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ffwd: mushroom and shallot quiche
I love quiche. I’ve seldom met a flavor combination I don’t like. We’ve already made a few from Around My French Table. The spinach-bacon was delicious. The apple-gorgonzola surprised me. This week’s selection for French Fridays with Dorie is a Mushroom and Shallot quiche, so I was excited to try it.
I think I’ve mentioned before that my go-to crust is Mark Bittman’s. It works much better for me than Dorie’s, so I started with a partially baked crust made from my preferred recipe.
The filling starts with finely chopped shallots sautéed in butter. Then, I added thickly sliced mushrooms. I used cremini mushrooms, which are baby portobellos. They have a deeper, earthier flavor than button mushrooms, and they’re the closest to wild I can afford. The mushrooms developed a lovely caramelized crust as they cooked, adding another layer of flavor. Finally, I stirred some fresh thyme into the mushrooms. The kitchen smelled divine, and the mushrooms tasted the same. I could see quartering the mushrooms and making this part of the recipe as a side dish.
More fresh thyme is sprinkled on the pastry crust before spreading the mushroom filling on top. A custard made from eggs and heavy cream is poured over the vegetables. Finally, sliced scallions and grated cheese top things off before baking.
The recipe called for Gruyere cheese, but I picked from what I had in the cheese drawer, using a semi-soft Fontina instead. It probably wasn’t as sharp or interesting as Gruyere would have been, but it worked. Grating such a small amount also gave me a chance to use my Mouli grater. I can’t remember whether this was my mother’s or whether it was someone else’s. In either case, my mother had one just like it. She used it almost exclusively for grating chocolate for her signature chocolate chip cake. I like it for finely grating small bits of cheese. Whenever I pull it out, it also makes me smile to think of my mom.
Mom’s Mouli Grater?
I have to say that I think this my favorite of the Dorie quiches we’ve cooked so far. I loved the mushroom filling, especially all the thyme flavor. I’m looking forward to enjoying it again for lunch later today. And, as I mentioned earlier, the mushroom preparation would make a great side dish, so it’s a two-for-one recipe, always a bonus.
We don’t usually share the recipes for this cooking group, but I found Dorie’s recipe on Epicurious. To read about the other bloggers’ quiches, follow their links, which are posted here.
ffwd: chicken tagine with sweet potatoes and prunes (and a giveaway)
This week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie is a sweet, satisfying stew: Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes. It’s inspiration hails from Morocco with a mix of spices and honey.
Sliced onions are softened, though not caramelized as the base of this dish. Spices, saffron, honey (I was thrilled to finally use my own), prunes, and broth are stirred in, then, topped with browned chicken thighs, and chunks of sweet potatoes. I used extra sweet potatoes. With everything nestled in the pot, the tagine is left to braise for 45 minutes, ample time to prepare side dishes AND clean up.
For the non-fruit-in-savory food eater in my house (yes, Howard, I’m talking about you), it was easy enough to just not serve prunes onto his plate. No other special handling required.
I served this over jasmine rice with a side of roasted cauliflower (a mix of white and orange to match the tagine).
I loved the warm, sweet flavors of the vegetable mixture. I also liked the vegetables with chicken. However, we never seem to like the stewed quality of chicken with soft, no longer golden brown, skin. For the leftovers, I’m going to shred the chicken meat and stir it back into the vegetables.
I will make this again, but next time, I will roast the chicken thighs separately and serve atop the vegetables, rather than adding them to the pot. That way the chicken will still be moist, but the skin will also stay crispy. That will work better at my house.
We don’t post the recipes, but consider getting your own copy of the book, Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. To see how the other bloggers enjoyed their tagines, follow the links for their posts here.
P.S. Amazingly, WordPress tells me this is my 300th post. I looked back, and the 3rd anniversary of my blog was on Tuesday, October 23rd. I totally missed it. In honor of these milestones as well as my first honey harvest, A Plateful of Happiness will have its first giveaway. I’ll be giving away an 8 ounce jar of just-harvested raw honey from my backyard.
To win, here are the rules:
- Post a comment on today’s post before Wednesday, October 31, 2012. Be sure to include your email address where WordPress prompts you. It won’t show up with your comment, so your privacy is maintained, but I will know how to contact you if you win.
- Thursday, November 1, I will randomly select a winner and notify you, so I can find out where to send the jar of honey so you can enjoy it. I will also announce the winner next week.
- Unfortunately, it looks like it’s illegal to ship honey outside of the country, so you can only win if your mailing address is in the U.S. (Leave me a comment even if you are an international reader, but I’m sorry that I cannot send you my honey.)
- Only one entry per person.
A Plateful of Happiness 