Preserving Lemons and Limes

Life has been a little crazy lately and I think that will continue for most of the summer.  Grandma held on longer than anyone thought she would, sadly in a lot of pain or sleeping.  She died peacefully last Friday evening with my aunt and I by her side.  There will be an auction to prepare for and relatives coming and going.  We have been enjoying seeing and visiting with so many relatives.  In the past week I have cooked for and had a house-full of family on several occasions and was pleased to discover that I could make everything from our stored food in both the pantry and freezer.  I have seen the value of a well-stocked pantry and I will continue to work hard this summer building our pantry up for the colder seasons to come and for the convenience of having on hand what I need to make several meals for expected or unexpected guests.

On top of everything else, we need to have drain tile put in our basement this summer and because of the way the house and garage sit on the lot we will have to have this put on the inside rather than around the outside of the house.  This means moving everything in our basement either upstairs or several feet away from the outside walls. The pantry has already been moved upstairs, sharing space with my many bookshelves, to avoid the dust that will be created as the concrete is broken up.  It will be a month or more before the workmen can start the job, but due to work schedules and other commitments we have begun cleaning out and moving things already.  The up side of all this is we have already gotten rid of several items we have not used in several years, sharing these with other family members who will make use of them and clearing out space at the same time.

When I bought strawberries a few weeks back I also came across large bags of lemons and limes for an excellent price.  I dehydrated several providing us with a quart jar of lime slices and another of lemons for use in water glasses and jugs.  I also zested some of the lemons and limes and then juiced them, freezing the zest in 1 tablespoon measurements and the juice in ice cube trays which measured about 1 tablespoon each.  I can use the juice and zest in baking and I also used one lemon juice cube in glasses of water when I had company, this gave the water a nice fresh lemon flavor.  My writing and reading may be a little scarce right now, but I am still cooking, putting in a garden, and preserving foods.

Food Preservation 2011 Begins with Strawberry Smoothies

Sense of Home Kitchen

The season is off to a very slow start, but I have now begun to preserve a few fruits.  This cool spring has robbed some of my enthusiasm for planting and preserving.  I finally planted lettuce and radish seeds and just tonight bought the rest of my plants and seeds.  The forecast is warning of a possible freeze tonight so all the plants are tucked away in my garage, hoping against hope for at least one warm sunny day this coming weekend.

At least there were these strawberries at the store for a very good price, too good a price to pass by, enthusiasm or not.  I always end up buying more than I reasonably have time to take care of, but this time round, besides eating several, I decided I would just wash, hull, cut in half and freeze the strawberries for use this coming winter, and with these fall like temperatures that feels all too close.

If I want strawberry smoothies and strawberry bread when the snow is flying I had better get some in the freezer now while the berries are sweet and affordable.

Strawberry Smoothie

~from the Sense of Home Kitchen~

Serves 4 to 6

1 quart kefir

1 quart strawberries, fresh or frozen

1 to 2 tablespoons honey

If the berries are fresh, wash, hull and slice them in half.  Place berries in blender with a little of the kefir and purée, add honey and the rest of the kefir and blend until smooth.

Note:  If I have whey left over from making cheese I will substitute whey for some of the kefir.  Adding a banana is also good and I often substitute other fruit for the strawberries.  Yogurt can be substituted for the kefir. 

Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Drinks

A Quiet Week and a Busy Summer

This has been a quiet week for me, my grandmother is close to death, they gave her 24 to 48 hours today, so I have been spending more time with her.  I will be helping my mother at her health food store this summer, besides my full time job at the library, making these next few months extra busy.  I have several recipes to share and I will do so as I have time.  This photo is from last year and I am very happy to report that this hydrangea survived the winter and is growing nicely.  Tonight we hired someone to till our garden and we ate hot dogs for dinner.  Some days, some weeks are like that.

Sunday Stills

Beef and Bacon Meatloaf

Unfortunately when Blogger went down this week it published this post, but deleted all the words and the recipe.  I do not have the time or even the energy right now to rewrite, so I will just repost this recipe for future reference.

