Showing posts with label summer garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer garden. Show all posts

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Anything-in-the-Garden Quiche #recipe plus #giveaway


  

LUCY BURDETTE: Ladies and gentlemen, our photo contest will be winding to a close tonight at midnight, though you still have time to enter! Click right here and post your photo...The prize is this really cute MLK tote bag, stuffed with our mysteries!


 


And also enter the drawing today for a copy of Jenn McKinley's SUGAR AND ICED: comment by midnight (include your email) on the bottom of our post today.

 










To give you sustenance for the final stretch, I've made a garden quiche. I decided to try something a little fancier than my father's oil and milk crust recipe, so this one has cornmeal and butter in it. Honestly, it was delicious! As for the inside filling, you can choose your veggies from the farmer's market, or select whatever looks best in your garden.

Preheat the oven to 425.

Ingredients for the crust

1/3 cup unbleached white flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup butter, slightly softened
a few teaspoons milk

Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cut the butter in until it resembles heavy sand. Add milk teaspoon at a time until the dough sticks together. Roll it out between two pieces of waxed paper and transfer it to a 9 inch pie pan.

 

Ingredients for the filling

2 cups chopped vegetables (I used snow peas and chard)
2 shallots, minced
Olive oil
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar and smoked gouda)

Saute the shallots a minute or two in olive oil over medium heat. Add the other vegetables and saute until they begin to soften.









 



In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and cheese. Stir in the cooked vegetables and pour the mixture into the prepared crust. 




 



Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake another 20-25 minutes until crust is golden and filling set. 


Enjoy!








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Thursday, September 12, 2013

Lucy Burdette's Eggplant Parmigiana


LUCY BURDETTE: I have two small complaints about the summer. First of all, how did it go by in such a hurry? 

And the second? Our disappointing garden. The resident woodchuck did his best to mow down the green beans and the okra, the weeds went crazy (busy gardener error,) and the weather was funky. Even so we did get a nice selection of peppers--both green and banana, a wonderful crop of cucumbers, and finally, some tomatoes and eggplant. 

About once a year when the season warrants, I make homemade eggplant parmigiana. It probably wouldn't pass muster in a real Italian kitchen because I don't fry the eggplant or make the sauce from scratch. Even so, using our own shiny purple eggplant and a handful of peppers just out of the garden, it tastes pretty darned good.

Ingredients


1 large or 2 medium eggplants, peeled or not, sliced into rounds
milk for dipping
Panko breadcrumbs
1 onion, sliced
3 peppers sliced
1 large jar Classico spicy red pepper tomato sauce (or whatever kind you like)
8 oz fresh mozzarella, shredded
 generous handful of grated parmesan cheese

 
Dip the eggplant slices into a shallow bowl of milk, then breadcrumbs, then spread them onto a greased cookie pan and bake about 1/2 hour until tender and brown (350.)

Saute the onions and peppers in a little olive oil until soft.

Layer the sauce, the eggplant, the vegetables and the cheeses in an oiled 9 x 12 Pyrex pan, and top with more grated Parmesan.



 
Cover with foil and bake for 30 min at 350, then remove the foil and bake another 10-15 minutes. The casserole should be bubbly and the cheese beginning to brown.

Serve with a green salad, and if you wish, crusty bread to mop up the sauce.




 





LUCY BURDETTE is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries. You are invited to follow her on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and TWITTER!  

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