Zucchini, Spinach, and Onion Quiche

I just made up this dinner because I was out of mushrooms and I really had planned on making a Spinach and Onion Quiche, but it is AWESOME, so I wanted to get it down before I forgot what ended up in it. :) Enjoy!

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup ice water
1/4 cup vegetable oil

In a bowl stir together the flour and salt with a fork. In a separate bowl, whisk the water and oil so it gets thicker. Pour into flour and stir with a fork until it all combines. Press into bottom and sides of pie plate.

Filling:
1 zucchini, peeled and small diced
1 large handful of baby spinach, washed and chopped
3 green onions, chopped

Saute all filling ingredients in a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and then a little bit of nutmeg and cinnamon. Spread evenly over crust in pie plate and top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Custard:
6 eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream or half and half
salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon to taste

Whisk ingredients and pour over filling ingredients and bake in a 400 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until set. Remove and let stand for a few minutes before slicing.

SO GOOD!

Arayes and Garlic Paste

I will post more soon, but these are the most important ones to get posted! :)

Garlic Paste:

I know this is the one that people REALLY want, so I’ll add it first. These are approximations and it definitely takes some trial and error.

• 2-3 good sized heads of garlic (not cloves, the whole head), peeled
• 1-2 tablespoons each of salt and lemon juice
• A whole bottle (about 3 cups) of MILD (super important for taste) olive oil (not extra virgin)

Put the garlic and at least a tablespoon of salt and about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in a blender and pulse until the garlic is nicely chopped. Ever so slowly, pour a tiny stream of oil into the blender as it is blending. One mistake I made was having the blender at too high of a speed, but it need to be going pretty quick, just not “liquefy”. The goal is to make sure the oil is emulsifying and it should grow in volume and become white. You have to be very careful not to pour too much oil in at once or the whole mixture will separate and it isn’t as good and will have a topping of oil forever. So, thick and frothy is the goal. You will likely need more salt and lemon juice… don’t be afraid to add more, until it tastes the perfect blend between the 3 flavors (salty, lemony, and garlicky). Good luck! (Store leftovers in a glass jar in the fridge.)

Arayes:

This was my favorite dish while we were in Abu Dhabi, but I have Americanized it both for ease and because it really doesn’t taste that much different. It is tough to find items like garam masala, so I just changed it to fit what is sold at MY stores. J

· 2 lbs ground lamb (if you can’t find it, ask the butcher… there usually isn’t very much stocked, but it IS usually there)

· 1 cup packed parsley

· ½ cup packed mint leaves (at Winco it is only available in organic in the “weird vegetable” section)

· ¼ cup pine nuts (I have had two people tell me they hated pine nuts and then tried this recipe and liked them fine. Don’t leave them out, they really are what makes this dish for me)

· 1 onion, chopped into quarters

· 1 tsp salt

· 1 TBSP lemon juice

· ½ tsp garlic powder or minced garlic

· ½ tsp each: cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves

· 5 or so pita bread, cut into 8 wedges each

In a food processer, pulse until finely chopped: onion, parsley and mint. Put meat in a large bowl and add all ingredients including food processor mixture and combine with your hands (or mix it in your awesome KitchenAid mixture that your dear husband got you for Christmas). Take a small amount (a heaping teaspoon or so and spread it evenly on one side of a pita triangle. Top with another pita wedge and place on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray (I used to use a crap-ton of oil for this, but in an effort to make it healthier, opted for cooking spray and it ends up just as freaking yummy). Repeat this process until you run out of meat and/or pitas.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until browned on the bottom (about 10 minutes), flip and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned. Serve with garlic paste.

"Sakana" Veggies

We have a hibachi-style restaurant here that I LOVE, but who wants to pay upwards of $25 a plate? Instead, I trial-and-errored my way to perfecting the veggies that they do on the grill there. Here they are!




