Saturday, August 29, 2009

Prosciutto, Spinach & Artichoke Quiche

Quiche always reminds me of my Grandma. It was always the TOP dish I'd ask for when visiting her home in Montreal for the summer. She always made her quiche with ham, mushrooms and cheese, but I've since experimented with different ingredients.



Ingredients
9 inch pie shell (homemade or frozen)
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 small onion diced finely
2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach
4 large artichoke hearts chopped (canned in water)
3-4 slices prosciutto chopped
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
1. While pie shell is defrosting, beat 3 eggs with milk, dijon mustard cornstarch and cayenne pepper.
2. Layer onion, spinach, artichokes, prosciutto in pie shell and top with cheese.
3. Pour egg mixture slowly into the pie over filling ensuring that everything becomes moistened with the eggs.
4. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes or until eggs are set and wait 5-10 minutes before slicing

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Penaci (Indonesian Spicy Beef)

I LOVE Indonesian food, and of all types of food available in Toronto, I don't know of any Indonesian restaurants in the city. Luckily for me, my mom's family is from Indonesia and I watched my Oma cook some of her signature dishes. Over the weekend, my mom and I got together to cook some Indonesian food and we made pecel, soto ayam and my favourite...penaci. Penaci is a ridiculously hot beef dish, but it's so irresistibly good.
I toned down the spiciness from my Oma's recipe so that my husband could enjoy it too.

I served this with pecel (vegetable and peanut sauce dish) and rice.

Ingredients:
Roast of beef (about 3lbs or so)
1/2 red sweet pepper (optional...use sweet red pepper if you don't want this dish to be too spicy)
1 shallot
7 cloves garlic
1/4 onion
10 large chili peppers (I used 5 to tone down the spiciness, but use as many as you can tolerate)
4-5 kemiri (candle nuts) toasted in a dry skillet
1/2 lime
1/2 cup kecap manis (sweet thick soy sauce)

Directions
1. Place the roast of beef in a pot with water and boil until cooked.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine red pepper, shallot, garlic,onion, chilies, kemiri and lime juice and blend into a paste. Add a little water to loosen the paste if needed.
3. Heat up 1/4 cup oil in a wok or skillet and fry the paste until very fragrant.
4. Stir in kecap manis and continue to cook.
5. Cut beef into cubes and add to sauce. Cook until beef is tender.
Serve with rice.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Earthbox - Week nine

Be making Greek salads soon! (Tomato and pepper plant)

Cucumber plants - week nine

My little babies are growing up!!

Cucumber plant




My first year at gardening - week one

One train ride home, I was reading an article in Chicago magazine about a man who grows vegetables on his rooftop patio. Very inspired, we decided to take an attempt at gardening. The man used an Earthbox to grow the vegetables, which is a self- contained garden environment with a water reservoir so you don't over water. So, we bought a (below from lower left) cucumber, tomato, dill, basil, oregano and were given an Earthbox as a gift. In the Earthbox, we planted another tomato and pepper plant (on left).