Spinach and Onion Quiche Recipe

This savory quiche is an incredible timesaver in the kitchen because it can be made without a pastry crust. If you have time for a crust, try making a batch of Pate Brisee a day before preparing the quiche.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hours, 10 minutes

Ingredients:
6 eggs
8 oz. spinach leaves, chopped
1 cup Cantal cheese (substitute Cheddar)
2/3 cup half and half
� cup chopped white onions
� cup cooked, crumbled bacon or chopped country ham

� teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation:

Preheat an oven to 350F. Whisk all the ingredients together and pour into an 8-inch by 8-inch square pan or a pie dish lined with pate brisee. Cook in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, until it tests done in the center.

Makes 8 servings.

Lemon Squares with Crumb Topping

Lemon Squares Recipe

This lemon squares recipe is a bit different from the usual lemon bars, which have a shortbread crust. Instead, this recipe features a graham cracker crust and a graham cracker streusel topping that just melts in your mouth. Serve with a tall glass of cold milk.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
* 1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar
* 1/2 tsp. baking powder
* 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
* 1/2 cup butter, melted
* 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
* 1/2 cup lemon juice

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and butter until mixture is moist. Press half of this mixture into the prepared pan. Reserve the rest for the topping of these lemon squares.

3. Beat sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice together. Pour over crust.

4. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over lemon layer. Bake 25-28 minutes.

Makes 16 lemon squares.

Pepper Spice Bread

Pepper spice bread has a sweet, unusual flavor that makes it unique in the world of yeast breads. It tastes delicious fresh out of the oven and makes a great bread for morning toast. This recipe for pepper spice bread makes 2 round loaves.
Prep Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
* 5 cups bread flour, approx.
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 tbsp active dry yeast
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 cup warm water
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, soft
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup molasses
* 2 tsp ground aniseed
* 1 tsp ground black pepper
* 1/2 tsp allspice
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preparation:
1. The first step to making pepper spice bread is to make the sponge. In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, salt, water and milk. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or with a clean kitchen towel and set aside, room temperature, for 2 hours.

2. After this first rise, stir down the sponge and mix in the butter, eggs, molasses, aniseed, black pepper, allspice, and cinnamon.
3. Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough.
4. Turn dough out onto a floured board. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, adding small amounts of flour, as necessary, until dough is soft and not sticky.
5. Put dough in greased bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so that the dough top is also lightly greased. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or clean kitchen cloth and let rise in warm place for 1 hour.
6. Punch down dough.
7. Turn dough out onto board and knead for 5 minutes.
8. Divide dough into two equal parts. Shape each half into round loaf.
9. Put loaves on greased baking sheet. Cut a 1/2-inch X onto the top of each loaf.
10. Cover loaves with clean kitchen towel and let rise for about 45 minutes or until double in size.
11. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until brown.
12. Cooled loaves can be bagged and frozen for later use.

Portugese Chicken Burger

The Portuguese chicken burger is my take on Australia's famous Bondi Chicken Burger.
My version consists of pan-fried chicken breasts topped with a chili sauce, romaine lettuce, several slices of provolone cheese and mayonnaise.
The succulent chicken breasts are first marinated in a chili sauce consisting of dried habanero chilis, chili flakes, paprika, lemon juice, garlic, ginger and a little sugar. They are then lightly dredged in flour and then pan-fried.
This mouth-watering burger was born in Bondi but has spread throughout Australia and New Zealand. Follow this simple recipe to find out why!
Ingredients:
* 2-3 free-range chicken breasts
* 2 dried habanero chilis, chopped and seeds discarded
* Juice from 2 lemons
* 2 tsp pf crushed ginger
* 6 Tbsp of vegetable oil
* 2 tsp of paprika
* 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
* 1/2 tsp of white sugar
* 1 tsp of dried chili flakes
* 2-4 hamburger buns
* 6 slices of provolone cheese
* Romaine lettuce
* Mayonnaise
* 1 cup of flour for dredging
* 1 tsp of sea sat

Preparation:
1. Filet the chicken breasts to the desired thickness. I usually like the filets pretty thin.
2. In a metal mixing bowl combine the chopped habanero chilies, lemon juice, crushed ginger, vegetable oil, paprika, garlic, sugar and chili flakes. Stir quickly to bind the oil and lemon juice.
3. Spoon half of the sauce into a separate bowl and set aside for later.

4.Add the chicken breasts to the remaining chili sauce and stir well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Mix together the flour and salt. Remove the chicken breasts from the chili oil and shake off any excess oil. Lightly dredge the breasts one by one.
6. Once you're ready to cook the chicken, heat up a medium-sized non-stick pan with a little vegetable or canola oil. Pan-fry the chicken breasts for several minutes on each side.
7. Spread mayonnaise on the hamburger buns. Line the bottom of the bun with romaine lettuce, add the chicken breast, provolone cheese and then spoon on some of the remaining chili sauce. Serve immediately.

