Easy Simple Fast Savory Pie Crust [Zack]

I’m a big fan of keeping a pack of puff pastry sheets in my freezer because I’m normally too lazy to make crust the traditional way.  We were in the mood to make a breakfast quiche and I realized we didn’t have any of the puff pastry sheets.  We found a 4-ingredient recipe online that took about 5 minutes to make.  It cuts out the fuss of using a food processor or letting it rest in the fridge.  As a bonus, it ended up having a better flavor and texture than the puff pastry sheets!  It was more firm and crumbly. 

Process:

Mix the flour and salt together.  Add a few ice cubes to a glass of water, and stir vigorously with your finger.  Loosely mix the oil and water together in another bowl.

Gradually stir the liquid into the dry ingredients.  Use a fork to mix together.  Once it's all combined, if it's still sticky, add a touch more flour until it becomes solid.  Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into the shape that you need.

Add quiche ingredients (I used roasted pumpkin, crispy bacon, shiitake mushrooms, feta cheese, and rosemary).  Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375F/185C.

Ingredients (recipe from Food.com)

1 cup flour
1/4 cup ice cold water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Song: Mathieu Boogaerts - Ondule 

Pork Belly Confit with Truffle Honey [Zack]

Confit pork belly is one of the best things you can make in your kitchen.  The belly of a pig is what is commonly used to make bacon.  Instead of the usual curing and smoking process to make bacon, you should try confit. 

When you look at the cross-section of pork belly, you’ll see alternating layers of meat and fat.  The confit process transforms the meat part into a delicate pulled pork-type texture and the fat becomes soft and creamy.  When you want to serve the belly, cut it into cubes, sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, and crisp the outside.  You can choose to top it with a sauce or glaze, or just eat it right out of the pan.  I chose to drizzle the crispy belly with truffle honey.  That was a good decision.

This is a 5-ingredient recipe: pork belly, some type of cooking fat, salt, pepper, and truffle honey.  It takes a bit of time to make, but it’s all idle time, not hard work.

Process:

Ask your butcher for as much pork belly as you’d like to cook (a.k.a. how big is your pot?)  Make sure they take the bones out of the underside so you don’t have to deal with those later.  The more square the cut is from the butcher, the better your outcome will be in the end.  But I never bother with a square cut – I consider the extra scraps I cut off bonus nibbles.

Take the belly home and cure it.  I covered it with a generous amount of sea salt and black pepper and put it in a covered container in my fridge.

After about 2 days, take the belly out and wipe off the excess salt.  Place the belly in an oven-proof pot and submerge it completely in fat.  I used a combination of pork fat and canola oil, but any non-flavored oil will suit.  Bring the pot to a gentle simmer.

Cover the pot and place it in an oven at 300F/150C.  The cooking time will vary depending on how thick the belly is.  Mine took around 5.5 hours.  You know it’s finished when a knife slides into the meat side easily (similar to ribs). 

Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool off.  Place the belly in the fridge – it will keep for a week or so.  Theoretically it should not spoil as long as it’s submerged in fat and you discard the meat juice. 

The belly is easier to slice if it’s straight out of the fridge.  Remove the skin.

Cut the pork belly into cubes or strips.

Place it into a cold frying pan with a little bit of the confit fat and crisp all of the sides over medium heat.

If you’re using a glaze, pour off the excess fat and gently coat all sides of the belly.  If you can find some truffle honey, use that.

Drizzle the honey over the pork belly when it's still hot.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Pork belly (skin on or off, up to you)

Sea salt

Black pepper

Pork fat or other type of non-flavored oil

Truffle honey

Glaze ideas:
A sticky hoisin sauce glaze (from this recipe)
Roasted red pepper puree and honey
Honey with rosemary and garlic

Song: Paolo Nutini - Let Me Down Easy 

Puff Pastry Vegetable Tart [Zack]

I am always trying to find uses for the puff pastry sheets in my freezer.  This breakfast "pizza" was created using all of the ingredients in our fridge.  Feel free to get creative!

Process:

Lay down some foil on a baking sheet, and butter it.  Defrost 2 puff pastry squares and pinch them together to form a long rectangle.

Slice onions into moons and throw them in a pan with some butter to caramelize them.  Cook for 5 minutes or so over medium heat.  Add some sliced mushrooms to the mix if you want.

