Quiche: mushroom & asparagus

Ingredients for four mushroom asparagus quiche:

1.  4 deep dish baking tins--use your own dough or go easy on yourself and buy frozen Marie Callender's 

2.  sauteed mushrooms, onions, whole garlic cloves, bacon

3.  steamed asparagus (trimmed short and cut up into pieces)

4.  4 cups of milk plus some heavy dream, if desired

5.  8 eggs

6. variety of your choice of mixed cheeses: cheddar, mozzarella, parmigiano, Colby-jack, Swiss, and/or others

7. crushed black pepper, smoked paprika, if desired

Directions:

Bake the crust for ten minutes in a hot oven and cool.  

Fill the bottom with: mushrooms, onions, bacon, and asparagus pieces.  Remove garlic cloves.

Cover with cheese--be generous! 

Beat two eggs into one cup of milk (and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream) pour this mixture over the filled crusts

Grind some coarse black pepper on top, also some paprika

Place in a hot over (400 degrees), lower to 375 degrees and bake for 25 minutes or so

Things you may want to do:

Chop bacon and fry, then add chopped or sliced onions--set aside.  

Saute mushrooms in the leftover fat from bacon

If more fat is needed, add some olive oil or butter or both--your choice.

Use a hit of white wine after the saute stage and let this dry out over an intense flame.

Use salt if you must, but you don't really need it if you have used enough cheeses!

Be creative! 

Of course you can change the ingredients.  Leave out the asparagus, or make with different veggies--zucchini, broccoli or cauliflower-- all make lovely quiches.  

Chuck the bacon and use ham, or do it the meatless way.

Here's what I did yesterday...made 8 pizze rustiche!

I'm pretty sure the recipe is archived in one of my older blogs, but anyway, I change it all the time! So can you. 

Pizza Rustica

The dough is a sort of cookie dough--eggs, flour, butter, sugar, a pinch of salt and some iced water.

It takes a bottom crust that you'll need to bake for a few minutes.  You may use an egg wash for the top crust.

Basically the filling is a ton of ham, salami, prosciutto, soprassata dolce, Swiss cheese--all cut up, ricotta, eggs, a little sugar, loads of mozzarella, parmigiano--shaved, shredded and/or grated. Salt and pepper, if desired--I didn't use either this time.

You may use hard salami, soprassata piccante, Romano sliced cheese, Fontina, or any other great ingredient you want. It's a dense mixture...and the salty/sweet combo is great!  Mangia bene! Enjoy!

Brussels Sprouts with pazazz and love~~

A  jazzed up recipe to my liking!

Halve and fry Brussels sprouts till edges begin to curl...or boil or steam whole
and then halve them. While hot, transfer to a bowl with:

1-2 teaspoons honey
1 TBS capers
1/4 to 1/2 cup toasted walnuts (may use caramelized ones, if so desired)
2 TBS of red vinegar
1-2 TBS EV olive oil (may use butter, if you prefer! or both, if you're daring!)
salt, coarse ground pepper to taste...may add minced garlic and hot pepper instead of black to make zippy!

May add any of these to liking or leave out:
ginger, nutmeg or saffron

Mix and serve!