Fish Burger

There's something about fish burgers that transports me to summer, even if it's raining outside!
Let me tell you about it. For this recipe I used halibut but any firm, dense fish will do, such as cod, salmon or even tuna. The fish is coated in a tempura-like batter and then served on a toasted bun with homemade tartar sauce and a side of hand-cut potato chips.
The tartar sauce is a simple mixture of Hellman's mayonnaise, diced cornichons (small gherkins), Spanish onion and capers.
The chips are paper-thin slices of potato fried only for a few seconds. The result -- crispy, salty chips -- the perfect accompaniment!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Hellman's mayonnaise
6 cornichons or small gherkins, diced
1/4 Spanish onion, dliced
15 capers
Filets of halibut for 2
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of tapioca flour
3/4 cup of cold water
1/2 tsp of baking powder
2 cups of vegetable or sunflower oil for frying
2-4 hamburger buns
A handful of mixed lettuce
1-2 medium potatoes, thinly sliced and dried on paper towels

Sea salt

Preparation:
Pre-heat the grill.
First prepare the tartar sauce. In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, cornichons, onion and capers. Set aside.
Thinly slice the potatoes and place them on a paper towel to dry.
Heat the oil on a high heat in a medium saucepan.
Place the potato slices into the oil and fry for about a minute or until golden brown and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Make sure that you remove all of the chips from the oil before cooking the fish.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and water with a fork. Add the fish filets and coat well. Gently lower the fish into the oil and fry about 3-4 minutes or until the batter is golden. Remove and drain on paper towels.
Meanwhile, pop your buns in the oven and lightly toast them for a minute or so. Assemble the hamburgers, by spreading on a layer of tartar sauce, followed by mixed lettuce, a fish filet, a bit more sauce and then the bun top.

Blackberry Limeade Recipe

I was waiting for the perfect day to give this blackberry limeade recipe a try. Time and again, bundled in blankets on fog shrouded San Francisco afternoons, I'd whine to Wayne that we should move somewhere with a proper summer. Visions of my hand wrapped around a frosty glass of a jeweled-toned refresher like this occupied a disproportionate amount of my daydreams. No more. With temperatures roaring well past 90 degrees in San Francisco on Friday, I got my perfect summer day - and with a bit of help from Martha Hall Foose (executive chef of the Viking Cooking School), I took full advantage. The recipe is from her eloquently written new cookbook, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook.

Cookbooks writers and enthusiasts listen up - Martha is a master of the head note. Hers are some of the most alluring, informative, and transporting lead-ins to recipes I've read. This one precedes the recipe for Cantaloupe Daiquiris...

The hottest I have ever been in my life was at 5:45 P.M., on August 29, 1998, on the no. 923 St. Charles Avenue streetcar in New Orleans. I had been working down in the French Quarter as a pastry chef for Susan Spicer's Bayona. Some days the unique commute felt like the scene in a movie. After rattling down the boulevards, and immediately upon entering our uptown digs, I stripped down and stood in the shower with only cold water running. I could almost hear the sizzle on contact. I really felt as if I had been braised.

The courtyards of New Orleans offer a haven from the heat. Shaded and mossy, planted with sweet-smelling Confederate Jasmine, they're like Mrs. Venable's arboretum in Suddenly Last Summer. She had her trusty secretary deliver a daiquiri every day at five. The musky sweetness of the melon, married to the brightness of the basil and mint, suspended in an icy slurry, will cool an afternoon down to the slow simmer of twilight.

I'd be willing to bet you'd like to try that recipe as well. And that's how it goes with this book - the author skillfully unveiling glimpses of her life (and love) of the South through a lovely collection of recipes.

I know many of you come to my site for inspiration on the natural foods/veg-friendly fronts, so just be aware that this isn't really that kind of book. This is Southern cookbook with all the deep-fried, shortening-packed delicacies you can imagine. Lots of meat, plenty of seafood-based recipes. That being said, there are many great ideas that are easily adaptable. For example, there's a black-eyed pea cake that (minus the bacon) looks like a fresh twist on a veggie burger, a frozen cucumber salad that sounds fascinating, and multiple rice salads that could easily be done with any number of whole grains (or whole grain rice). Plenty to be inspired by.

One of the things I loved about the blackberry limeade recipe was Martha's use of raw sugar - it lends deep, complex level of sweetness that you just don't get with white sugar. It bridges the blackberries, lime, and cardamom wonderfully.

Blackberry Limeade Recipe

Martha's recipe calls for ginger ale as the mixer (delicious!). I don't drink much soda of any sort - it's just too sweet for me, so I did a second batch with sparkling water as the mixer- great for those of you avoiding soft drinks. For some it might make sense to keep the components separate (instead of combining everything in one pitcher - making it easy to mix each drink to order. This way each person can control their own level of flavor/sweetness. Martha also includes a side bar of helpful notes related to this recipe - berries can be pulsed briefly in a food processor and strained. Be careful not to crush the seeds, as this adds a dirty taste to the blackberries. You can freeze blackberries in ice cubes for a nice accessory to the drink. The sugar syrup can be transferred to a metal mixing bowl set in a bowl of ice to cool it down quickly. For a wonderful frozen cocktail, puree ice and a jigger of gin with the blackberry-lime mixture in a blender.