Beef and Bacon Meatloaf
~From the Sense of Home Kitchen, adapted from Bon Appétit, January 2009~
Serves 4

1 medium red onion, coarsely diced
3 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/4 pounds ground beef (10% fat)
1/2 cup ketchup, divided
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
7 slices thick-cut bacon, 5 coarsely chopped, 2 halved crosswise
4 slices day old ciabatta, torn into pieces
1 tablespoon dried parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Blend onion and garlic in a food processor until onion is finely chopped.  Transfer to a large bowl; add beef, 1/4 cup ketchup, and next 3 ingredients.

Add chopped bacon and bread to processor.  Using on/off turns, blend until bread is chopped.  Scrape mixture into bowl with beef.  Add parsley; stir gently to blend well.  Transfer mixture to a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Arrange bacon-slice halves crosswise on top of meat, spacing apart and tucking edges down sides of loaf.  Spoon remaining ketchup between bacon slices.  Bake meatloaf until cooked through and meat comes away from the sides of the pan, about 1 hour.  Let rest 10 to 15 minutes.  Slide spatula under one end of the meatloaf.  Tilt pan and slide loaf out onto platter.  Slice and serve.


Sense of Home / Recipes / Beef / Main Dishes

Parsnip Muffins

Sense of Home Kitchen

I lead a quiet, simple life, some might even call it dull, I am ok with that.  Simple things interest me, one of them is planting a kitchen garden, seeing it produce and then making use of the fruits and vegetables by canning, freezing, dehydrating, and storing the produce in a root cellar.  It is a satisfying feeling come fall to stand back and look across the pantry shelves full of the fruits of our labor.  But, now the labor begins again.  I have used up the majority of our preserved items from last year and soon I will be preserving again.  First though, I need to plant my garden.

I had hoped to begin digging in my garden this weekend, but it has been raining nearly all this week and after a late snow melt our soil is saturated.  It is still too early here to put out the tomato plants, but the potatoes, onions, spinach and peas could be planted.  So I have high hopes that the sun will shine and begin to dry up my little garden, oh how I look forward to picking spinach and peas from my kitchen garden.

This recipe has got me thinking about the kitchen garden because it has the last of the parsnips, from our neighbor's garden, in it.  I took a carrot muffin recipe and turned it into a parsnip recipe with some other slight changes.  Parsnips are slightly sweet, as are carrots, thus making them perfect for muffins or even cake recipes.  Add honey instead of sugar, substitute whole wheat flour for half the flour in the recipe, use dried fruit and nuts that you have in your pantry and you have a healthy muffin to go with your morning tea, or coffee if it is the weekend, our morning drinks of choice.

Parsnip Muffins
~From the Sense of Home Kitchen, adapted from Gourmet, May 1998~
Makes 18 muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup honey
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup shredded parsnips
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and shredded
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup unsweetened, flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare 18 1/2-cup muffin cups with muffin papers or butter.

Into a medium-sized bowl sift together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and honey, add eggs and vanilla, and mix well.  Gradually stir in flour mixture, stirring until just combined.

Stir in shredded parsnips and apple, pecans, raisins, and coconut, stirring until just combined.  Do not over mix or that will cause the muffins to be peaked.

Spoon mixture into prepared muffin cups, filling them 3/4 full.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until golden brown and a tester comes out clean.

Cool muffins in cups on racks for 5 minutes before turning out onto racks to cool completely.  Muffins keep in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.  Muffins can be frozen for up to one month.


Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Muffins

Two-Pepper Shrimp

Sense of Home Kitchen

The weather has warmed and I am once again riding my bicycle.  I ride to work when the weather permits and I have written about the benefits here, the "Ode to Bicycles" poem by Pablo Neruda here, and how I like to stop at the farmer's market on the way home here.  Yes, I am thrilled to be riding bike to work again.  Friday evening my husband and I went for a 6 mile ride, winter was long, cold, and snowy, but I think (hope) spring is here to stay.  We even hung our clothes on the line on Saturday, the first time this spring, 6 weeks later than last year.  That is one of the things I like about writing, I can look back and see what I was doing this time last year.

