Week-end Round Up

I had the Fantasy Book group at my home Friday evening to discuss Bone Song by John Meaney. There was quite a bit to discuss, as it was a very, very odd book. Well liked, but the world building was incredible and complicated.

Anywhoo, I served a roasted red pepper hummus with pita pieces and tappenade with sliced baguette (both dips thanks to the good people at Trader Joe's), and some pickled things because my friends do love some pickles. And some sangria.

For dinner I made a smoked salmon quiche/tart that I served with a salad and some Mondavi Savingnon Blanc. Dessert was a lovely double chocolate cheesecake and coffee.

After my guests left, I cleaned up and read for a while so I didn't get to sleep until almost 3 a.m. I was mostly worthless on Saturday, but managed to get my hair colored and do a little shopping. I've got to wonder about the color job, however, since no one seems to have noticed. Either the colorist did a very subtle job or my gray was not as noticeable as I thought.

Yesterday I baked some banana bread, fed my Amish Friendship Bread starter, and cooked some country style ribs in the crock pot. These I ate with fried okra and cole slaw. Oh yeah!

The smoked salmon quiche was my own creation, but I've done by best to record (approximate) measurements. The fun of a quiche/tart is that you can play with it.

Smoked Salmon & Goat Cheese Quiche

4 oz smoked salmon, chopped fine
1/2 c chopped green onions
2 oz crumbled goat cheese
5 large eggs
3/4 c heavy cream
1/2 c sour cream
2 T chopped fresh dill
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
Pastry*

Preheat oven to 350. Place pastry in 10" tart pan and blind bake. Allow to cool.

Place green onions on bottom of crust. Layer next with goat cheese and top with salmon. Mix eggs, cream, sour cream, fresh dill, salt, and pepper and pour into crust. Bake 38 to 45 minutes, until top of tart begins to brown. Serve warm or at room temp.

*Use your own best recipe or the roll out stuff from the refrigerator section of the supermarket. In this case I used the recipe from Ina Garten's Goat Cheese Tart in Barefoot in Paris.

Fat Friday

We take turns bringing snacks to the office on Fridays, and today was my turn. I forgot that I had book group last night when I signed up, so it was a bit of a challenge to get it done.

I prepared the Applesauce Breakfast Cake from the BH&G Jr cookbook when I got home from work and began prepping the ingredients for quiche. I fried bacon and saute'd mushrooms and onions and grated cheese. When I got home from book group, I blind baked my pie crusts. I got to bed about 11:30 last night and was up again at 4:40 preparing the quiche.

At mid-morning, one quiche has been eaten and about half of the cake.

Bacon & Ham Quiche

1 9" pie crust (home-made or the prepared sheets in the refrigerated section of the super market

6 slices bacon
1/2 c chopped onion
1 cup sliced porcini mushrooms
3/4 c half and half
1 c cooked chopped ham
6 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp Lawry's Season salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 c shredded Swiss cheese
2 T all purpose flour

Blind bake pie crust for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, remove pie weights and foil/parchment and bake another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce temp to 350.

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp and remove to paper towels to drain. Crumble and set aside. Saute onions and mushrooms in bacon grease until tender. Add crumbled bacon, half & half, ham, eggs, and seasonings and mix. Toss cheese in flour and add to egg mixture. Pour into pie shell and bake @ 350 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Mmmmm... I do love my pork!