Summer Quiche

It's that time of year again. Zucchini time!! I look forward to this time of year - zucchini are so satisfying to grow. I swear, you just plant the seedlings, water them when you think of it and they just go nuts! I love them. And they taste good, so there's another plus in the pro column. In the Pacific Northwest, my zucchinis hit a few weeks before the tomatoes are ripe, but when they all come in together, it's magic.

Summer Quiche
Serves 6-8
Preheat oven to 350

For the filling
6 eggs
2 cups shredded zucchini, drained (about 2 medium/small zucchini)
2 tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup half and half
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon butter 
Pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper

For the shell (double recipe, and you'll only need half. Save the rest for another quiche or some other delicious option.)
11 tablespoons butter chopped
2 1/4 cups flour (I split mine 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 1/4 cup white flour)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
~1/4 cup very cold water
For complete pie dough instructions, click here.

Step one - make the pie dough and let it rest in the fridge. While the dough rests shred zucchini and wrap it in a clean dish towel and weight it so the water starts to come out of the zucchini.

Next, chop onion and basil and shred cheddar cheese. In a skillet, melt one tablespoon of butter and add the red pepper flakes and the onion. Saute onion for about 5 minutes until it's starting to become translucent. 

Roll out the chilled dough and fit it into the pie plate. I am terrible at making pretty pies edges, but I try my best. 

Mix together the eggs, half and half, zucchini, the basil, salt and pepper, the cooked onions and half the cheese. Mix together until well combined.

Fill the pie shell with the egg and veggie mixture. Slice the tomatoes and arrange on the top of the pie. Cover the pie and the tomatoes with shredded cheese. 

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, or until the egg is not jiggly and the crust is toasted. I like using a clear glass pie dish so that I can see when the bottom of the crust is done. Let the quiche cool a bit, cut and enjoy!

Made this time last year...

Mango Chilli Chicken Salad

Shrimp and Grits

 

Maple Pecan Pie

Pecan pie is officially one of my favorites.  It all started…last week when I bought a mini pecan pie from the grocery store.  It was only 6 inches and hubby and I downed it in one sitting lol.  THEN…I saw a recipe in Food Network Magazine (the Thanksgiving issue is phenomenal by the way).  It was Ina’s recipe for maple pecan pie and I knew right then and there that I would be making one for myself.

 

I slightly adjusted Ina’s recipe by omitting honey, replacing that with brown sugar, adding more vanilla in place of Bourbon (just because I didn’t have any), and I didn’t use her crust recipe.  Even after reading the recipe, I didn’t realize how easy it was to make a pecan pie.  After the crust, you literally just mix all of the filling ingredients together and pour it in.  That’s it.  I’m not joking! 

The pie was simply delicious and crust was buttery and flaky.  I wanted to keep eating more and more.  Note: you may want to curb your sweet-tooth before making this pie because you have to allow it to cool and trust me, you won’t want to.

Maple Pecan Pie

Crust Ingredients:

5 tbsp very cold unsalted butter

5 tbsp very cold butter-flavored shortening

½ tsp salt

1 1/3 c all-purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

3-4 tbsp very cold water

Filling Ingredients:

½ c light corn syrup

½ c maple syrup

¼ c brown sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp grated orange zest

½ tsp kosher salt

2c whole pecan halves

Combine salt, flour, and sugar in a food processor bowl.  Pulse a few times to combine.  Cut butter and shortening into small pieces and add to bowl.  Pulse 4-5 times or until small crumbs start to form.  Slowly pour water, 1 tbsp at a time, down food processor chute while pulsing.  Repeat until dough starts to come together.

Preheat oven to 350.

Empty dough out onto floured surface and form into a small round disk.  Place in a zip-top bag and refrigerate for 30-60 mins.  Remove dough from bag and lightly flour both sides.  Roll dough out into a 10” circle and carefully move to pie pan. 

Using your fingers, create the desired pie edge.  To make the filling, whisk together all ingredients except pecans.  Once well mixed, add pecans and stir to combine.  Pour filling into piecrust.  Place pie pan on a baking sheet and place in the oven.  Cook at 350 for 45 mins or until center of pie is set.  Allow pie to cook completely before serving.

Piecrust takes no time once you get the exact measurements down - especially when using a food processor.  Therefore, it’s best to make multiple crusts and freeze them until ready to use.  My piecrust uses a combination of butter and shortening.  Butter makes it light and flaky.  Shortening holds the pie together (and makes for great fluting!). 

Summer Veggie Hand Pies

We grow summer veggies. Lots of them. Every summer, about this time, we start a competitive race. Us vs Zucchini. It's intense. Tuesday a zucchini will be a tiny, 3 inch baby. Wednesday that same zucchini will be a 30 pound monster. Needless to say, we eat a lot of zucchini in August. These summer veggie hand pies took down half a zucchini... served with Antoinette's salad, they made a great dinner!

Summer Veggie Hand Pies - adapted from Whole Foods

Preheat oven to 375 

Filling
1 cup chopped zucchini
1 cup corn - cut from 1 cob
1/4 chopped red onion
1/2 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup crumbled feta
salt and pepper

For the dough
2/3 cup butter (11 tablespoons)
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
cold water - about 1/3 cup

Start with the dough... my mom is a pie dough genius. She doesn't measure. She uses a butter knife and fork to cut the butter into the flour. She sprinkles in cold water and her dough is perfect every time. I am not a pie dough super genius, but I've gotten to a good spot using a food processor.

Put flour, salt and butter into a food processor. Pulse until butter is in pea-sized bits. Pulse and pour in cold water until dough just starts to come together. Dump the dough onto plastic wrap, form it into a disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze while you make the filling.

For the filling... chop veggies and saute in 1/2 tablespoon of butter or olive oil until tomatoes release their juices and some of the juice evaporates - about 5 minutes. Add basil, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and stir in feta crumbles. Set aside and let the veggies cool a bit.

Remove the dough from the fridge and divide it in half. Roll out one half at a time to about 1/8 inch thick, re-rolling scraps as you need to. Cut out 8 disks that are about 5 inches in diameter. I used the underside of my sifter. (Or cut dough into squares - square pies taste just as good as round pies.)

Place 4 disks on parchment lined baking sheet and place about 1/2 cup of filling on each leaving about 1/2 inch boarder. Run your finger dipped in water around the edge of the disk then place another disk on top. Stretch the disk over the filling and seal with a fork. Poke the tops of the pies with a fork to vent while cooking. Bake 30 minutes or until crust is golden.

A few things about this recipe...

I'm always glad to find vegetarian things, but this would be great with some meat added too. My husband and I thought that ground lamb would be particularly good with the feta. 

Pie dough isn't really hard, but it does take some extra time. Refrigerated store bought pie dough would make this a 45 minute start to finish meal. 

If you have left over dough, make this!  :)

Peach Blackberry Galette

Little bit of pie dough - I was able to roll out a circle about 10 inches in diameter
2 peaches chopped - about 1 1/2 cups
12 or so blackberries
1 tablespoon sugar

Roll out pie dough and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. Put peaches and blackberries in the middle and sprinkle the sugar on top of the fruit. Fold over sides to hold in the fruit. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until dough is golden.