Last year I had started preserving asparagus already and just shy of a year ago I went foraging for asparagus for the first time.  Spring came late this year, but the plants will catch up and we will be in full-swing before I know it, I had better be prepared, find that pickled asparagus recipe and make sure I have canning lids on hand.

With the arrival of warmer temperatures we are cooking some lighter dishes (not completely as you will see in upcoming recipes) and eating more salads.  This recipe is light and has just enough spice with the crushed red pepper and black pepper to provide lots of flavor.  I used precooked shrimp because living in the middle of the country sometimes means you take what you can get.  Because it was precooked and only takes 2 minutes to heat through I did not add the shrimp until the sauce was made and warming then I added them to the sauce and heated it all together.  The shrimp is served on a bed of romaine lettuce and cucumbers that have been soaked briefly in rice vinegar.  The leftover shrimp and sauce I served the next night on Thai rice noodles, which was wonderful too.

Two-Pepper Shrimp

~From the Sense of Home Kitchen adapted from Bon Appétit, April 1996~

Serves 4

The Shrimp

1 pound of uncooked large shrimp, peeled deveined

4 tablespoons dry white wine

2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

The Vegetable

8 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 cups cold water

5 cups shredded romaine lettuce

1 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced

The Sauce

1/2 cup bottled clam juice

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

4 teaspoons olive oil

1 pound onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons of reserved juice from canned whole tomatoes

1/2 cup canned whole tomatoes

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon dried parsley

Mix shrimp, 2 tablespoons wine, ginger, black pepper and crushed red pepper in a large bowl.  Cover and chill 30 minutes.  Remove the shrimp, reserving the marinade.

Pour 7 tablespoons rice vinegar into another large bowl.  Add 2 cups of cold water to the bowl, then shredded lettuce and cucumbers.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Drain.

Whisk clam juice, remaining 2 tablespoons wine and remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar in a medium-sized bowl to blend.  Add cornstarch, salt and sugar; whisk until cornstarch dissolves.  Whisk in reserved shrimp marinade.  Set aside.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add shrimp and sauté until just cooked through, about 2 minutes.  Using slotted spoon transfer shrimp to plate.  Or if you are like me and using precooked shrimp, just wait until later to warm the shrimp in the sauce right before eating.  Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add 2 tablespoons juice from the canned tomatoes and stir 1 minute.  Add tomatoes and garlic and stir 30 seconds.  Re-whisk the clam juice mixture to blend.  Add to skillet and boil until sauce thickens, about 1 minute.  Add shrimp and parsley and toss to coat.  Heat shrimp through about 2 minutes, careful not to overcook, shrimp should form a letter C when cooked, not an O.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat.

Divide lettuce and cucumbers between four plates.  Spoon shrimp mixture and sauce over and serve.

Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Fish and Seafood

Sunday Stills

Sense of Home Kitchen

Vidalia Onion Tarte Tatin

 Sense of Home Kitchen

I just read yesterday that Melissa Clark has a new cookbook coming out called Cook This Now.  I have her other book In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite and have really enjoyed both the writing and the recipes so I was thrilled to hear she has another one in the works.  According to Amazon, her new book is scheduled to be out in October and they are taking pre-orders for the book now.  Of course, I had to add this book to my cart, I'm resisting buying any new ones at present, after my cookbook buying spree this spring, but hey, this book does not come out until the fall, and that is a way off, really.  There have been so many wonderful new cookbooks in the last few months I picked up a few of them for my personal library.  Last October Dorie Greenspan's book Around My French Table came out, then in November there was Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys by David Tanis.  April brought a plethora of new cookbooks for my library,  David Lebovitz's book Ready For Dessert: My Best Recipes, Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day, and Patricia Wells' book Salad As a Meal, which I finally received after being back ordered for a while.  So I have happily been busy reading cookbooks and trying new recipes.  Any new cookbooks on your shelf that you are loving?

