Almost a month ago now, I had some friends over for an afternoon of baking, movie watching, and chatting. We decided that we would make brunch together and then bake some bread. I really wanted to make quiche, but I didn’t want to make my mom’s quiche recipe since it makes two 9″ quiches, and I think that even one would have been too much for the three of us. So, I decided to change things up a bit.
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eggs
One more Thanksgiving post before I get on to the Christmas stuff – promise! But this dish was just too good not to share. I made this as a side for our Thanksgiving feast, because I didn’t want to make a green bean casserole. Now don’t me wrong, I love a good green bean casserole…but I just wasn’t feeling it this year, so I decided to do something else. Something different. Something decidedly not noncaloric, because it’s Thanksgiving, and why not? So I opened my copy of Mastering the Art of French cooking to peruse the gratin section, and I decided on this. It was so easy to put together, and you can even prepare it ahead of time and bake it later, which I took full advantage of – I stored it in a lidded Pyrex dish in the refrigerator until it was ready to go in the oven. Try it out the next time you have guests over; it’ll be a hit for sure!
Recipe adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Cook the onions in butter or oil until tender, but not overly browned.
Cut the potatoes into slices.
Cut the kielbasa into small slices.
Beat the eggs with the whipping cream, adding in the salt and pepper.
Drop the potatoes into the boiling, salted water and cook 6-8 minutes. Drain. Butter a 9×9″ baking dish. Layer half the potatoes, half the cooked onions, and half the kielbasa. Then, layer the rest of the onions and remaining potatoes.
Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes, and shake the baking dish to send the liquid to the bottom. Sprinkle on the swiss cheese.
Bake 30-40 minutes or until nicely browned.
Eggnog might seem a little strange for this month’s Flavor of the Month – a tribute to John Hughes – so let me explain. Every year around Christmas, we have certain traditions. With my family, it’s always been to watch It’s a Wonderful Life and to get up early on Christmas morning and open presents, after which my mom would always make an amazing breakfast. Now that hubby and I are married, we share the traditions of both our families, as well as some of our own. One of our traditions started during our college years is to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, so I decided that my tribute just had to have something to do with this movie. What I love most about the movie is the dry humor that Chevy Chase delivers without flinching, and one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Clark and Eddie are drinking eggnog out of moose mugs. Clark says, “Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?” It has me rolling on the floor every time.
Unfortunately I don’t have moose mugs in which to proudly display my eggnog, so a regular coffee cup will have to do. The eggnog really wasn’t all that hard to make though, so I’m glad I now have this in my arsenal for the fast approaching holiday season!
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar until the mixture becomes crumbly.
In a medium saucepan, scald (bring to almost boiling, but not quite) the milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract.
Pour a bit of the hot mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly as you pour in order to temper the eggs. Then, pour the egg mixture into the saucepan, and cook on medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream.
Let cool, and then move to the refrigerator to chill. Or you can drink it warm, if you’d like – I enjoy it both ways! Serves about 4.
Well, I just couldn’t help myself. Despite the fact that I’m allergic to peanuts/nuts, I really wanted to try my hand at macarons. I asked Susan, who had just made these, if there was any possible substitute for the almonds required in making macarons. She even asked Helen, the macaron queen herself! But alas, the answer was as I feared – a macaron is of course not a macaron without almonds, hence the quotes around “Macarons” in my post title.
I pressed ahead anyway, as I always do with my allergy, and went searching for a suitable alternative. What I really wanted to try were soy nuts, but since the only ones I found were also processed in a facility that processes tree nuts (don’t ask me, I don’t get it either), that plan didn’t work out. Then, I had a different thought. Since I’ve had such a great experience with Sun Butter, I decided to give sunflower seeds a try. And while I’ve never had almonds so I can’t say whether these tasted anywhere close to real macarons, the sunflower seeds did add a nice, nutty flavor to mine. Topped off with a sweet brown sugar cream cheese filling, I was quite satisfied with the results.
“Macarons:”
Brown sugar cream cheese filling:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. In your food processor, grind together the sunflower seeds and powdered sugar until you have a smooth powder.
In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until small peaks form. Then, add in the granulated sugar 1 Tbsp at a time. Beat until the mixture is firm. If you pick up the bowl and the mixture starts to slide out, you’re not done yet. Keep going until you can turn over the bowl and the mixture doesn’t budge.
Next, gently stir in half of the dry ingredients. Add in the maple syrup, merignue powder, and any food coloring you desire (I used a little bit of brown). Then, add in the other half of the dry ingredients.
Pour the batter into a pastry bag with a plain circle tip, about 1/2.” Pipe the batter on to the parchment paper in circles about 1″ in diameter, spaced at least 1″ apart. Rap the baking sheet on the counter a couple times to flatten the batter. Then, place an empty baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven and the “macarons” on a higher shelf. Bake for 14-16 minutes; let cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet.
To make the brown sugar cream cheese filling, cream the brown sugar and cream cheese together in a small bowl, and then add in the maple syrup.
Stick the filling in the freezer for a couple minutes to help the cream cheese firm up a bit.
Using a knife, spread some of the filling on one of the “macaron” pieces. Gently place another one on top to make a sandwich.
My mother-in-law and two brothers-in-law got in late Friday night, so I didn’t get out of bed Saturday morning quite as early as I wanted to. Once I finally made it into to the kitchen, it was probably around 10am…and everybody was hungry, including me! So, I decided to double my mom’s quiche recipe and make us some brunch. Except halfway through, I realized I hadn’t bought enough sour cream.
Mild panic. But just for a few seconds.
Once I gathered myself, I whipped out a Google search: sour cream substitutes. Except I didn’t have buttermilk. Or cream. Or plain yogurt. I started to sweat a little. Then, at the bottom of the list, I saw it. Evaporated milk. I had it!
So, instead of another 1 1/2 cups of sour cream, I use about half a 12 oz can of evaporated milk. And not only did it work, but it made the quiche even better! When it came out of the oven it was puffier than usual, and when it set after cooling for a few minutes, it was much lighter and fluffier. Yum!
Here is the new and improved recipe for two quiches:
Ingredients:
Beat the eggs slightly with a fork or egg beater.
Mix in the sour cream, evaporated milk, flour, and onion powder. Stir in the swiss cheese and bacon. Pour into two 9″ pie pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Check by sticking a knife in the centers to see if they are done. Wait 10-15 minutes until the quiches are set to serve.
