Tag Archives: green onions

Healthy Mushroom and Shallot Quiche

Recovering from vacation . . . it’s painful. So I plan on telling you all about Alaska, but that day is not today. Today, I will drown my sorrows in food. Specifically, some good food.

My lovely friend Cassia has a lovely food blog. Granted, she hasn’t had much time recently to post since she’s entering her second year of graduate school and is up to her ears in books and papers and such, but that doesn’t stop me from gleaning delicious recipes from over yonder, such as this pasta, and now–this quiche.

Cassia made this quiche for our friend Jess Strickler’s baby shower last year. I remember thinking “Oh man! I’ve got to make this!” Then, a year went by. And here we are today, resurrecting the dreams of yesterday.

As you may have guessed by the title, this is not a cheesy, rich quiche (click here for that experience). It only has 4 eggs, a splash of milk, and no cheese. Hence the “healthy.” The real whammy from my perspective is: no half and half. No heavy cream. Let’s get this healthified fungi fest on the road!

Ingredients

(Serves 5)

2 TBS butter
1 1/2 lbs sliced mushrooms
6 cloves garlic
4 shallots
3 green onions
1 1/2 TBS fresh oregano leaves
2 tsp basil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard
4 eggs
3/4 cup 2% or whole milk
1 unbaked 9 inch frozen pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Pop in the frozen pie crust for 10 minutes.

When you remove it, it should be nice and golden all over.

Lower the temperature to 375 F.

Dice the shallots and garlic . . .

. . . slice the mushrooms (if they don’t come pre-sliced like mine), and chop up those green onions, for gosh’s sake!

Sorry, I had some bossiness urges that I had to get out there. If not, they fester and I become BossMan McMonsterPants. And I guarantee that’s not what my husband is looking for when he comes home after a long day on campus.

Melt the butter in a large skillet. When melted, add the mushrooms, garlic, shallots, green onions, and all the spices and seasonings.

I added the green onions a little later because I like ’em a little on the crispier side.

Don’t you love fresh oregano? This isn’t the first time that mushrooms and oregano have got together in my kitchen and shown the world they were meant for each other.

Cook over medium high to high heat, stirring occasionally, until all the mushroom liquid has evaporated.

Remove the mushrooms from the heat and let them cool completely. I was kind of in a hurry due to the rumblings of certain stomachs in the household, so I sped things up by Extending My Long Arm of Justice and placing the mushrooms in the freezer.

Break the eggs into a bowl and add the milk.

I’m sorry, heavy whipping cream. I’m sorry I abandoned you!

Whisk together the eggs and milk.

Once the mushrooms are cool, add them to the eggs.

 Stir to combine . . .

. . . then pour the mixture into the pie crust.

Beat yourself over the head because the innards don’t fit in the outtards.

Then stop beating yourself when you realize you can bake the remaining filling in an adorable red ramekin. Phew.

Bake the quiche for 40 minutes, or until puffy and starting to brown on top. Here’s the red ramekin-full, which I took out after about 30 minutes:

Let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving–this will allow it to set inside.

She’s a beaut, alright.

Serve with fresh oregano leaves sprinkled over top.

Next time I need to buy a bigger pie crust, because this one ended up simply too full–and I like a higher ratio of crust-to-innards.

See? Totally overstuffed.

But still delicious.

P.S. When we ate the leftovers the following night, the quiche was even better. This may be because I sprinkled all kinds of fresh Parmesan over the top before popping it in the oven to get hot.

“Healthy-schmealthy,” said my taste buds. Whoops. I think they learned that from me.

Click here for printer-friendly version: Healthy Mushroom and Shallot Quiche

Basil Butter Garlic Bread

Another winner from the delicious blog of Kay, this bread (or at least the batch that happened in my kitchen) is Very Ugly. I considered naming it “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover Garlic Bread,” “Gross-looking Greeny Garlic Bread,” and “Swamp Monster Garlic Bread.” Ultimately I didn’t have the guts to go with any of those choices, but be assured that this bread ain’t gonna win no beauty contest.

But if you close your eyes and just bite into it, you will love it. It’s full of herbs, garlic, butter, and melty Parmesan all over the top. Plus, it’s great reheated the second day. And the third day, as I am your witness.

Ingredients

(Serves 6)

1 loaf of Ciabatta
2 oz butter
2 TBS olive oil
Handful fresh basil leaves
Parsley (1/3 the amount of basil)
2 garlic cloves
1 green onion
Salt and pepper
1-2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese

The short version is: combine all the ingredients except the bread in a food processor, and process until smooth. The long version is: put the basil in the food processor (or blender, in this case) . . .

. . . add in the parsley (I used a little too much–so use about 1/3 of the amount of basil you put in) . . .

. . . smash the garlic, toss the skins, and throw that in too . . .

Add the green onion and butter . . .

. . . a generous stream of olive oil . . .

. . . and give it all a nice whizz. To accomplish this, I had to do battle with my blender for about 10 minutes, all because I forgot to get the food processor that aunt Jacquie promised me when we were at her house for AJ6BP.

Thankfully we were just at her house again last Friday to see my wonderful cousin Will and his lovely wife Kristen (not to mention their 3 killer-cute kiddos), so I have a food processor update post to write–it will be Coming Soon To Blogs Near You!

Don’t forget to season the greeny goop with salt and pepper! I almost did.

I then re-blended, and tasted it to make sure it was to my liking.

Cut open the loaf of bread and spread both halves with the basil butter.

Put the halves together and wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil. Bake it for 10 minutes at 400 F. Remove the bread, separate the halves and load them up with Parmesan cheese.

Note: the bread in this picture is most certainly NOT loaded up with Parmesan cheese. It is merely sprinkled. Make sure you pile on at least three times the amount of cheese that is pictured. It’s for your own good.

Return the halves, face up, to the oven. Either crank up the heat to 500, or put them under the broiler. Cook until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and starting to get brown. Serve!

Here you can see the bread with the mere sprinkling of Parmesan . . .

Pretty good.

Though not even its own mother could love that dark green swamp look.

However, with the added cheese, the bread goes from ‘pretty good’ to ‘really good.’

It’s amazing what a little Parmesan can accomplish.

I know that you know that I know that not a single picture actually looks that delicious–but believe me. It’s so good. If you have a garden overflowing with basil, this is a great way to use a good solid handful of it.

Click here for printer-friendly version: Basil Butter Garlic Bread