Spread the red pepper paste over the top as you would tomato sauce for a pizza (leaving a small border for crust).  Place your caramelized onions and mushrooms on top, then shave the parmesan on top.  Some slices of a red or yellow pepper will give it color.  Top with shredded kale and a drizzle of olive oil.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until the crust is golden brown

Ingredients:
2 puff pastry squares
1 small tab butter
1 T red pepper paste
shaved parmesean reggiano
a few slices of red or yellow pepper
1/4 cup mushrooms
1/2 medium onion
1/2 cup shredded kale

Song:  Kanye - Champion

Pumpkin Cinnamon Cream Cheese [Zack]

Pumpkin and cinnamon are the two flavors that most remind me of fall.  This 3 ingredient spread is simple and very flavorful.

The pumpkin adds sweetness without the need of sugar and the cream cheese adds a savory depth.  It checks the box for my favorite savory-sweet flavor combination and is great to serve during brunch.

Process:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F / 175C.  Slice the pumpkin in half and scoop out the guts (you can squeeze the seeds out and toast them in butter, brown sugar, and a touch of salt).  Slice the outer skin off of the pumpkin and cube it into 1/2 inch pieces.  Toss in a bit of vegetable oil and salt lightly.

Roast the pumpkin in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the pieces are soft.  Let it cool off for about 5 mins.

Put the cream cheese into a food processor and add the 1 cup of pumpkin and puree.  Sprinkle cinnamon to taste and run the food processor again.

Serve with toast or scones.

Ingredients:
1 cup / 200g Philadelphia cream cheese
1 cup roasted pumpkin
1 sprinkle cinnamon
1-2 T of veg oil to roast the pumpkin

Song:  Gorillaz - HillBilly Man

Mushroom, Spinach, and Emmental Quiche [Zack]

Quiche is one of our weekend go-to meals.  It gives us a great opportunity to use up a lot of odds and ends from our fridge.  Most everything works well together - here are some examples of our most recent quiches:

• spinach, goat cheese, pumpkin, pine nuts
• roasted red pepper, leeks, feta cheese
• sundried tomatoes, pesto, walnuts, haloumi cheese
• smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onion, dill
• roasted chicken, roasted veggies (squash, eggplant, etc)
• bacon/speck, onion, potatoes

This is the reason why we keep puff pastry sheets in the freezer.  You don't have to leave the house as long as you have eggs and a few random leftovers that will work together.

Process:

Slice the red onion into moons, clean the mushrooms, chop the garlic, and wash the spinach.  Start a pan on medium heat and sautee the onions until starting to slightly brown in butter.  Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 mins.  Add the garlic and spinach and cook until the spinach has wilted.  Make sure there is not excess water in the veg, or else you will have a watery quiche.

Butter a pie pan and patch together the puff pastry sheets to form a crust.  Let your veggies cool off and then put 3/4 of them in the pie crust.  Add some sliced emmental cheese.

Crack your 6 eggs into a bowl, and whisk in 1/2 cup of milk or cream.  Add salt and pepper to the eggs.

Pour the eggs over the veggies in your pie crust and then add the rest of the veg and a few more slices of cheese on top.  You add the second portion to make sure all of the filling isn't grouped on the bottom of the quiche when it's finished cooking.

Bake at 350F/175C for 30-45 minutes until the middle is set.  If the top is browning too quickly, you can put a loose piece of tin foil over the top.

Ingredients:

6 eggs
150ml of milk (a little over 1/2 cup of milk)
4 puff pastry sheets
1/2 T of butter
1 medium red onion
3 cloves roasted garlic (or 2 cloves fresh garlic)
1.5 cups mushrooms (I used a mix of 4)
1 cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup sliced or shredded emmental cheese

Quiche Baking Song:  Justin Timberlake - TKO

Cinnamon Rolls from Pizza Dough + Yogurt Icing [Zack]

Lauren makes the best cinnamon rolls.  When she makes them, we bash them.  Even after she made a round for some guests we had for a brunch, I still had a hankerin'.

We had some pizza dough that I had made a few days ago sitting in the fridge.  Since we weren't in the mood for pizza, but were in the mood for cinnamon buns, we transformed the dough to the naughty side.

Here's a quick run-through of how it's done!  Measurements were on the fly, so you'll have to just work your way through it.

Process:

Start kneading your pizza dough on a lightly floured surface.  Put about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar on the board and work that into the dough.  It will sweeten it up a bit.

