Crustless quiche (strata)

From Smitten kitchen.

Would omit the salt in either the leeks or the eggs. The cheese and ham were plenty salty enough. Otherwise the only other mods were to use the reduced fat milk I had on hand. And it only needed about 45-50 mins in my super hot fancy oven.

Leek, Ham and Cheese Egg Bake

One big note, as I failed on this both times so do as I say and not as I did, is to Beware The Weep. Eggs baked too long can emit a watery run-off, which I, a non-food-scientist so feel free to chime and correct/clarify, understand comes from proteins in the eggs overcoagulating. To avoid this, bake this just until it’s done and the safest way to do that is to start checking in before you need to (I’ve suggested this in the recipe). It’s done when no liquid egg seeps into the gap formed where a knife inserted into the center and turned or pulled back slightly or a temperature of 165 to 170 degrees. Should your eggs weep, you’ll see this at the bottom of the dish as a little puddle that will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on the taste; it’s just a thing that will bother you, the cook.

Serves 10 to 12

1 tablespoon butter, plus more for greasing baking dish
6 medium-large leeks or 3 leeks and 2 small yellow onions, diced (just white and pale green parts from leeks; leeks washed well)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
12 large eggs
3 1/3 cups milk, preferably whole
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 pound grated cheese (I use a mix of gruyere and comte)
10 ounces cooked ham, diced very small

Heat oven to 350 degrees F and butter a large (9×13-inch, 3-quart or more) baking dish.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and a tablespoon of butter. Once hot, add leeks (and onions, if using) and season generously with salt (I use a full teaspoon kosher salt) and pepper. Cook, stirring, until they’re tender, sweet and just starting to brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Lower heat to medium-low if they’re picking up color too quickly. 

Beat eggs with salt (I used another teaspoon kosher salt, adjust to taste) and a lot of freshly ground black pepper. Whisk in milk. 

Assemble by layering in prepared dish: 1/3 of grated cheese, 1/2 of each leeks and ham, next 1/3 cheese, remaining leeks and ham. Pour eggs over then sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

Bake until gently set in center, being careful about overbaking (see note up top). It’s done when no liquid egg seeps into the gap formed where a knife inserted into the center and turned or pulled back slightly or a temperature of 165 to 170 degrees. Start checking at 55 minutes and then every 5 minutes after that until it’s done. Mine took a total of 65 minutes. Should the top brown too much before the center is set, put foil over the baking dish for remaining baking time.

Let rest on a cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes before serving, or risk a room full of burned tongues. (It packs serious heat!) Serve in squares or scoops.

braised korean short ribs (Kalbi JJim)

The recipe:
Serves 4-6 people 




The Ingredients

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs of short ribs (if you buy them from a US supermarket, you may have to ask them to cut the bones in half - so instead of a long 2 inch by 4 inch piece, you actually have a 2 inch square)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup sake
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed (I usually get lazy and don't want to chop so I double the amount and leave them whole)
2 large daikon radish cut into chunks 
1 large onion, cut into large chunks

The Method

Throw everything into a large pot. The liquid will not completely cover the meat and vegetables. This is  fine.  Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and let simmer for 1-2 hours. Stir about every half hour or so turning everything to make sure that the ingredients are evenly cooking in the liquids. The ribs are done when the radish are fork tender, the aromatics are melted and the fat is rendered from the meat. Skim the excess oil before serving. Serve with steamed rice and veggies like kimchee.

NB: I found this recipe online years ago but I can't remember where from. In my notes I only saved the ingredient list because my method differed from the original cook's. My apologies to the original cook and writer. If you recognize this please let me know so I can give proper credit. 

my classic beef stew

Tonight I made one that knocked it out of the park.

Ingredients:

2.5 lb slow cooking chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cubed into approx 1" pieces
4 medium carrots peeled and cubed (my kids like carrots so I add extra)
3 ribs of celery cut into 3/4" pieces
1 or 2 medium sized russets peeled and cubed (I like potatoes so I use 2)
button mushrooms stemmed and cut into cube-y chunks about the same size as the rest of the veggies
half a small cabbage cubed (probably about 2 cups)
1.5 medium onion chopped
3 or 4 garlic cloves minced
1/3 bottle of an IPA
1 TABLEspoon of beef stock (I used better than boullion)
1.5 teaspoons of grainy mustard (I use Maille brand)

In a large skillet sautee each ingredient (except cabbage) with olive oil. Sautee them separately until slightly carmelized. I go in this order adding more olive oil between each ingredient:

1) onions
2) carrots
3) celery
4) mushrooms
5) potatoes
6) beef
7) garlic (just lightly sauteed)

Dump each sauteed ingredient in a large pot.

Add the beer to deglaze the skillet and scrape up the browned bits with a wooden spoon. Pour off the deglazed bits and beer into the pot. The skillet should be pretty clean from the deglazing.

Add the cabbage and some water to barely reach the top of the ingredients. Turn the heat to medium high.

