Salty, sweet, and fried

Sardines, why would you want to eat them? Well first of because they are really good for you. I don’t really want to dwell on that too much, but you can look it up, Alton brown does a good Job of explaining it in the, Diet plan episode( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdK8YLfJHYk) the point is, there are a lot of ingredients out there that people tend to shy away from, generally because they are considered unappetizing, Brussel sprouts, radishes, shell fish, and sardines to name a few, if you happen to like all of these things, then props to you. 

Paprika

In the modern kitchen we are givin more spice options to add flavor to our food then ever before, unless of course you're from India, where they have been making the rest of us envious of their spice mastery for centuries now. However it seems like as more and more spices collect on our shelves, the less and less we know about them. Because of this I think we are a little scared of this wonderful orchestra of flavor, terrified that if we add to much, or not enough, the dish will be completely ruined. And forget about ever trying to add these mystery spices to one of your own dishes.

These fears are well founded (you can easily runin a perfectly good dish with the wrong spices) they are unnecessary. Maybe if we understood what some of these spices are, we would be more confident in their uses, thus opening a door to a wonderful world of flavor all our own.

S’more S’mores

Camping season is finally here again, well for some of us, for those of you still stuck in way to much snow to do anything with, you have my sympathies. But for the rest of us coming into spring it is a great time to get out your tents, go find a spot and build a campfire.

One of nearly every American child’s favorite camping memories is roasting marshmallows over the fire, sticking them between two pieces of graham cracker with some chocolates. Now we have seen some pretty crazy things done with s’mores including many different candy bars being used to provide the chocolate, not to mentions last year’s post we did which including strawberry’s http://theforkandeasel.blogspot.com/2014/07/artisan-smores.html) However this year we are exploring a different twist on the s’more, and it is anything but classic.

Mozzarella

I promised a tutorial on making mozzarella, so here is it, seriously don’t be daunted by the length of this post, homemade mozzarella is actually pretty easy and totally worth it.

Stuffed Mushroom Salad

This dish was actually inspired by the dinner we had the night before, my wife and I had been trying to figure out what we wanted for lunch, and she said "the only thing I want is more of that spinach stuff from last night" unfortunately we had used our entire supply of spinach in that one dish, and no, this was not a small amount either.  We started talking about the different components of the dish, and she reminded me that we had some fresh lettuce from our garden. And then this was born. 

Quiche

It’s been a long time since I actually posted anything, so I was looking for something to write about that might really get people excited to go cook something. Scanning though my images I stumbled across this Quiche, which I had nearly forgotten about (of course that is a clever way of saying I had forgotten it, and only remembered about it because of the picture) I was surprised a little by the fact that it had not already made its way onto this blog, surprised because when I had first made it, I had been extraordinarily excited about the prospect of sharing it with all of you. not to mention the picture is nearly perfect.

The inspiration behind this dish is not all that exciting. I had been wanting to make a Quiche all week, so when I got a morning off, I turned to my wife and said “how do you feel about quiche for breakfast” naturally she agreed so off to the kitchen we went.  

Now Quiches a pretty simple in concept and construction, and this one is no different, so I’ll just walk you through the steps. To begin with a quiche is basically an egg pie. This one is eggs bacon green bell pepper, onion and cheese, stuffed in a pie shell and baked.  The pie shell is very important because without that it’s a frittata, and there are much more fun things to be done with frittatas then this. Hopefully we will get into that someday, maybe after I finish the mozzarella post I promised. Anyways, the best pie shells are home made of course, what I usually do when I want to make a Quiche is make a pie for dessert the night before, make a double batch of dough and keep it in the fridge. You can also freeze pie dough without really hurting it, but you do have to wait for it to defrost.

Once you have your Pie shell, preferably baked so it doesn’t get soggy on you, and you don’t have to overcook your eggs (this is a very important point as there a few crimes as severe as over cooked eggs). Blend you eggs with some cream (Milk works too) and whatever fillings you like, broccoli is pretty traditional, and you can never go wrong with bacon! I like my quiche stuffed pretty full with veggies, but simple and plain always works as well.

Here is the part where I wish I could be more specific, unfortunately eggs are extremely delicate, and ovens are temperamental, you will have to do some experimenting with yours to find what works best for you. Generally I set my oven to 350 and let it preheat, then put my quiche in for 8-10 minutes, at this point I check it and judge if it needs to cook longer or not. Sometimes that enough, other days my oven is less cooperative, you will just have to do some experimenting and see where yours lands. Yes that means you, now! Always remember to have fun with it, never get so caught up in the direction that it stops being your own.

Mediterranean Flair

So there really isn’t much of a story behind this dish, but it was a lot of fun to make, looks good, and tastes even better. The Idea was sparked from a gallon of feta cheese I have in my fridge, yes I have a gallon of feta, that’s not the important part here. In addition my wife had just pulled a zucchini out of the garden and was looking for something to do with it, as always this got my wheels turning. While my wife sliced and pan-fried the zucchini, I made a rice pilaf with turmeric and lemon, then cut some thick slices of tomato and asked my wife to cook them for just a second on the skillet, just to soften them a little and draw out some sugars.

When it came time to plate I cut the top off of a small plastic cup, which I used as a ring mold. I filled the cup, 2/3 with the pilaf, and then topped it off with feta cheese. Carefully removing the ring, I created three more stacks,( you do have to move quickly or else the dish will be cold before you can serve it.) I then completed the stacks with the tomato and zucchini. I finished the dish off by dressing the whole thing in a little bit of lemon juice.

Hopefully this dish will inspire you to take a second look at some of the things in your kitchen and come up with some creative and beautiful ways to put them together.