Tag: vegetarian

Spinach quiche

This is a lovely dish that can be made for any occasion. I like to take it to parties because it is tasty and transports easily.  It is great for the spring and Easter of course but can be served any time. 

So let’s see what it is. Quiche is a custard like mixture of cream, eggs, cheese along with vegetables and meat in a shell of savory pastry dough.  I could not find where it originated from – France? Germany? or England? and folks, no fighting over this :), however, people today most likely consider it French.  I can easily see people in villages coming up with this dish. Just throw a little bit of eggs and some cream into a pie shell along some vegetables and meat and there is a fabulous dish that makes a meal. Originally, it didn’t have cheese, so perhaps – it is my hypothesis- a French contribution was the addition of the cheese.  Speaking of cheese, make sure you get the best quality cheese you can find or afford. Your dish will surely benefit from it. I use French or Midwestern cheeses from Farmer John’s farm in Dodgeville, WI.

This is not just any old quiche recipe. After experimenting with numerous pie recipes, I believe I finally found the right one. Honestly there are many boring ones out there … it is just a pleasure to have embarked on this one. As I share all my favorite, time honored recipes on my blog, you can`t go wrong with this one, it is a tasty one. The pie shell is from Martha Stewart. It is her pie shell recipe that she uses for her fall pies but it works great here as well. The result is a mouth watering dish.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH

  • 1 ¼ cup flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 stick of cold butter
  • 7 Tbsp of icy water or more if needed

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING

  • 1 lb vegetables  I used spinach but you can use many others like asparagus, nettle, chard, broccoli etc. Just make sure you you cut it into small pieces otherwise it doesn’t look very appetizing
  • 4-8 oz mushrooms (thinly sliced)
  • 3 slices of bacon (omit if prepared for vegetarians)
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 200 gram of feta cheese (crumpled into small pieces)
  • ½ cup of milk
  • ½ of cream
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • ½ tsp tarragon (crumpled between the fingers)
  • 3 whole eggs (lighly beaten)
  • 200 gram of another graded cheese like gruyere, parmesan

PREPARATION

  • Chill water in the freezer for 10 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350 F.
  • I’m using Martha Stewarts lovely pie shell recipe. Psst it also works for your Thanksgiving pies. Add the salt to the flour and mix it with the butter quickly in a food processor or use 2 knives.
  • Add the water and mix quickly until there is a nice ball.
  • Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
  • Take it out of the fridge. Using a rolling pin quickly roll it out into a circular shape so it fits the dish you use to bake the dough in.  Set it into the dish. You can press down into the dish so it fits snuggly. 
  • Put it into the fridge for another 1hour.
  • Meanwhile, prepare the filling.  
  • Sauté the spinach. You can add a little water. Chop it.
  • Sauté the mushrooms in a separate dish.   
  • Fry up the bacon so it is nice and crispy without burning it. 
  • Mix all these ingredients in a bowl and add the crumbled feta, whisked eggs. the milk and cream, black pepper, nutmeg, tarragon and mix.
  • Put the mixture in the pastry shell. 
  • Grade some cheese on the top.
  • Ready to be put into the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until done. When the blade of a knife comes out clean, it is ready.
  • Let cool. Serve warm.

enjoy!

Hot and sour burdock soup

When I go to Asian restaurants, I always wish I could make their foods. Well, here is one that can be easily made!

Spring is here! In the Midwest, one of the first edible foods in nature is Burdock root. A great way to include burdock in your diet is to make a soup with the roots. Asian cooks rave about their burdock soups that they make in the spring. I’m presenting a burdock root soup here that is inspired by Rosalee de la Foret’s blog. Well, here is one dish that can be easily made! There is really nothing exotic about this soup, all the ingredients can be found here in the US.

The website to the original recipe: https://learningherbs.com/remedies-recipes/hot-and-sour-soup-recipe/

As we transition from the winter into spring, it is important to pay attention to our digestion. Heavy foods in the winter might be clogging our livers that can lead to some dreaded health problems in the spring like fevers and tiredness. We tend to eat heavier foods during the winter months but now as our livers are waking up, our body is ready to embark on something lighter and easier to digest. The spring season is the time to attend to the liver and the gallbladder. Our body tends to cleanse itself naturally as we eat less. In addition, it is nice to add some bitter plants that aid the liver to accomplish this process. Our ancestors ate a lot of bitters in the spring. One of these spring bitters is burdock.

Burdock is a lovely plant. It has a distinct flavor. It is earthy, slightly sweet, and bitter. The bitter flavor is lacking in our diet today and is what our liver needs at this time. It cools and clears the stagnation that was caused by the heavier winter foods. Oh and one more … it is also aphrodisiac! So yes! … you can make it for your date dinner, too!

This soup works great in the spring. The burdock’s earthy, heavier flavor pairs nicely with the carrot’s sweet and light flavor. In addition to bitter flavor, the liver also needs the sour flavor that it gets from this sour dish as well. This soup is a big favorite in our family, yes even the kids like it. Perhaps it is because of its interesting, well balanced flavors. In fact, it has all five flavors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and pungent!