Roll out the dough out into a rectangle, and cover the whole thing with melted butter.  Don't be stingy.  Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon and coat the entire area of the dough.

Butter a baking dish.  Roll the dough like a cigar and slice into rounds about 1 inch thick.

Place them into the baking dish and let it rest for 30 mins while your oven heats up.  If you want, you can brush the tops with butter and add more brown sugar/cinnamon to the top.  I did.

Heat up your oven to 400F / 200C and pop the cinnamon buns into the oven for about 15 minutes.  When the tops are starting to brown and aren't doughy, they are finished.

Meanwhile, mix some powdered sugar into plain vanilla yogurt.  The powdered sugar will thicken up the mixture and make icing.  I added some of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture because I made too much.  The yogurt makes it nice and tangy!

Remove the rolls from the oven, let them rest for as long as you can stand, and then top with the yogurt icing.

Ingredients:

pizza dough
cinnamon
brown sugar
yogurt
powdered sugar
butter

Song:  Tyrese - Signs of Love Makin'

Swiss Rosti - Savory potato, pancetta, egg, and cheese breakfast [Zack]

Switzerland is an awesome country for many reasons.  It has beautiful scenery, amazing skiing/hiking, and nice people.  But my favorite thing to do in Switzerland is to eat a Swiss Rosti in a ski lodge after a long day outdoors.  A Swiss Rosti is a piping hot fajita skillet filled with fried potatoes, Swiss Cheese, bacon, onion, and an over-easy egg.

I was starving this morning (due to spending almost 6 hours on my bicycle yesterday) and I knew I had some potatoes in our cupboard.  I also had some awesome pancetta from Italy, plus the usual Emmental cheese, eggs, and onions in the pantry.  I've had the Swiss Rosti on the brain for the last month, and my appetite gave me a guilt-free chance to make it happen.

This Rosti will satisfy the deepest hunger and comfort the noisest bellies.

Process:

Slice the 2 onions and put them in a saute pan with a little bit of olive oil.  Cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch slices and add them to the pan with the onions.  Sprinkle crushed red pepper and garlic over the potatoes.

Add 2T of water to the pan and allow the potatoes to steam.  Use the same process as cooking a risotto: cook the potatoes until the water has evaporated, and then continue add an additional small amount of water water until they are fork-tender.  Make sure you cook off all of the excess water once they are cooked through so your Rosti is not runny.

Once the potatoes are finished, salt them lightly to taste (remember the bacon is salty as well, so don't overdo it).

Slice your pancetta (or bacon) into matchsticks.  In a separate sauce pot, slowly brown the pancetta over low heat.

You'll want it nice and crispy so it adds a nice crunch to the end product.  Remove the crispy pancetta from the pan and discard the fat.

Add the cooked potatoes and the pancetta to a baking dish.

Top it with the shredded Emmental cheese and make two divots to hold the eggs.  Crack the eggs individually into a bowl so you can easily guide them into their allotted slots.  You can crack some black pepper on top if you want.

Roast in your oven for 12 minutes at 375F / 190C until the egg is set and the cheese is browned slightly.  Enjoy and imagine the Sound of Music playing in the background (I hate that movie).

Ingredients:
2 medium onions
5 potatoes
1tsp crushed red pepper
3 cloves garlic
5 slices pancetta, cut into matchsticks
3/4 cup Emmental cheese

Hearty breakfast song:  Sonnentanz by Klangkarussel

Sweet Potato Hash Browns

In college, one of my "specialties" was to make hash browns for my roommates for breakfast on the weekends. I had created a very complicated recipe - I used a bunch of different powders, spices, and techniques.  It always took me forever, but I didn't mind because I was having a blast.   I'd make a nice side of bacon, scramble some eggs, and serve the home fries alongside.

I still like having crispy potatoes with my breakfasts.  It's interesting to see how my recipe has evolved from my college days.  I have distilled my crazy "hangover cure" recipe down to the essential steps and ingredients, and it's still as good as before.

Process:

Start by sautéing 1 diced onion in a pan in a little bit of olive oil over medium heat.  Let the onions soften, and then add cumin seeds, toasting them to bring out the flavor.  Add 1T of garlic butter.  Once you can smell the cumin and garlic, the sweet potatoes should join the party.

I pour some water into the pan (you can cover it if you like), and then steam the suckers.  Keep adding water like you would for risotto until the potatoes are fork-tender.  This should take about 20-30 minutes.

