Zucchini, chevre and spicy cured sausage quiche

This recipe is a tweaked recreation of a quiche my sister made and told me about yesterday. It sounded so good that I just had to try and make it for myself.

She used real spanish chorizo, a spicy cured sausage, but unfortunately it is very difficult to procure this kind of chorizo where I live. Same thing goes for the goat cheese that she used: she used an aged french chevre, but that is not readily available here either... *insert sad face*

Oh, one more thing... You'll notice that in the ingredients picture, there is a roll of pie crust. Ahem... ok, well I failed Like A Boss at blind baking mine, so I adapted my regular quiche-to-be into a crust-less one. As annoyed as I was at the time, it also shows you how I actually proceed in the kitchen and how it is important to be able to adapt when things don't go as planned :)

Hope you'll like!



INGREDIENTS (for 4 people as a side dish, 2 people as a light dinner):
- 1 large zucchini, diced
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 small brie-like goat cheese, or any aged goat cheese you like (or can find), cubed
- about 1/2 cup hot dry sausage of your choice (spanish chorizo or sopressata would be best, but I used hot italian sausage that was available at my supermarket), diced
- 2 large eggs (i know only 1 is pictured, but I ended up adding another one, mid-recipe)
- 1 cup of light cream (only 1/2 cup is pictured, but I added another 1/2 cup mid-recipe)
- optionnal: 1 pie crust (i was planning on using it, but failed miserably... you'll get the details further down)
- salt, pepper to taste
- a sprinkle of smoked paprika (not pictured, but added mid-recipe)


RECIPE:
- preheat your oven at 350F
- crisp up the diced sausage in a dry pan on high heat, until it has rendered a little fat and is golden, reserve on the side

- saute the onion and zucchini in the drippings and a sprinkle of smoked paprika, cook for a few minutes on medium heat and let cool on the side

- in a bowl, mix the eggs and cream

- add the cheese, sausage cubes and zucchini, pour in a dish sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkle with a little smoked paprika

Note: this is where you would have used your pie crust, pre-cooked for 15 minutes at 350F, but as you can see in the picture below, my pie crust was a super-fail! so I improvised and did without!
oopsies!!
- bake in the oven at 350F for 35 minutes, or until firm

- let cool for 10 minutes before serving with a side salad (I used fresh spinach, lemon juice and olive oil)

- enjoy!

Asparagus and Egg Soup

This post brings me so many childhood memories.

My grandmother used to prepare this soup for us when my sister and I were little and had sleepovers at her place...

For years, I have tried to recreate the exact, delicate and slightly acidic taste I remembered so well. Last year, I finally found a recipe that was close enough that I was sure a little tweaking would allow me to savour it again.

Here's my recreation (switched green asparagus for white just like my grandma did, added a splash of vinegar and changed the egg ratio). Enjoy!


INGREDIENTS (for 2-3 people):
- 6 cups water
- 1 chicken bouillon cube (or veggie broth for a vegetarian option)
- 1 bunch white asparagus
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 eggs (the fresher, the better)
- 1 1/3 cups cut spaghetti (my grandma used vermicelli, which are thinner and shorter angel hair pasta, but my supermarket only carried the cut spaghetti)
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (any white vinegar will do - do not use red wine vinegar or balsamic)
- salt and pepper to taste


RECIPE:
- bring the water and bouillon cube to a boil

- in the mean time, separate the egg yolks and whites and mix the yolks with the sour cream

- peel the asparagus, cut them into short segments and reserve the tips

- when the seasoned water boils, add the asparagus cubes, vinegar, salt and cook for 7-8 minutes

- when the asparagus are almost fork tender, add the pasta and asparagus tips. Cook for another 7 minutes (or until the pasta is al dente)

- beat the egg white, add them to the hot soup and stir immediately to separate the whites into strings

- turn off the heat, add the yolk and cream mixture and stir well until the soup thickens

- serve piping hot, sprinkled with pepper to taste

- Bon app'!

