Tag Archives: quiche

Spiced Chicken Tart

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I used to have this thing about “little” cookbooks, like they weren’t worthy unless they were hefty and contained lots of photographs. Fortunately, I learned my lesson, because I have a few favorite little cookbooks now.

The one I’m referring to today is called Savory to Sweet Pies & Tarts, by Janice Murfitt, published in 1993.

Maybe a sign that it’s a significant, albeit little book, is the foreword by Albert Roux, of the famous Roux brothers.

In the foreword, he states that the author “provides new and unusual ways of adding flavor and interest to the basic pastries used, such as adding crushed nuts or citrus zest, and also presents a splendid array of fillings, both comfortingly traditional and classic with an intriguing twist.”

In this case, the tart I’m making appeals to me because of the curry flavors. It could be called a curried chicken quiche in puff pastry.

Spiced Chicken Tart
Slightly adapted

6 ounces frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 tablespoons butter
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 pound raw chicken breast, diced
1 small sweet potato, peeled, diced, and cooked
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper, or to taste
1 tablespoon mango chutney, diced if necessary
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
Fresh cilantro (optional)

Roll out the dough thinly on a lightly floured surface and use it to line a rectangular tart or round pie pan. Flute the edges and chill 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake the pastry shell “blind” until lightly browned at the edges, 10-15 minutes. Lower the oven to 375 degrees.

While the shell is baking, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the leek and garlic and cook quickly for 3-4 minutes.

Stir in the spices, chicken, and cooked sweet potato. I browned the chicken first and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken cooks a little more. Then add the cilantro, lime zest, juice, salt, pepper and chutney. Remove from the heat.

Gently place the chicken mixture into the prepared crust. Beat together the cream and eggs and pour into the pastry shell.

Bake until the filling has set, 15-20 Minutes.

Serve hot or cold, garnished with chopped cilantro.

Sour cream would also be a lovely addition.

There’s something so special about this little tart. It’s a perfect combination of ingredients all put together in puff pastry.

Spiced Chicken Tart

6 ounces frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 tablespoons butter
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 pound chicken breast meat, diced
1 potato, peeled, diced, and cooked
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon mango chutney
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
Fresh cilantro (optional)

Toll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured surface and use it to line a 9” round tart or pie pan. Flute the edges and chill 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Bake the pastry shell “blind” until lightly browned at the edges, 10-15 minutes.
While the shell is baking, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the leek and garlic and cook quickly for 1 minute.
Stir in the spices, chicken, and potato.
Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken has turned white.
Add the cilantro, lime zest, juice, salt, pepper and chutney. Remove from the heat.
Beat together the cream and eggs and stir into the chicken mixture. Pour into the pastry shell and bake until the filling has set, 15-20 Minutes.
Serve hot or cold, garnished with coriander.

 

Sausage, Salami and Cheese Tart

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I’ve had this recipe quite a while. I recognize it from Bon Appetit, which was my favorite food magazine. The cut-and-paste method was my way to save recipes. Until computers, of course.


As you can see, I thought the recipe was very good, but I needed to add onions and garlic to the tart next time. That time never came until now; I decided to substitute mozzarella with fontina, and make a couple of minor adaptations.

Sausage, Salami and Cheese Tart
Printable recipe below

1 refrigerated pie crust, at room temperature
1 tablespoon olive oil
10 ounces Italian sweet sausages, casings removed
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper
5 ounces finely chopped Fontina
3 ounces diced Italian salami, such as Genoa
4 ounces grated Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2/3 cup cream
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Unfold crust on work surface. Press together any cracks in dough to seal crust. Place crust in 9” diameter tart pan with removable bottom; fold in excess dough and press, forming double-thick sides that extend about 1/4” above rim of pan.

I used a 10” deep-dish pie pan. From all of the comments on this recipe online, the egg and cream mixture overflowed, so I wanted to avoid that mess. Plus I chilled the crust first.

Pierce crust with fork. Bake crust 5 minutes; press with back of fork if crust bubbles up. Continue to bake until crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

Meanwhile, add the olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat, and sauté the sausage with the onions and garlic pepper. Break up the sausage so that there aren’t any large pieces. Lower the heat if necessary; you don’t want much browning.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage and onion to a bowl and allow to cool. Add the fontina, salami, Parmesan, and basil to the sausage mixture. Toss gently to combine. Then gently place in the prepared crust.