Add the beef stock and mustard. Stir gently to mix all ingredients together.

Cover and bring the pot to a boil. Lower heat to low and let simmer for 45 mins - 1 hour stirring gently occasionally. Add more water if it seems a bit dry.

Serve with crusty bread.

Serves 4 with plenty left for seconds or leftovers.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi Sandwiches

Recipe here.

Mods on the meatballs (the first time I made it):
Less sugar in the meatballs, omitted the sriracha because I didn't want it to be too spicy. Also omitted the salt as per reviewers suggestions and it was a mistake. Next time add the salt! Also used Thai fish sauce instead of Vietnamese. Maybe that was the issue? Might add red pepper flakes or sliced thai chilis next time.

(the second time I made it):
I forgot about these notes and followed the recipe faithfully. This time I had Vietnamese fish sauce. And probably a touch too much green onions. But the little meatballs were salty, savory and just plain delicious. Not too sweet. Not spicy. A home run y'all.

Mods on the "pickled" vegetables (the first time I made it):
1/4 cup of sugar was too much. I'd halve that next time. I coarse grated the carrots and used regular radishes since I couldn't find daikon. I think next time, I'll cut them into matchstick thin slivers instead. The grated stuff was fine but I would have preferred a little more crunch.

(the second time I made it):
I remembered to check my notes and reduced the sugar to 1/8 cup. It was still sweet. Noticed that I've been using SEASONED rice vinegar instead of unseasoned. Didn't know there was both. Julienned the radish and carrots. It's more time consuming since I don't have a mandoline, but this is my preferred way to eat the pickled veggies. Also noticing that the original recipe uses a photo where the veggies are julienned not grated too. Hm?

Sauce (the first time I made it):
Didn't make the sauce since it was mayo based but I'd like to work on a sub. There were a few suggestions in the reviews.

(the second time I made it):
I made the sauce according to directions. Mostly. Tried to halve it since I am the only one who will eat it. I used organic light mayo from WF. This could be my mistake. I just don't like it. And I am not normally against mayo. I'll try out the Helman's if I do this again. On its own, the sauce was still pretty mayo-y despite the extra sriracha I added. On the sandwich, the mayo flavor was less noticeable. If I had more time I would have looked up the suggestions on the reviews. I'm game for trying it again. Third times the charm, right?

chicken adobo

Original recipe here.

Mods:

Throw all the ingredients into one big pot and let simmer for 40 minutes (instead of first with water and then with soy sauce).
Use bone-in, skin on chicken thighs and/or drumsticks.
Drizzle with honey at the last step to carmelize the crust. I've also tried it with brown sugar.
Add the remaining sauce to the pan to deglaze and drizzle over chicken before serving.

jap-chae (korean glass noodles)

Original recipe from here.

I haven't made this in about 15 years! Used maangchi's recipe and it turned out great!

Mods:

• I used 8oz. of noodles instead of 4. 
• Almost a pound of beef instead of what she calls for - but that's because I served some of the beef/shitake on the side as its own dish for my picky daughter (didn't work, she didn't like the japchae or the beef :P
• 3 bunches of spinach that were a little tired. So probably only got like 2.5/2.75 bunches out of it? Just the leaves too. I like a lot of spinach in my japchae.
• Used the entire egg and not just the yolk
• Would add wood ear mushrooms next time because that's what my mom did :)
• Might also add julienned sweet potato/yam instead of the red pepper because my family don't love red pepper but they do love sweet potato and it would naturally add some sweetness.
• I added the last of the garlic to the pan with the meat and mushrooms because I didn't want to bite into raw garlic in the dish. Next time, I'll portion that out and sautee it with the onions.
• Next time I might also give everything one last sautee in the big pan to heat it up and let everything get all sexy and married.

This made enough for me and my husband to eat as a main course. My 3.5 year old also had some but a small serving. Then we had a small portion left over. So probably enough for 4 generous servings. It's not a lot of work to make - no more than any usual dinner that I prepare with lots of veggies. But there are a lot of steps. And so I'd love for there to be more left-overs. So next time I'll probably double or triple the recipe. Will be making this again and again now that I'm remembering to do so.

Blueberry Muffins

My problem: My children must have more things to eat for breakfast than granola bars and teddy bear shaped graham crackers. One of them doesn't eat eggs. Sometimes she eats blueberry muffins.

Solution: Smitten Kitchen to the rescue!

Changes:

I added two tablespoons of ground flaxseed to the batter and subbed in whole wheat pastry flour for the all purp.

I used mini muffin paper cups because I like the portion control it creates and also they are so darned cute when they are this tiny.

Verdict:

I think I'd halve the lemon zest next time. I rather enjoyed the zesty-lemonade-y flavor but I think it was part of the turn off for the Q. That and the fact that these are not chocolate.

Also these taste amazing the first day but not so great the next. Not sure I'd make these as a breakfast because I'd have to get up at 5am to make them if I want them to taste as good as they can be. Maybe more of a contribution to a brunch potluck instead.