Mushroom ravioli

Fun! Fun! Fun times it is to make your own ravioli! Mine are largely inspired from this original recipe.

INGREDIENTS (for the filling, 2-3 people)

- 1 pack dried porcini mushrooms (1/2 ounce)

- 4 oz fresh cremini mushrooms (portobello or ceps would work really well too), chopped finely

- 1 tbsp evoo

- 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

- 2 small cloves of garlic, chopped finely (if you don't like chunks of garlic, you can grate it)

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper

- 1 egg yolk

- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (whole milk will make a silkier, creamier filling than low-fat)

RECIPE:

- cover the dried porcini in boiling water and let soak until soft (about 10-15 minutes should be enough).

- drain the soaking liquid and either discard, or reserve (if you want to use it in a sauce for example).

- squeeze out any residual liquid from the mushrooms (otherwise the filling will be too moist and the resulting ravioli will be soggy and won't hold their shape).

- finely chop the reconstituted porcini and reserve.

- in a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high and saute the fresh cremini for a few minutes. They will release a lot of moisture.

- let the moisture evaporate, but keep an eye on the skillet so the mushrooms don't burn!

- add the porcini, parsley, garlicsalt and pepper and cook for another minute. Reserve in a bowl.

- when the mushroom mixture is cool, mix in the egg yolk and the ricotta. 

- Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

- for information on how to make and roll your fresh pasta dough, I refer you to my AP flour recipe or my semolina recipe :) a little self-promotion can't hurt ;)

MAKING THE RAVIOLI: 

- I use two different methods to make the ravioli: (1) with a ravioli tray and (2) with ravioli stamps. The ones I use are very similar to those here, here and here.

The ravioli tray: 

- Lay a sheet of pasta on the heavily (really heavily) floured tray, and lightly press in each well (be careful not to pierce the dough with sharp nails!).

- Scoop some filling into each well, about the size of a large pea. If you put too much, it will be a hot mess when you try to roll the top pasta sheet, believe me!

Note: I put WAY too much in this photo, but you get the idea.

- Lay another pasta sheet on top.

- Carefully seal the two pasta sheets together by applying pressure with a rolling pin.

- Ta-da!!!

The ravioli stamps:

- Lay a sheet of pasta on a floured flat surface.

- Put small spoonfuls of filling on the pasta sheet, leaving about an inch between each. 

- Wet the pasta sheet with your finger or a small brush and place a second sheet of pasta on top of the filling. Carefully press with your fingers and try to chase any air trapped inside the ravioli.

Note: if there is too much air inside a ravioli, it will explode when you cook it and the filling will just disperse in the water.

- Using a ravioli stamp, just cut out any shape you want. 

- You can either cook your fresh ravioli right away in a large pot of boiling water (about 2-3 minutes, or until they float back to the surface), or freeze the ravioli on a flat tray. When they are hardened enough, you can put the pasta in a container, or bag, and keep them in the freezer until ready to use :)

- Have fun!!!

Semolina pasta dough

There's nothing better than homemade fresh pasta.

You can use this recipe for any kind of pasta you want: long (spaghetti, tagliatelle), short (penne, macaroni), flat (lasagna) or even filled (ravioli, tortellini), you name it!

Very simple, two ingredients (three if you count the pinch of salt), 5 minutes mixing, 1 hour rest and however long it takes you to shape the pasta :D

INGREDIENTS:
- 5 eggs
- 500g semolina flour
- a pinch of salt


RECIPE:
- break your eggs in the center of the semolina and salt in a bowl.

- mix with a spoon to start and your fingers when it's not too tacky anymore.
- knead the dough for a few minutes and shape into a ball.
Note: if it's still too tacky, add a little semolina (or AP flour) to dry it.

- wrap the dough in film and cool in the fridge for 1 hour.

- shape the cold ball into a log and cut in smaller pieces (I cut a log that big into four equal pieces).

- roll the dough into a pasta machine until the sheet is the thickness you want.

- Have fun with your freshly pressed pasta! They will cook in merely a few minutes in salted boiling water.