made by Julianne

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VEGAN QUICHE

6 June 2010 by Julianne

When my lovely friend Gigi came to visit us in March she wowed us with the vegan quiche she whipped up. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen so I decided to try my own.

My I got my crust recipe from my mom:

2 1/4 C cold flour

2/4 C shortening

7 T ice water (possibly more)

1 t salt

Mix flour and salt; cut in shortening. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork or beaters. When the dough is mixed (it may still be crumby) roll it onto a floured surface. Fold flattened dough in half, roll out, fold again, and continue about 4 times. Roll the dough about 1/8″ thick and press into pie pan. Trim the crust and poke with a fork. Prebake at 375º for about 15 minutes. Continue reading →

I’ve seen lots of different recipes for the filling, but this one is a combination of what Gigi used and what we had in the fridge. All of these measurements are extremely approximate.

Blend:

1 14-oz pack firm tofu

1/2 C plain almond or soy milk

1 T turmeric

1/2 T paprika

Use either a blender or food processor. Don’t be afraid to the let thing run as long as you need to make sure everything’s smooth.

Sautee:

(in olive oil or margarine)

1 leek

1/2 onion

1/2 lb oyster mushrooms

shallot

garlic

Mix the tofu and the sauteed vegetables and pour into the pre-baked pie shell. If you want to be fancy, top the custard-ish mix with some slices of red bell pepper. One could also sprinkle a colorful spice, namely paprika, although I would recommend stopping short of actual rainbow sprinkles.

Bake for 45-60 minutes at about 375º. You’ll want to let the quiche set for about 10 minutes before cutting into it. At this point, it will be pretty deliciously gooey. If you’ve got any leftovers they will be firmer after sitting in the fridge for a few hours, and it tastes wonderful eaten cold.

There are no photos of the cut quiche on our plates because we were too excited to eat it all up!

If I’d rolled it out thin enough, I could have used the dough to make two quiches. There was certainly enough filling to split between two pies. But I really like my dough thick, and with the excess dough from the single quiche I made a little apple pie for a surprise dessert.

Needless to say, the entire meal was delicious!

fresh pasta

27 February 2010 by Julianne

Although I normally don’t cook, every once in a while I get a craving too strong to ignore. I love the hand-rolled pasta at Il Restaurante da Piero but that place is out of my budget, which is one of many reasons I love it when my dad comes to town! So I tried my hand at making my own pasta and it was so good that I made it again the next night!

Continue reading →

I blended a few different recipes together for this pasta and I think it’s perfect. The ingredients are so basic and it doesn’t require any fancy equipment! I used my 30 year old mixer from my momma with the dough beaters, but I think you could do a great job with just your fingers. On the other hand, if you happen to have a food processor or a pasta press (or even a rolling pin, to give you an idea of how bare-bones my kitchen is) I wouldn’t think twice about using that!

Another benefit to this recipe over other pastas I’ve seen is that you don’t need any eggs.

The pasta is incredibly filling, so one batch will happily feed two hungry diners! Expect the process to take about 30-45 minutes.

Easy Fresh Pasta

1 C semolina flour

1 C white flour

1 Tbs olive oil

3/4 C warm water

2 tsp rosemary-herb blend

dash of salt

In your nice big bowl mix together all the dry ingredients at low speed. Drizzle in the oil and water, mixing as you pour. The dough will form big chunks, and there shouldn’t be any loose flour in the bowl. Once the dough is holding together, use your dry hands to form it into a ball. The dough will be springy and your hand will leave an impression, but the dough shouldn’t be sticky at all! Knead the dough a few times, and go ahead and start boiling your water.

To form the pastas, pinch of a little bit of dough and roll it between your hands. You don’t want the roll to be too thick, or else the pasta will never cook! The rolls should be about 1/4″ thick and a few inches long; they’ll look kinda like worms. We took half of our wormies and rolled them into spirals, but that’s totally optional. It can take a bit of time and some muscle to roll all your pasta, so this is a great step for everyone to help with! Involvement in the process will also make all of your diners enjoy their meal so much more.

When you’ve got all of your pasta rolled out, add it to the boiling water. The pasta will appear to clump together when you add it in the water, but just stir it up and it will separate. Fresh pasta cooks way faster than dried pasta, but since these noodles are so thick you’re still looking at about 10 minutes.

This goes great with an olive oil sauce, maybe with some sauteed onions and mushrooms. I think pesto would be absolutely perfect, and Jason really liked it with marinara.