Ingredients

  • 1 qt (or more to well cover the vegetables) of home-made stock (vegetable or pork, beef, chicken, fish). For the meat stock recipe, please refer to my Stuffed Cabbage recipe.
  • 1 cup of shredded burdock root (peeled and shredded through the largest holes of your grader) – if you don’t have it in your backyard, it is available at farmers’ markets, co-ops or also from Harmony Valley in Veroqua, WI.
  • 2 cup of shredded carrot (peeled and shredded)
  • 2 clove of garlic
  • 1 Tbsp of minced ginger
  • 2 handfuls of mushrooms (like morelle, shitake)
  • 3 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 4 Tbsp of water
  • 4 Tbsp of rice or white vinegar
  • 2 lightly beaten egg yolks
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
  • scallions
  • soy sauce
  • hard boiled eggs
  • hot red pepper or sriracha sauce (optional)

Recipe

  1. Bring stock to a boil.
  2. Add carrots, Burdock roots, mushrooms, the crushed garlic and ginger. After it boils, turn it down to low medium heat for about 5 minutes.
  3. Add vinegar and the cornstarch mixture. Keep stirring it becomes thick for about 2-3 minutes.
  4. Turn off the heat and stir egg yolk in gently. Add salt and hot red pepper (optional).
  5. Serve in a deep bowl. Garnish with scallions and add soy sauce to taste.
  6. You can add hard boiled eggs too. Bring some water in a pot to a boil and add the eggs at room temperature. Boil them for 7 and a half minutes. Take them out and put them into cold water. Peel and serv. If the eggs are cold, straight out of the fridge then the cooking time is 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sources:

Kitchari recipe

Kitchari! A nourishing vegetarian dish to make in the winter or the summer … whenever you are looking for something easy to digest.

Now that the holidays are over, our bodies want to have a little break from all the rich, heavy foods. However, spring isn’t here yet so we can’t eat all the lovely liver cleansing vegetables. In fact, spring is nowhere in site, just the past week it was -40F here in the Midwest. Even if the prediction of the groundhog is correct, spring won’t start until April here. Many people start dieting, removing nourishing foods from their diet but most fail because it is just too early.  So what can we do?  

I like to turn to the ancient Ayurveda cooking, in other words Indian cuisine! Most people associate Indian foods with something exotic. Yes, some of their dishes can be foreign to us, but their nourishing dish, the Kitchari can be made any time, anywhere and surely by anybody.  Really, Indians make it on a regular basis, serve it during holidays with the rich foods to help digestion and even give it to sick people to recover from an illness. It is an inexpensive dish that millions eat on a daily basis in India. I asked my Ayurveda teacher if we could eat it during the cold season. She said yes even when it is -40F – just add the warming spices like ginger, cumin, and hot pepper. You can serve local vegetables like carrots, spinach, kale, cauliflower, onions etc. Of course, it would go nicely with some Indian rice and roti. 

This is a very healthy dish. Usually, Ayurveda practitioners advice their clients to eat kitchari if they have any acute or chronic issues. It just does amazing things… The three spices turmeric, cumin, coriander are used along with the mung beans. The kitchari diet should last for 1 week when one is only allowed to eat kitchari, rice, grains and vegetables. Of course all the fried foods, fried vegetables, paneer have to be left out. Mung beans are used but if you can get the yellow split moong beans, they are even better as they are easier to digest.

Recipe

Kitchari ingredients

  • 2 tsp of ghee (I use home-made)
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp of coriander powder
  • 1 cup of split mung dal (yellow) – soak for at least 4 hours
  • 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
  • 1 tsp of whole cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp rock salt
  • about 4 cups of water or chicken stock
  • 1 inch of fresh minced ginger root
  • black pepper
  • cilantro to taste
  • yoghurt
  • lemon

Preparation

Indian rice ingredients

  • 1 cups of white Basmati rice
  • 2 cups of water or meat stock
  • 2 tsp ghee (homemade the best)
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • little piece of cinnamon
  • pinch of  saffron (8-10 strings)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • raisins
  • ¼ tsp little turmeric

Preperation

  • Clean and soak mung beans overnight but soak at least for 2 hours. Pour off water and use fresh cold water to cook the beans for 1-1.5 hour.
  • Making the gravy. Saute the onions on medium high heat.
  • When you smell the nice aroma add the ginger, cumin seeds stir and cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Add the powders (turmeric, cumin, coriander), stir for 1 minute. Add garlic, stir.
  • Add cold stock, stir.
  • Add 1 chopped tomato and cook for about 5-10 minutes until it becomes saucy.
  • Add chopped carrots. Indians add the rice here.
  • Bring to a boil, turn down and cook for 30 minutes.
  • Add in the cooked mung beans and cook for 15 more minutes or until done.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Prepare the rice.
  • Serve with rice, cilantro and lemon.

Indians cook the dish with the rice. I personally like to serve the rice on the side and prepare separate.

Enjoy!