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Spectactular showing this year! Not sure why, last year it had one or two blooms, bumper crops this year!

I tried these for the first time this morning, used pastry dough and a mix of spinach ricotta and bechamel for the filling!Not as good as a french patisserie but will do for breakfast!

2 eggs
A bit of feta cheese
Six small tomatoes sliced
Green onion
Sour cream
Sprinkled with pomegranate

apple gallette

When winter sets in, make this smallish apple gallette!!!!!! One large apple is all you need, apple juice reduced, homemade pie dough apricot jam glaze!

Baking these little quiches is a great idea and you can freeze them for future breakfasts! Mine didn’t last long around here. The croissant ham and cheese sandwich is easy to assemble, just get super fresh croissants and insert a piece of ham and your favorite cheese, heat in mini oven for five minutes!

We have too many tomatoes this year and I was challenged to find ways to use them or let them fall to the ground and rot. This turned out to be easy and can be frozen after baking as well!  Recipe:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/tomato-lemon-tart
I did not use the lemons however but I did use all the garlic!

two eggs, scrambled, add sweet potato sliced and fried in pan
add a ham slice chopped and sauteed
cherry tomatoes
green shishito pepper fried
top with homemade pesto!

Remembering Genoa

A magical city….in Italy

Quiche Lorraine

I made this yesterday and it was amazing,Here is the recipe:

‘adapted from (Simply Recipes)’

Use about 1/2 cup leeks, finely chopped, and sautéed in butter first, before spreading over the bottom of the quiche crust with the cubed ham.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 recipe pie dough or a prepared frozen pie crust
  • 1/2 pound (225 g) of cubed (1/2”) ham, fried up (you can use more or less to your taste)
  • 1/2 cup (235 ml) milk
  • 1/2 cup (118 ml) heavy cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Black pepper to taste (we used about 1/2 teaspoon)
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup (4 ounces, 113 g) grated gruyere or other cheese (cheddar works too)
  • 1 heaping tablespoon chopped chives or fresh chopped marjoram

1 Rollout the dough, form into a tart pan, then freeze: If you are making your own pie crust, roll out the pie dough into a 12-inch round. Place it in a 10-inch wide, 1 1/2-inch high tart pan, pressing the dough into the corners.

Use a rolling pin to roll over the surface of the tart pan to cleanly cut off the excess dough from the edges.

Freeze for at least half an hour before blind-baking.

2 Pre-bake the frozen crust: (also called “blind” baking) If you are using a store-bought frozen crust, follow the directions on the package for pre-baking.

If you are pre-baking a homemade crust, preheat oven to 350°F. Line the frozen crust with heavy duty aluminum foil. Allow for a couple inches to extend beyond the sides of the tart or pie pan.

Fill tart pan with dry beans, sugar, or rice, or the bottom of a smaller baking pan

If you are using a pan with a removable bottom, place the pan on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven to catch any spillage.

Bake for 15 minutes. Then remove from oven, remove the pie weights (the easiest way to do this is to lift up the foil by the edges) and the foil, and set aside.

3 Cook the ham: Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Arrange ham cubes in a single layer on the bottom of the pan (you may need to work in batches or do two pans at once).

Slowly cook the ham until nicely browned and much of the fat has rendered out.

4 Preheat oven to 350°F.

5 Whisk eggs, add nutmeg, salt, pepper, cream, milk: Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the nutmeg, salt, black pepper and chives and whisk a little more. Add the milk and cream and whisk vigorously to incorporate and introduce a little air into the mix – this keeps the texture of the quiche light and fluffy.

6 Put filling in pre-baked crust: Arrange the ham and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust.

Whisk the egg-milk mixture hard again for a few seconds, then pour it gently into the pie crust.

7 Bake: Put the quiche into the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes.

Check for doneness after 30 minutes by gently jiggling the quiche. It should still have just a little wiggle. (It will finish setting while it cools.) Cool on a wire rack.

Eat at room temperature, cold (a quiche will keep for several days in the fridge), or reheated gently in a 200-degree oven.

Pie (Quiche)dough recipe:

This recipe makes 1 pâte brisée crust, enough for one tart or one bottom crust. If you are making a pie with a bottom and top crust, double this recipe and form two discs of dough instead of one.

I go back and forth on whether to use 8 Tbsp or 10 Tbsp of butter. If you are blind baking the crust (for example for a quiche), I recommend using 8 Tbsp of butter. The higher flour to fat ratio will help the crust keep its form when you pre-bake it.

If you are not pre-baking the crust I recommend using 10 Tbsp of butter, the higher fat to flour ratio will give you a flakier crust, and it will be easier to roll out.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/4 cups (160 g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 8 Tbsp (1 stick, 112 g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 3 to 4 Tbsp ice water, very cold

Not finished yet, but here are photos of the process….from a vase of flowers to a large acrylic canvas…..

Easter lamb

We hardly ever eat lamb and this was a treat, and we are not huge followers of religious events but this one, being indoors and all provided me with an opportunity to use lamb in an old fashioned way.
I marinated the rack for two days in olive oil, chopped garlic and rosemary. I then salted and peppered it before grilling it and finishing it in the oven. On the side I served a Mediterranean parsley salad and a mint and garlic sauce. Fresh and rich at the same time!

thank you Irena for this great recipe, I used cooked leftover salmon and toasted the salmon skin until crispy as a topping, here is the original recipe:

https://irenamacri.com/recipes/fish-salad-with-cajun-salmon-kale

carrots from our garden

where is summer????

remembering august 18, 2019, just picked carrots from our back yard garden!

pheasant for dinner

1 small hen, roasted and drippings gravy
2 small round pumpkins, roasted with seeds
cranberry tart with whipped cream

recipe: I substituted the orange juice with apple cider and used cranberry relish instead of the orange jam

Ingredients

  • Crust:
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup ice water
  • Cooking spray
  • Filling:
  • 1/3 cup orange juice
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup orange marmalade
  • 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, toasted
  • 1 tablespoon grated orange rind
  • 1 (12-ounce) package fresh cranberries

Nutritional Information

How to Make It

Step 1

Preheat oven to 425°.

Step 2

To prepare crust, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt in a bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Step 3

Sprinkle surface with ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time; toss with a fork until moist and crumbly (do not form a ball). Gently press mixture into a 4-inch circle on plastic wrap. Cover and chill for 15 minutes.

Step 4

Slightly overlap 2 lengths of plastic wrap on slightly damp surface. Unwrap and place chilled dough on plastic wrap. Cover dough with 2 additional lengths of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, into a 14-inch circle. Place dough in freezer 5 minutes or until plastic wrap can be easily removed.

Step 5

Remove plastic wrap; fit dough into a 10-inch round removable-bottom tart pan coated with cooking spray. Fold edges under or flute decoratively.

Step 6

To prepare filling, combine juice and cornstarch in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add remaining ingredients; stir well. Pour mixture into prepared pan.

Step 7

Bake at 425° for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° (do not remove tart from oven); bake an additional 35 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.

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