supermarket version.

With winter in full swing [at least, it is this week!], I've decided to make some of these gorgeous winter warmers. Now many will criticise me calling this a pie, as it doesn't have a pastry base. As I'm trying to eat a bit more healthfully, I've decided to go bottomless.

This serves 4.

What you need:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 large clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 pieces of short cut bacon [or 1 rasher]
• 450g chuck steak, cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 carrot, chopped into small-ish pieces
• 1 stick of celery, chopped
• 1/2 red capsicum, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 8-10 mushrooms, cut into quarters
• 1 cup of stock [beef is best, but I used chicken this time as that was what I had]
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• dried herbs - I used a bit of rosemary as that was what I had, but you could also use oregano, thyme, marjoram
• dash of tabasco sauce
• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 160c.

Heat the olive oil in a casserole dish that can go in the oven. Use a low-ish heat. Add the onion and garlic and gently fry for about 3 minutes. Add the bacon and gently fry for another 3 minutes.

Pop the steak into a plastic bag with the flour and a shake of salt and pepper. Hold the bag closed and shake it until the meat is coated with the flour mix.

Shake it baby, shake it! 

Turn up the heat on the stove and add the meat and any leftover bits of flour [this helps thicken the sauce during the cooking process]. Brown the meat, then add all the veggies, stock, wine, tomato paste, sauces and herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste [you probably won't need much if any salt, especially if using a commercial stock].

Browning the meat

Once everything has been added into the pot

Give it all a good stir and pop it in the oven, with lid on, for about 3 hours. Check and stir every hour or so.

The cooked filling. One taste was just not enough! 

Once the filling is cooked, divide it among 4 ramekins (I used 2 cup, but it should fit in 1 1/2 cup). Top with puff pastry, cut to fit over the top of the ramekin. Brush beaten egg over the pastry.

You could easily make this filling the day before. The flavour is even better after a day or two!

I was ready for some wine by this stage!

I made a bit of a mess of the one on the left! And forgot the egg wash...

Bake at 180c for about 40 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed up.  

Serve with steamed greens, or a salad. However as it's full of veggies, I felt fully justified eating it without. 

As the ramekin was hot, hot hot!, I tipped it all onto the plate to make it easier to eat without burning myself

NOTE: My pastry didn't puff. And I forgot the egg wash. I later discovered puff pastry past its best before date isn't overly effective!

The leftover filling the next night was even better. I added a few roast veg - pumpkin, zucchini and fennel [my new fave roasted veg]

NOTE 2: Brown food looks very unappealing when photographed! The flavour was so much better!

What is your favourite winter pie?

Summer BBQ days - with mushrooms

As much as I would love to say I have always loved mushrooms, that would be a big fat lie. Because I haven’t. In fact, they used to be right up there with the dreaded Brussels sprouts - I had to be bribed to eat them. Even to try them. Then one day, not tooooo many years ago, I did. And WOW! What a revelation! What had I been missing all those years! 

Now I just can’t get enough of them! I happily eat a few mushrooms nearly every day - for either breakfast, lunch or dinner. Yes, that’s right. For breakfast. One of my favourite mushroom breakfast dishes is my “scrambled-omelette” - quick to make, gorgeous to eat. 

The most amazing array of mushrooms I have ever seen was when I went to the Fisherman's Wharf Farmer's Markets in San Francisco a few years ago. The variety was just incredible: lobster, hedgehog, oyster, wood ear and so many more! 

Amazing array of mushrooms - all colors, shapes and sizes...

As one of my food goals for 2012 is to eat less meat and more vegetarian meals, I suspect mushrooms will be making a lot of appearances on my menu! 

Lucky for me, mushrooms are also one of those foods that are really good for you! A 100g serving of mushies has more dietary fibre (2.5g) than 100g of celery (1.8g) or a slice of wholemeal bread (2.0g). And also more protein than most other veggies. And let's face it. Mushrooms are soooo much yummier than celery sticks! 

But the real kicker for me is that 100g of raw mushrooms only has 100kj. Yes, you read that correctly! Only 100kj! Or less than 24 calories. Which, when you love cheese and butter (two foods that go brilliantly with mushrooms by the way...) as much as me, is a REAL bonus! 

I made this for a quick and simple lunch the other day - despite it being a MISERABLE day, I fired up the BBQ, but you could just as easily cook it on the stove. 

Mushrooms on toast with haloumi. Boring name, mouthwatering flavours!

All you need for 1 person is:

• 1 slice of sourdough or other gorgeous bread
• 1 clove of garlic cut in half
• 1 slice of haloumi (yes, yes I know my pictures have 2 pieces. And yes, I ate them both...)
• about 100-125g mushrooms, cut into halves or quarters (I used Swiss brown but you could use flat, button or whatever else you fancy)
• 1 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 
• 1 tbs olive oil
• squeeze of half a lemon
• sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
• salt and pepper

Pop the mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, olive oil, lemon juice, s&p into a small bowl, mix together and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. 

Rub the slice of sourdough with the piece of cut garlic (I then chopped this up too and added it to the mushroom mix - according to my beloved, I REEKED of garlic that night. And the next morning. Oh well. It tasted AMAZING!)

Heat the BBQ - you need the flat plate. I use a silicone mat on our BBQ flat plate as it is easier than constantly cleaning the plate! Plus, ours is a bit rusty and manky. It's also non-stick, so you don't need to add extra oil.

Once the plate is hot, add the mushroom mix, the haloumi, and pop the bread on the grill (the grill section doesn't need to be turned on as there should be enough residual heat). TURN THE BBQ HEAT DOWN so nothing burns (learnt this the hard way the first time I cooked haloumi!). 

On the BBQ

It all takes about 5-8 minutes to cook - I normally take it off when the haloumi is cooked - you want it to look a beautiful golden colour.

Cooked haloumi

Once cooked, serve it up! This is gorgeous for a quick breakfast too, especially when entertaining. 

Instead of haloumi you could add a fried egg - the beauty of the silicone mat I used is that you don't need to use oil, so your fried egg is actually healthy. 

A few variations to this:

• use thyme or basil instead of rosemary
• add some chopped red onion 
• add some bacon or proscuitto
• pop some butter on the BBQ to cook the mushrooms (I don't think it needs it, but many disagree!)

What’s your favourite way to eat mushrooms?

Big thanks to the Australian Mushroom Growers Association for sponsoring this post and recipe as part of their Summer Mushrooms campaign. Check out these sites for many more gorgeous summer mushroom ideas.