Category Archives: General
Time for Book Group
My book group met this week at my house to discuss our latest selection, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. This highly readable book is about an African-American woman from 1950’s Baltimore, whose cervical cancer cells turned out to be incredibly virulent and prolific. Her cells, HeLa cells, have been widely used in scientific research for 50 years. The book tells about her personal history and covers a range of bioethical issues . Howard, my molecular biologist husband, gave a brief lecture about some of the science we didn’t understand. The book provided great food for thought for lively discussion.
What would you provide for snacks that have some sort of loose connection to book’s theme? It was a stretch. Initially, I thought I’d serve a variety of twisted food, like cheese straws and some kind of cookie twists. The twists were meant to be reminiscent of the double helix of DNA. OK, I know, it’s a stretch.
In the end, I went in a different direction, drawing on Baltimore as the inspiration.
Baltimore = Maryland = Crabs
When I visited my Maryland sister a couple weeks back, we had an amazing warm crab dip for an appetizer before dinner at Mick’s New American Bistro in Frederick. It was creamy and crabby with a hint of sherry and a cheesy topping like French onion soup. That seemed like something to try to replicate.
It’s hard to find actual Maryland crab, so used Southeast Asian crab. I would have used lump crabmeat, which I can find at Costco, but I shopped at Trader Joe’s. They only had claw crabmeat. It worked fine, though lump would have been even better.
My dip was popular with the book group. I served it with Stacy’s pita chips, but it would be good on any sturdy crackers. It would probably be good on vegetables too. This made more than we needed for half a dozen ladies, so making a half recipe for a smaller group would be a good idea.
Crab Dip
8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sliced scallions
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp sherry
1 tsp Old Bay Spice
½ tsp Tabasco
1 lb crabmeat, drained
½ cup grated Gruyere cheese
Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients except the grated cheese. Transfer to a 1 quart baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the top.
Bake 30 minutes, until dip is bubbly and cheese is melted and golden brown.
French Fridays with Dorie: Spinach and Bacon Quiche
TGIF! Friday morning means one more day of work for the week. Also, it means one more sleep until I go to Maryland for a quick overnight visit to see my sisters and my Dad and other family. And, of course, French Fridays with Dorie, which means it’s time to talk about this week’s recipe for this on-line cooking group.
Every week brings a different feeling of anticipation. It varies between excitement, curiosity, ambivalence, and dread. I was enthusiastic about this week’s choice: Spinach and Bacon Quiche (page 160 from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table).
I love quiche, particularly spinach quiche. Dorie’s version with bacon was a different twist from the way I usually make it (from Julia Child), and I made some variations on Dorie’s version. I truly enjoy making pastry crust. It’s a baking feat I have mastered. I have to admit that I substituted my own go-to pastry crust recipe (actually Mark Bittman’s) for Dorie’s since it works better for me.
I was a little light on the spinach because the huge box from the store turned out to weight only 7 ounces, not the ten called for. Spinach cooks down so much, so I was worried my shell wouldn’t be filled enough, but it was fine. I also opted to lighten it, using half-and-half instead of cream. Finally, I was out of Parmesan, but found some aged Gouda in the cheese drawer. Aged Gouda is a favorite at our house and I thought it would complement the smoky bacon nicely.
I do love how spinach quiche is more filling than custard. It’s so pretty when filling the shell, and then even prettier once browned in the oven.
My first bite cried out BREAKFAST! It must have been the bacon that triggered that reaction. However, this will be lunch and dinner fare for us. With a side salad, this makes a perfect meal, filling but not too heavy.
After my initial enthusaism, the end result was not disappointing, it was GREAT! This was my favorite FFwD recipe in a while. My usual spinach quiche recipe is topped with Gruyère, and I think that would also work well on top of this bacony version. I can’t wait to make it again.
You can also check out the links for other bloggers who made this quiche at French Fridays with Dorie. I love to read about their variations and make notes of my favorite ideas for “next time”. We don’t post the recipes, but consider getting your own copy of the book, Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. Maybe you’ll even want to cook along with us on Fridays. You’ll enjoy it, I promise.
Next week, it’s bacon again as part of Bacon, Egg, and Asparagus Salad, another recipe I’m excited about.
A Plateful of Happiness 