Beat eggs, cream, nutmeg and white pepper together to blend, then pour the custard over the sausage and cheese mixture in crust. I was so smart and made the pie pan larger so all of the egg and cream mixture would fit and not leak, but I was using my left hand for my “pouring” shot, which already isn’t coordinated, but with the help of recent surgery… a significant amount was poured in between the pie pan and crust. See it?!!

Bake tart until filling is set in the center and golden brown on top, about 30 minutes.

Let cool 10 minutes and serve. Fortunately, despite the leakage, the pie sliced well.

Depending when you make this tart, serve with a tomato salad, or a simple green salad.


Or an arugula and tomato salad!

If you don’t have any fresh basil on hand, you can thin some basil pesto with olive oil and drizzle it over the baked tart or on the serving plates.

 

Sausage, Salami and Cheese Tart

1 refrigerated 10” pie crust, at room temperature
1 tablespoon olive oil
10 ounces Italian sweet sausages, casings removed
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper
5 ounces finely chopped Fontina
3 ounces diced Italian salami, such as Genoa
4 ounces grated Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2/3 cup cream
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Unfold crust on work surface. Press together any cracks in dough to seal crust. Place crust in 9” diameter tart pan with removable bottom; fold in excess dough and press, forming double-thick sides that extend about 1/4” above rim of pan.
Pierce crust with fork. Bake crust 5 minutes; press with back of fork if crust bubbles up. Continue to bake until crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees F.
Meanwhile, add the olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat, and sauté the sausage with the onions and garlic pepper. Press on the sausage so that there aren’t any large pieces. Lower the heat if necessary; you don’t want much browning.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage and onion to a bowl and allow to cool. Add the fontina, salami, Parmesan, and basil to the sausage mixture. Toss gently to combine. Then gently place in the prepared crust.
Beat eggs, cream, nutmeg and white pepper together to blend, then pour the custard over the sausage and cheese mixture in crust. I was so smart and made the pie pan larger so all of the egg and cream mixture would fit and not leak, but I was using my left hand for my “pouring” shot, which already isn’t coordinated, but with the help of recent surgery… a significant amount was poured in between the pie pan and crust. See it?!!
Bake tart until filling is set in the center and golden brown on top, about 30 minutes.
Let cool 10 minutes and serve.

 

Smoked Salmon and Tomato Quiche

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I follow an Instagram account called Stephen Cooks French, all one word, of course, which always messes with my brain. A recent photo of his that he posted was a tarte au saumon fumé, or a smoked salmon tart, pictured here.

According to Stephen, the crust is puff pastry, topped with a seasoned fromage blanc with chives, baked, cooled, then smoked salmon is layered on top.

Loving all things salmon, I immediately searched for recipes. There were many similar, but the one that jumped out to me was a smoked salmon quiche with tomatoes.

What I like about this recipe is that it isn’t too quiche-y, so the tomatoes and smoked salmon really shine. The cheese element is crème fraiche, which is perfect because it’s not salty.

One day I will make the tarte au saumon fumé, and serve it as a first course. Or as Stephen, whoever the heck he is, suggested, cut it into squares and serve as an hors d’oeuvre.

Smoked Salmon and Tomato Quiche

1 pie crust for 9 1/2” pie pan, not deep-dish
Smoked salmon, about 5 ounces, cut up
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
8 ounces crème fraiche
5 or so small-medium ripe tomatoes
Salt and pepper
Chopped chives, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the pie crust in the pie pan and keep chilled in the refrigerator.

Cut up the smoked salmon in small pieces and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, and crème fraiche.

Slice the tomatoes evenly and use the most uniform slices only, not the ends. Lay on paper towels to dry for at least 15 minutes, also laying paper towels on top.

When ready to prepare the quiche, place the smoked salmon inside the pie crust.

Give the egg-crème fraiche mixture a whisk and pour over the top gently.

Then top the quiche with the tomato slices, and season them with salt and pepper.

Bake for 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 325 degrees and cook for ten more minutes.

Let the quiche set for at least 15 minutes, then slice and serve.

This quiche was fantastic. The smoked salmon cooked slightly but no too much to alter its lox texture.

And the creme fraiche was perfect with the salmon and seasoned tomatoes.

Käsfladen

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I discovered Käsfladen recently, on Karin’s food blog, The Austrian Dish. According to Karin, it’s a specialty from the mountainous western part of Austria.

In my mind, it’s like a cross between flamiche and focaccia, since the topping is a mixture of cheese, onions, and egg, but the dough is yeasted.