4 cups fresh blackberries, or unsweetened frozen blackberries, thawed, plus extra for garnish

1 cup turbinado sugar, natural cane sugar, or grated palm sugar
1 kaffir lime leaf, crushed, or 1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 green cardamom pod, lightly crushed
1/2 cup fresh Key lime juice (about 8 -12 limes)
Thin lime slices, for garnish
2 cups ginger ale (hs note: or sparkling water)
Ice cubes

Lay a doubled piece of cheesecloth on a nonporous work area. (As the berries will stain a wide array of cutting surfaces and clothes, this may be best done outside or over newspaper and wearing an apron or smock.) Place the blackberries on top of the cheesecloth and gather into a bundle like a hobo sack. Hold the sack of berries over a glass, stainless steel, plastic, or ceramic bowl. Twist the top of the sack to squeeze the juice from the berries into the receptacle. (This will yield about 1 cup very strong, tart, dark juice.) Refrigerate the juice until needed; discard the purple mash.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, 1 cup water, the lime leaf, and the cardamom pod. bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is reduced to a thin syrup. Remove the lime leaf and cardamom. Allow the sugar syrup to cool and then chill it.

In a 1-quart pitcher, combine the blackberry juice, sugar syrup, and lime juice. Stir to combine and then refrigerate until cold.

To serve, stir the ginger ale (or water) into the pitcher, fill glasses with ice, and pour in the blackberry limeade. Garnish with slices of lime.

Serves 8.

Excerpted with permission from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose (Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc. 2008)

Edamame Dip

Ingredients

• 12 ounces shelled, cooked, and cooled edamame, about 2 cups, recipe follows
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup tightly packed fresh cilantro or parsley leaves
• 1 large garlic clove, sliced
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon brown miso
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon red chili paste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Place the edamame, onion, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, miso, salt, chili paste and pepper into the bowl of a food processor and process for 15 seconds. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl and process for another 15 to 20 seconds. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Once all of the oil has been added, stop, scrape down the bowl and then process another 5 to 10 seconds. Taste and adjust seasoning, as desired. Serve with chips or crackers. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Basic Edamame:

• 1 pound edamame, fresh or frozen, in or out of shell
• 1/4 cup water
• Kosher salt, optional

Place the edamame and water into a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 4 to 6 minutes. Drain any excess water and serve as is or salted.

Yield: 4 servings

Sweet Potato and Beet Chips with Garlic Rosemary Salt

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 beets
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon very finely minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 10 cups vegetable oil

Directions

Special Equipment: V-slicer or mandoline, deep-fry thermometer

Wash the vegetables and dry very well. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine the garlic, rosemary and salt. Set aside.

Warm the oil in a large pot over high heat to 350 degrees F.

Meanwhile, trim 1-inch off the end of each sweet potato. Using the V-slicer or mandoline, slice the sweet potatoes into very thin slices, about 1/8-inch thick. Trim 1-inch off the root end of the beets. Using the V-slicer or mandoline slice the beets into very thin slices, about 1/8-inch thick.

When the oil is hot add about a quarter of the sweet potato slices. Let fry until golden and the bubbling has almost completely subsided, about 2 to 3 minutes. Using a mesh sieve or slotted spoon remove the chips to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with some of the garlic, rosemary, and salt mixture. Continue with the remaining sweet potatoes.

Transfer to a serving plate.

Next, fry 1/4 of the beets. Let fry until curled at the edges and most of the bubbling has subsided, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the beets to another paper-towel-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt mixture. Continue with the remaining beets. Let cool and transfer to a serving plate.

Wonton Wrappers

Wonton Wrappers is the basic ingredients of many Wonton Recipe from Chinese Food . Wonton wrappers can be bought at the Asian Groceries Store or Supermarkets . But making your own Wonton wrappers at home isn't impossible and not too complicated also quick prepare .
Here's a Wonton Recipe to help you serving your own making Wonton Recipes .


Wonton Wrappers Recipe
(Makes about 3 dozen squares)

Ingredients :

1 large egg white
About 1/3 C water
1 C all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoonful salt


Cooking Direction :

Combine the flour and salt In the bowl of a standing mixer (or use a hand mixer)Add the egg white and mix with the paddle attachment over medium speed,
Slowly adding water until the dough forms a ball. (Use all the water if needed)
Continue beating the dough with the paddle for several minutes, or remove from the mixer to knead by hand.
(Adjust the flour and/or water content by increments as necessary till it form a smooth elastic dough that isn’t sticky ).

Cut the dough into four equal parts and run through a pasta maker up to the thinnest setting, or roll out by hand using a liberal amount of bench flour.
Cut the sheets into roughly 3inch squares, and make sure they are well sprinkled with flour on both sides before stacking or overlapping to prevent them from melding together again.
Use immediately or cover for a short while with a damp towel to keep them from drying out.
This Wonton Wrappers can be Use in any Wonton Recipe that calls for wonton wrappers