When the potatoes are a nice texture, let the water cook off.  Let the potatoes fry on the bottom of your pan, turning occasionally when one side is browned.

Serve next to some type of delightful egg dish.

Ingredients (serves 4 as a side dish):
2 sweet potatoes
1 large onion
1 tsp cumin seeds
1T paprika powder
salt and pepper
1T garlic butter (or normal butter mixed with 1 clove of chopped garlic)
1tsp olive oil

Funky Potato Song:  Jamie Lidell - What's the use?

Hipster Grilled Cheese [Zack]

Grilled cheese: white bread + American cheese? How predictable.

You should know about real grilled cheese. You should source the best local ingredients possible. Not some big hoyty-toyty supermarket garbage. That's why you need to use ingredients most people haven't heard of.

Real grilled cheese should be constructed with:

• multigrain wheat bread (from the best bakery in town)
• Chimay cheese (made by the Trappist Beer monks in Belgium)
• 2 types of bacon (2 different types of smoked bacon from the Ardennese mountains)
• local honey (found near Brussels on a bike ride - unfortunately I wasn't on my fixed gear)

You'll fry up the bread in some French butter (not local, but it's FRANCE), and then cut the sandwich into ironic mustaches. Serve with a heirloom tomato soup with a spoonful of homemade pesto in it.

You're welcome,
Hipster Zack

Process:

Organize your ingredients.

Fry up the bacon on low heat by starting it in a cold pan.  Cook, turning when the fat starts rendering to brown and crisp it evenly.

Slice your Chimay cheese into circles about 1/4 an inch thick.  Put one layer of cheese down on the bread, add the 2 types of bacon on top.

Add one more layer of cheese (because we're making grilled cheese!), and then drizzle 1T of honey on top.  

Press the top layer of bread down, and start a pad of butter in a pan over medium heat.  Brown both sides of the sandwich in the pan.

Remove the grilled cheese from the pan and grab your Crustache Sandwich Cutter and press it down firmly to cut your bread into fancy mustaches (Thanks Megan!!!)

Serve the hipster sandwich with some heirloom tomato soup and a large spoonful of homemade pesto.

Ingredients:

• multigrain wheat bread (from the best bakery in town)
• Chimay cheese (made by the Trappist Beer monks in Belgium)
• 2 types of bacon (2 different types of smoked bacon from the Ardennese mountains)
• local honey (found near Brussels on a bike ride - unfortunately I wasn't on my fixed gear)

Creativity Options:

• Goat cheese, chives, and bacon
• Gorgonzola, caramelized onions, and steak
• Roasted eggplant, mozzarella, pesto
• Buffalo mozzarella, fried chicken, and hot sauce

There could be a follow-up post with me beer-battering the whole shebang in PBR..... THAT would be hipster.

Song to grill some cheese:  Jamiroquai - Slippin' & Slidin'

Pumpkin, Sage, and Ricotta Mini Quiche Cups [Zack]

If you ever ask me whether I like to bake, I will give you some long rambling speech about hating to measure ingredients precisely. Creating posts for this website has been a challenge for me in that aspect. I like the freedom of adjusting flavors as I cook, so I always have a few messy measuring spoons nearby so I can capture what I’m doing for my posts. But for most baking, you have to decide all of your quantities up front, and then hope for the best. Bleh.

This is why I always keep puff pastry in my freezer. It’s both better AND easier than anything that I can make from scratch, and it has saved my booty many times when I wake up on a weekend morning and don’t want to trek to the grocery store.  Plus, no measuring is required :).

The only time I make a pie crust from scratch, is when I ask Lauren to make it for me…..

Here is a recipe for mini quiche cups using puff pastry. This recipe was a weekend morning invention – we had leftover roasted pumpkin, ricotta, and sage ravioli filling in our fridge, and a lot of eggs. We brainlessly mixed the pumpkin ricotta filling together with the eggs. Poured them into the puff pastry sheets that we formed inside of muffin tins, and baked it. It’s that easy.

Process:

Begin by roasting your pumpkin and draining your ricotta. Slice the pumpkin into strips, brush them with some olive oil, sprinkle some salt on top, and roast them in the oven at 400F / 200C until they are slightly browned on the edges (about 20 mins). Meanwhile, open your ricotta and drain the water out by pouring the excess off. If you want to really go crazy, you can use a cheese cloth to squeeze more water out.