The cheese is the most important aspect to making Käsfladen; actually not less than three different cheeses. Recommended are Emmentaler, a mature mountain aged cheese, and one called Räßkäße – a spicy cheese from Vorarlberg in Switzerland.

This recipe was so intriguing to me, and I was a little bummed out not having discovered this specialty food while in Austria, but Karin said that it’s mostly sold at bakeries.

Well, then I knew I’d have to make it myself, although there was little chance of duplicating the cheeses, sadly.

Käsfladen
serves 2

150 grams flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
Approximately 2 fluid ounces warm water
Pinch of salt
1 large onion
150 grams 3 different cheeses
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
White pepper

Knead the flour, salt, yeast and warm water together to make a smooth dough. (I added a tablespoon of olive oil and a little more flour.) Let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, chop the onion; set aside.

Grate the cheeses. I used Emmentaler, Gruyere, and Sternenberger Bergkase, from left to right.

Mix the onion with the grated cheese, the egg, milk, and pepper.

Spread the dough in a shallow greased baking dish like a gratin pan.

Cover with the onion and cheese mixture.

Place the dish in a cold oven, and bake at 180 degrees C for about 35 minutes. The top should be lightly golden.

Serve with a salad.

Obviously, I made a tomato salad, and it was a lovely pairing.

The Käsfladen is spectacular. I love the onions in it, as well as the white pepper, but the cheeses are wonderful. You can taste each one of them.

Käsfladen, serves 2

150 grams flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
Approximately 2 fluid ounces warm water
Pinch of salt
1 large onion
150 grams 3 different cheeses
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
White pepper

Knead the flour, salt, yeast and warm water together to make a smooth dough. Let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.
In the meantime, chop the onion; set aside.
Grate the cheeses.
Mix the onion with the grated cheese, the egg, milk, and pepper.
Spread the dough in a shallow greased baking dish like a gratin pan.
Cover with the onion and cheese mixture.
Place the dish in a cold oven, and bake at 180 degrees C for about 35 minutes. The top should be lightly golden.

 

Spinach Pie

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It was the photo that caught my attention on the Epicurious website. I was searching for something, and this distracted me. Spinach pie. A simple, beautiful Irish recipe.

Savory tarts, pies, and quiches are some of my favorite things to serve for lunch, especially for company. They’re not much work, as long as a pie crust doesn’t worry you. Plus, they look so much more special than, say, a casserole.

On this blog there’s a leek and cilantro pesto tart, a recipe by Eugenia Bone, which is more quiche-like, marbled with a cilantro pesto.

I also have a tomato tart on the blog, a recipe by Guliano Bugliali. It’s like a cross between a quiche and a rich tomato soup.

There are just so many ways to create something savory in a crust.

Then I read the recipe through, and there’s no crust in this recipe! So there are no excuses not to make this!

Here is the recipe from Epicurious.com:

Spinach Pie
from Irish Country Cooking

1 lb. 4 ounces spinach, washed
1 onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
10 ounces cottage cheese
10 ounces Parmesan, freshly grated
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Steam the spinach, drain well, and roughly chop it once it cools down.

Irish Spinach Pie

In a large bowl, mix the cooked spinach with the onion, beaten eggs, and both types of cheese. Beat well and season with pepper and nutmeg.

Transfer the mixture to one large pie dish, (9″) or individual dishes if using. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

And that’s it!

I served the pie with a simple salted tomato salad, so as to let the pie filling shine.

If I had been thinking, I might have puréed the spinach mixture so that it was more green than mottled with the cottage cheese.

Or, maybe checked with Conor Bofin, from the blog, “One Man’s Meat,” to see if Irish cottage cheese is more like a farmers cheese or even ricotta cheese.

Nonetheless, the taste was lovely.

And I copied the purple flower idea since my borage flowers were blooming!

Reprinted with permission from Irish Country Cooking: More than 100 Recipes for Today’s Table by The Irish Countrywomen’s Association. © 2012 Irish Countrywomen’s Trust. This Sterling Epicure Edition published in 2014.

Flamiche

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A flamiche is somewhat related to a quiche, but with the addition a a generous amount off caramelized onions. It is good.

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Unfortunately, I can not give you the source for the recipe, because it was from the days when I copied recipes out of cookbooks that I borrowed from the library.

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I changed the recipe by adding cheese to the quiche. Why not?!!