Sakana-style Stir-Fried Vegetables

1 large onion, sliced

2 zucchini, sliced length-wise and then into thick strips

2 carrots, sliced

1 cup broccoli florets

1 1/2 cups button mushrooms, cut into quarters

1 tsp sesame seeds

2 TBSP butter

garlic powder (to taste)

tsp salt (to taste)

soy sauce (to taste)



1) Heat a wok with the butter until it is bubbly and hot, then add the veggies and stir-fry until desired tenderness (I like mine to stay a bit crunchy, so about 4-5 minutes).

2) Season with salt and garlic powder (start with about 1/2 tsp and then add more if you want more)

3) sprinkle with soy sauce and sesame seeds and serve. It is great with either steamed white rice or fried rice.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Soup

Simple. Super yummy. A new family favorite.

Crock Pot Chicken Soup:

2 onions, chopped
2-3 carrots, cleaned and sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
3 TBSP parsley
1 2-3 pound fryer chicken, cleaned
4 cups of water

Put all ingredients in Crock Pot in the order listed above. Cook on low for 8-10 hours (or high for 4-6). One hour prior to serving, remove chicken from Crock Pot and let cool slightly. Remove skin and discard and pull meat from carcass and return to Crock Pot. Serve hot with garlic bread and a salad.

Enjoy!

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Back when we lived in Boise, one of my favorite restaurants was this Thai place called (appropriately) "Thai Cuisine" lol. They have this coconut soup that I absolutely love, but I have never even considered trying it because it has ingredients like lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, and galangal. Not only would I not know where to find these ingredients here, I never would even try because I'd only use them for this one soup. So I've just been going without. Until last night. I saw someone using regular similarly-flavored ingredients in another Asian soup and I was like, "Hey, I could do that!" So I came up with the following, which was surprisingly CLOSE. It wasn't exactly the same, but the whole family loved it nonetheless and I will just keep working on the flavor balance to make it perfect.

Coconut Chicken Soup:

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut-up into 1-inch pieces
2 cups chicken stock (I used homemade)
2 cups coconut milk
1 onion, cut in half and sliced into strips
3 cups button mushrooms, quartered
8 slices fresh ginger, peeled
1 tablespoon chili paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil

1) Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot, heat over medium heat. Add the onions and cook about 2-3 minutes.
2) Add the stock, coconut milk, mushrooms, ginger, chili paste, basil and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.
3) Add the chicken and simmer another 5 minutes.
4) Add the lemon juice and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday: September 28th

Last week was kind of a crazy week and this one will be too as we continue to pack and organize things so we can go home. But here is part of a menu this week. I still need a few days, but we will probably end up eating out one day and maybe getting simple deli foods (salads, etc) another day.

Grilled Burgers, oven fries, mixed veggies

Chicken Milan, garlic pita chips, steamed broccoli

Grilled Chicken, Baked Beans, side salad, Garlic bread

Mushroom Cream Pasta, steamed artichokes with butter and mayo


For more meal ideas, check out Orgjunkie's Menu Plan Monday page.

Mushroom Cream Pasta

This recipe was inspired by Macaroni Grill's Mushroom Ravioli. That was the best sauce I've ever had and I set about to recreating the flavor. I didn't measure anything, so I'll just go through the process. All measurements are eyeballed.

Mushroom Cream Pasta:

Start with:

6 oz. button mushrooms, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

In a little bit of olive oil, over medium-low heat, add the onions and saute until softened (5-7 minutes), add the mushrooms and cook until softened and then add the garlic and cook for 4 minutes, stirring often. Set mixture aside.

In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of flour and whisk together. Allow the flour to cook until golden brown, then slowly add in whole milk, whisking each 1/2 cup until the sauce has thickened. I add about 1/2 cup at a time until about 2 cups total have been added. I also added 1/2 cup chicken broth with 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar mixed into it during the thickening process.

Once the sauce has been thickened, add, to taste, about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add the cinnamon slowly, but it is the key to the awesome flavor. Once the sauce is a sweetly savory yumminess, add the vegetable mixture back into the sauce and heat through. Add about 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan to the sauce and stir until it melts.

I served this over whole wheat spiral pasta, but my husband and I agreed it would have been perfect over linguine. Sprinkle some fresh grated Parmesan cheese on top and enjoy!