Keep the oven on after you take your pumpkin out – you’ll need it to cook the quiche.

Defrost your puff pastry sheets by separating them and laying them all over your house. Butter or oil the inside of your muffin tin and form the puff pastry to form cups.

Once your pumpkin is cooked, mash it in a bowl with a fork and let it cool off. Add the ricotta to the bowl, plus some diced onions and sage. Scramble your eggs together in a separate bowl, and then pour your pumpkin mixture in with the eggs.

Give it another mix, crack some fresh black pepper, a pinch of salt, and pour it into the puff pastry.

Cook the mini quiches at 400F / 200C for 15-20 minutes, until the egg has set and the pastry has browned.

If you want, you can add some kick with a dabble of srircha on top!

Ingredients:

½ cup roasted pumpkin
1/3 cup ricotta cheese, water drained out
10 leaves fresh sage
½ onion, diced
5 eggs
10 puff pastry sheets

Creativity options for mini quiche:

• Goat cheese, rosemary, roasted squash
• Sriracha, roasted red pepper, feta
• Cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onions
• Ham, emmental cheese, caramelized onions
• Sweet corn, jalapenos, and bacon

Funky Morning Jam:  Daniel Merriweather - She's Got Me (thanks to Lauren listening dutifully to Dutch radio for me)

Poached Egg Over A Tangy Spinach and Buttermilk Sauce [Zack]

We went to a really inventive restaurant in Valencia named Joaquin Schmidt. The concept was really cool – the cook/owner/server answered the doorbell to let us into the restaurant. Everything was made to simulate a dinner party-type experience instead of a formal restaurant. The guy was a sport and played along with our miserable pigeon Spanish.

The meal was great – very inventive and intelligently done. We were not given a choice of what was being served, and we chose to have him fill us in on what we ate after we finished the plates. It was a total blast. To start, we had 3 different types of caviar with a bendy straw filled with jellied vermouth to cleanse the palate. The meal progressed with fun surprises until we had a dish that was really great. The presentation was all in white: all that was visible was a white sauce and a fluffy mound of pecorino cheese that was almost floating. Underneath the cheese was a perfectly poached egg and a tangy and savory buttermilk sauce. We all loved the simplicity and beauty of the dish.

I went home determined to re-create it. I think I got very close, but in a last-minute call, I wanted some more body in the sauce, so I added some frozen spinach. The result was a great brunch item, or good entree into a meal.

Process:

Here is a picture of everything you will need:

Get a large pot of water simmering.  It's important to use a big pot because you'll be swirling the water for your poached egg and the smaller pots lose momentum too easily.  Oh, and you swirl the water so your raw egg swirls around itself and stays consolidated in the water.

Put your frozen (or fresh) spinach into a sauce pan with a pad of butter.  Cook until the spinach has wilted down.

Next, add your chicken stock and buttermilk into the same sauce pan.  The proportions are up to you - if you want it more tangy, use more buttermilk.  If you want it deeper in flavor, use a bit more chicken stock.

If you want, you can use an immersion blender to put the sauce in a uniform texture.

Grate some pecorino cheese with a microplane and put it into the sauce to thicken it up.

Once your water is nicely simmering, turn down the heat to medium-low so you don't end up just boiling the egg.  Add a dash of vinegar (supposedly it helps keep the egg together, I haven't tested this, but I believe everything I read on the internet) and then crack one egg into a small bowl.  If you tried to crack the egg directly into the water, it would be much more difficult.

Swirl the water around in one direction.  Clockwise is definitely the best (good joke Zack).  Quickly and gently slide the egg in the center of the swirl and watch it curl around itself.

It's important to let the egg do its thing.  If you mess with it, it will get messy!

To distract yourself so you don't touch the egg, start plating your sauce and finish grating a good mound of pecorino.  Just cover the bottom of your plate with the sauce.

After about 4 minutes, gently take the egg out and place it in the sauce.

Hide the egg under a big mound of pecorino and serve with a piece of toasted bread.

Ingredients:
Sauce (makes ~4 servings)
about 5T pecorino cheese, grated with a micro-plane
1/4 cup chicken or beef stock
2 blocks of frozen spinach (or 3 cups of fresh spinach)
1 cup buttermilk

4 eggs
2 T of grated pecorino to top the egg
toasted and buttered bread

Song:  Massive Attack - Paradise Circus