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Served with a green salad, it will definitely please you for lunch or a light dinner. You could always add bacon or ham to it.

Flamiche

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 yellow onions, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
6 ounces Gruyère
Nutmeg, white pepper, salt

Baked pie shell

Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the onion slices and sprinkle on the sugar. Sauté the onion slices until they are caramelized. This should take about 20 minutes, trying not to burn the onion.

Set aside the onions to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, and cream. Add your desired amounts of seasoning; I used 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper, approximately 1/3 teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

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Place your pre-baked pie crust pan on a jelly roll pan. Place the grated cheese on the bottom. Top with the caramelized onions.

Add the seasoned egg and cream mixture.

Bake the flamiche for about 40 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 325 degrees and continue cooking for another 20 minutes. You can test its doneness by using a cake tester, which should come out clean.

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Let the flamiche rest for a bit, then cut into slices and serve.

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It’s good warm or at room temperature.

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You could use a dip-dish pie pan; the one I used is quite shallow.

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Gougère Tart

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You’ve all probably heard of gougères – those fabulous bite-sized, savory choux puffs that are a Burgundian French classic.

The problem is, I’ve never been able to make these for a get-together of any kind at my house, or when I catered either, because they’re really only good just out of the oven. Similar to a soufflé, they will deflate, so they’re not as pretty, and even if they’re kept warm, the texture will change.

I present to you another gougères option, more easily served as a first course or even as part of a lunch; thin slices can be served as hors d’oeuvres as well.

This version utilizes the same dough and cheese, but it’s a whole tart, and not individual puffs. There’s no outside crust that dries out, and the inside stays nice and moist. The dough will deflate a little after the tart is out of the oven, but the tart itself maintains its integrity, so you can let it cool a little, slice and serve.

If you’ve never made a choux dough before, don’t worry. It’s not as involved as making something like a dough for croissants. All you need is a strong arm, in fact, because there is a lot of stirring involved. I’m pretty sure you can make the dough in a stand mixer, but I make it the old-fashioned way.

My husband actually remembers the last time I made this tart, which proves how memorable it is. And I hadn’t come across the recipe till recently. You can see by the stains how many times I used it. I’d love to credit the source, but I looked online and found nothing. I think it’s funny on the recipe card that I actually changed the ingredient amounts not just once, but twice. But there’s no mention of the pan I used. Since I wasn’t sure which column was the one to follow, I went with the numbers on the very left.

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As with classically-shaped gougères, the secret to this gougère tart is the cheese. Really good Gruyère – diced as well as grated for this tart.

Gougère Tart

3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup, or approximately 5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon butter
1 cup white flour
4 eggs, at room temperature, broken into a small bowl
7 ounces diced Gruyère
2 1/2 ounces grated Gruyère
1 egg mixed with 1/8 teaspoon of salt

Turn the oven to 375 degrees.

Generously butter a 10″ tart pan; a pan with a removable bottom is not necessary.

gou1

Have all of your ingredients on hand, and read the recipe through before you begin. Begin by melting the butter into the milk in a medium saucepan.

gou

Add the flour, and vigorously stir the mixture for about one minute over the lowest possible heat.

gou2

It will look similar to a roux – kind of crumbly.

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Let the pan cool slightly, then beat in one egg at a time, beating vigorously. There should be no heat involved any more.

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By the time the second egg is added and incorporated, you can see the dough getting smoother.

When you add the fourth egg, don’t beat it in completely. Then add 2/3 of the diced Gruyère and stir to just combine.

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Plop the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth. Then coat the top with the egg wash.

Add the remaining diced cheese as well as the grated, and place the tart in the oven; I put my pan on a baking sheet for easier handling.

Bake for 35 minutes. You will see it rise in the oven as it puffs up.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. It should be set enough to slice easily after just about 5 minutes. The tart is cheesy, but it’s also bready.

I enjoyed my slice without even a green salad on the side. Mostly because I couldn’t wait. But it would be fabulous with a salad of tomatoes or spring greens, and it would certainly be delicious served as a first course, just a matter of minutes out of the oven.

This gougère tart would pair perfectly with a light fruity red, or a pinot grigio. No white that is too tart or too oaky.

Leek and Cilantro Pesto Tart

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“At Mesa’s Edge” is the first book ever written by Eugenia Bone. It’s a memoir with recipes.

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I discovered it after purchasing her cookbook entitled, “Well Preserved,” which turns out is the third book she has authored.

