The Long Quiche Goodbye

 By Avery Aames

Today officially ends our Iron Chef Week with secret ingredient: EGGS, suggested by Janel G. Thanks, Janel. Eggs inspired us to create Angel Food Cake, Aioli sauce, omelets and more!

If you'd like to try your hand at winning our next Iron Chef contest (the new prize and winner will be announced soon), just send your Iron Chef secret ingredient suggestions to MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com

And now, I'm pleased to share with you one of my favorite things: quiche. Eggs are a key component of quiche. They give it the fluff and substance and work so well with cheese!

Quiche: not just for women.

In my new book, The Long Quiche Goodbye, [coming in July] I have quiche in the title for a reason. [Oooh, guess you’ll have to read the book to find out why…]

Okay, twist my arm. I’ll tell you a little bit. Charlotte, my protagonist, makes a point of cooking a new quiche every week for customers. She thinks it’s important to show customers how to enjoy cheese in its raw form as well as in recipes. And quiche with a glass of wine? Scumptious.

One of Charlotte’s favorite quiches is Pineapple, Ham and Brown Sugar quiche. That recipe will be included in the book. Check it out.

In the meantime, another that is mentioned in the book and happens to be one of my favorites--a savory one--using Asparagus and Zucchini.

It’s so pretty that I included it in my book trailer. [Note – I’ll have a contest regarding the trailer in March…but more on that in a future blog.]

For now, here's my egg-citing (thanks, Julie for all the fun puns this week)

ASPARAGUS AND ZUCCHINI QUICHE!

Ingredients:

1 pie shell (home baked or frozen )

1 teaspoon white pepper

6 asparagus, end snapped off and cut into 1” long pieces.

2 tsp. olive oil

1/4 c. sliced leek tips

2 T. pine nuts

1/2 a small zucchini, diced [approx. 1/2 cup]

3/4 cup milk

4 eggs

1 T. fresh basil snipped small

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

2 oz. shredded Edam or cheddar cheese

2 oz. shredded Ementhaler cheese

Directions:

Blanch asparagus for 1 minute then drain and rinse with cold water.

Sautee leeks in olive oil at medium heat. When they turn limp, add pine nuts.

When pine nuts have toasted, take pan off burner, add drained asparagus, zucchini, sauté quickly.

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon white pepper and 2 oz. shredded cheese on pie crust.

Put sautéed veggies and nuts on top of cheese.

Mix milk and eggs and seasonings together.

Pour into pie crust.

Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake 35 minutes at 375 until quiche is firm and lightly brown on top.

Last but not least, if you’d like, sign up for my next newsletter, where I share lots of tidbits about my new book as well as a history about particular cheeses, click on this link: Avery Aames Newsletter.

EGG WEEK!! and Spot the Book Contest Winner

Congratulations once again to Janel G., who won a Junior's Cheesecake for providing this week's Secret Ingredient for Mystery Lovers' Kitchen's version of Iron Chef!

Janel suggested EGGS!

You can imagine how eggcited I was to hear what our secret ingredient was this time! Thrilled is more the word! With Eggsecutive Orders hitting the bookstore shelves just one

week ago, the timing couldn't be better.

It's my turn t to start this Iron Chef week and I'll get to my Egg Recipe in a minute. But I just wanted to also add that today I'm announcing the winner in the Eggsecutive Orders Spot the Book contest. That will appear at the end of this post because I'm writing this ahead of time and I haven't pulled a name just yet ;-)

In the meantime, don't forget to continue sending us your suggestions for our next Secret Ingredient! You could win Fannie May Chocolate! Fannie May is - unequivocally - the best chocolate I've ever tasted. I'm partial to the dark chocolate covered almonds, but if you win, you'll get to choose!

Now... Are you ready for EGG WEEK?? I guarantee this will be an eggstraordinary event!

AIOLI (Garlic Mayonnaise)

3 egg yolks

4 cloves garlic, mashed, peeled, and very finely minced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

¾ cup olive oil (not extra virgin)

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

½ teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

1 lemon, halved, seeded, and juiced

¼ teaspoon white pepper (You can use black pepper if you don’t have this, but you’ll

see the flecks of it in the finished product. It gives it a rustic look, which isn’t all bad.)

1 teaspoon white vinegar

This is a blender recipe, to take all the stress out of getting it to emulsify. Place the egg yolks, garlic, and the mustard in the container of a blender. Cover and pulse to blend completely, about 1 minute. Remove the center of the lid, and begin to pour the olive oil into the container in a thin stream, still running on slow. When the mixture comes together and looks like mayonnaise (usually about when half the oil is incorporated), stop pouring oil and add in the vinegar, salt, and pepper. Blend. Add in another thin stream of olive oil while blending. Stop when about 2 tablespoons of oil are left to add. Add a splash of lemon juice. Blend. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add the rest of the oil if needed. The sauce should be thick, creamy, and rich, with a lovely tang of garlic.

My two cents: This recipe appears in Eggsecutive Orders. In the book it says "juice of one lemon" in the ingredients, and calls for a "splash" as noted above. I tried it both ways and prefer the "splash." Juice of an entire lemon makes the mixture a bit too watery, and a bit too lemony. But your mileage may vary.

Stay tuned all week for lots of interesting uses for eggs!!

And don't forget to keep sending in your suggestions for our Secret Ingredient. We will be announcing the name of our next winner soon.

Speaking of winners... Many, many readers wrote in to tell me that they'd spotted Eggsecutive Orders at local bookstores. Most readers also mentioned that they picked up a copy while they were there. First - Thank you!!

Second - I wish there could be a hundred winners, but the name I pulled from all entries is...

:::drumroll:::

Yvonne B. from San Antonio

has won a $25 gift certificate to The Mystery Company Bookstore. I'll be in touch, but if you don't hear from me, be sure to email at JulieHyzy(at)gmail(dot)com so that we can arrange for you to choose your books. I've worked this out with The Mystery Company before (they don't charge shipping) and it's very smooth.

Congrats to Yvonne!!

Enjoy Egg Week!

Julie

www.juliehyzy.com