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I’ve featured this cookbook before. It’s in this book where I discovered my most favorite guilty pleasure, Italian Foriana Sauce.

It’s a mixture of nuts, raisins and garlic, seasoned with oregano. It’s a unique and delicious compliment to just about any cheese, shown in the photo below with blue cheese. I can tell you that this stuff is to die for. In fact, it would be my last meal if I had a choice in the matter.

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It is because of Ms. Bone and her Foriana Sauce, which I’ve still never seen in any other cookbook, that I sought out other books she’d written. I wondered what other secrets she had to reveal in the way of recipes from her father’s Italian heritage.

What I discovered was a completely different kind of book. “At Mesa’s Edge” is about her journey and experience moving west, out of New York City, where she was perfectly happy living a big city lifestyle. Her husband, however, had always yearned for a life in the Rockies, which really seemed foreign to her. But out of deep love for him, she relented. My husband obviously doesn’t have this level of love for me, or we’d be living in the mountains, too. But anyway, they pretty much packed up and moved to a beautiful piece of land in western Colorado.

I don’t want to give too much of the story away, because it’s a delightful read. It certainly makes me glad I wasn’t living back in the pioneer days, which is practically the lifestyle Ms. Bone endured in the beginning few years of their homesteading. Throughout her trials and tribulations, a beautiful story unfolds, as well as an appreciation for their 45-acre parcel of Colorado. There were many learning curves, from dealing with local varmints, including four-legged as well as two-legged ones, gardening off of the land, and creating a home from a dilapidated structure. Intertwined are some wonderful recipes that are meaningful and significant in some way to the author. Because of those stories, the recipes become special to the reader, as well.

I was intrigued to make her leek tart for this post for three reasons:
1. There’s no cheese in this tart,
2. There’s cilantro pesto on the tart, and
3. It’s like a quiche, but with fewer eggs.

So I bring you my only slightly altered version of this tart.

Leek and Cilantro Pesto Tart
adapted from At Mesa’s Edge

1 – 10″ by 1 1/4″ pie pan
1 chilled pie crust dough
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 large leeks, cleaned, sliced crosswise
Cilantro Pesto, see below

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll out the pie dough and place it in the pie pan. The dimensions of the pie pan I used worked out perfectly.

leekpie5

Using a fork, pierce the dough all over the bottom of the pie pan, then chill it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake the tart.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, cream, and salt. Set aside.

Prepare the leeks by trimming the stems, removing the leathery outer leaves, then slicing them in half lengthwise. Slice the leeks crosswise, then place them in a large bowl. Fill the bowl up with cool water.

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Shake the leek slices around to dislodge any silt, and then remove them from the water, using your hands, and place them on a clean dish towel or on paper towels to drip dry.

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Add the butter to a large skillet and heat the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the leeks.

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Sauté them for at least 10 minutes to soften, without any major browning. If they begin to brown, turn down the heat.

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Let the leeks cool and make the cilantro pesto, if you don’t have any already. I know that I have some in the freezer, but I’ve been so bad in the past about labeling my jars, that I have no idea which one is the cilantro version of pesto, so I used my version of Ms. Bone’s recipe, which is as follows:

My Cilantro Pesto for this recipe, which more more garlicky than hers

1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, cleaned and dried
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves fresh garlic

Place all of the above ingredients in a blender jar.

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Process until fairly smooth.

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Assembling the tart:

Begin by placing the cooled, sautéed leeks in the bottom of the pie pan.

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Pour in the whisked egg-cream mixture.

Using a spoon, spoon out blobs of the pesto and place on top of the tart. The pesto doesn’t have to cover the whole top. I used approximately 1/2 cup of pesto, if not more.

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Smooth the blobs out as you can, then place the pie pan on a baking sheet and place it in the oven.

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Bake for 30 minutes. It doesn’t seem like very long, but the tart is 1″ in thickness only.

Let the tart cool, then slice and serve.

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I served the warm tart for lunch, with a tomato and red onion salad.

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The tart would also be good at room temperature, or even chilled, since there’s no cheese in it.

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The sweetness of the leeks and the sharpness of the garlicky pesto were so perfect together, along the the quiche-like creaminess of the tart base.

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The tart would also be a good brunch dish, along with a mimosa. I’ll definitely make this again!

notes: Well Preserved was nominated for a James Beard award. Her second book, which I need to purchase, is called Italian Family Dining. It was written with her father, artist and cookbook author Edward Giobbi. This is her fourth book:

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