I have also been busy reading Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, which I borrowed from the library I work at.  You see I often get side-tracked in my reading, I see another interesting book and I'm off reading that, ignoring the book I started and listed in my "Currently Reading" section of my website.  That is why it takes me so long to read some of those books, I am easily distracted by other shiny objects.  One of the dishes I have been seeing and reading about lately is tarte tatin and in my quest to cook foods I have never cooked before, and make dishes I have never made before, I had decided it was time to make a tarte tatin, but what kind?

Off to the grocery store I went and found that they had Sweet Vidalia onions in the produce section.  Now, it is rare we see Vidalia onions around here, they ship them in once or twice a year and so when I see them I am sure to snag a few pounds.  This made an easy decision on what kind of tarte tatin I would make.  These onions are so sweet that the tarte tasted almost more like dessert than an addition to dinner.  Add a few tarragon leaves and some balsamic vinegar and this was, although not beautiful, a delicious tarte tatin.  The photo below shows just how caramelized the finished tarte tatin gets and although some of the onions look on the burnt side there was no burnt flavor, just a rich caramelized sweet onion flavor.  It is best to use a cast iron skillet to get good caramelization, a nonstick pan just does not cut it.

Vidalia Onion Tarte Tatin
~From the Sense of Home Kitchen, inspired by A Chefs Daughter~

2 tablespoons butter, additional as needed
1 teaspoon sugar
2 pounds of Vidalia onions, peeled and thickly sliced to reveal rings
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed, but kept cool

Using a 10 to 12 inch cast iron skillet, melt the butter and sprinkle in the sugar.  Remove for the heat.

Arrange thick onion slices in the skillet, filling in any spaces with thick onion pieces.  Lay tarragon leaves on top of onion slices and season with salt and pepper.

Return to the heat and cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until the onions are a deep golden brown on the pan side (this may take a little while, for me it was about 10 to 15 minutes, be patient you want the onions to be caramelized), add additional butter if the skillet begins to go dry.  Turn on oven to preheat to 375.

Once the onion is a deep golden brown on the skillet side, add stock and vinegar and bring to a simmer.  Simmer until the liquid is syrupy and almost completely reduced.  Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes.

Roll one sheet of puff pastry out to the size and shape of your skillet.  Place puff pastry sheet on top of onions right in the skillet and tuck the edges down between the onion and the pan.

Place skillet in preheated oven and bake until the pastry is golden brown and juices are bubbling, about 25 minutes, watching close so the pastry does not burn.

Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.  Serve warm.


Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Pastries / Side Dishes

Spicy Stew (with a side of compost)

Sense of Home Kitchen

A few nights ago, a week ago to be exact, it was a beautiful spring evening, everyone was out working in their yards and my husband and I decided to go out and work a bit with our compost.  We compost all winter long, even though temperatures dip down to 20 below, or worse.  We just keep dumping the fruit and veggie peels and egg shells in and let them freeze.  In the spring everything melts, begins to decompose, and we dump in a large container of leaves we collected last fall.  We have two bins, one is a tumbler and one is an old garbage barrel with holes in it, which we stir occasionally with an old broom handle.  I was stirring the garbage barrel compost and decided it looked ready to dump on the garden, and besides we needed an empty compost to start dumping in while we let the tumbler rest and cook.  So I was shoveling compost over the fence and into the garden and I get down far enough that I think we can now carry this barrel around the fence and dump it into the garden.  As we dump the contents the stench hits us.  It turns out the bottom 8 to 10 inches which held an interesting mix of newspaper and soggy composted material had not been getting stirred and it just sat there putrefying.  Well, aware that our backyard now smelled like a ripe barnyard on barn cleaning day I was spreading and shoveling dirt on top of it as fast as I could.  And then I hear the teenage neighbor, from down the alley mind you, say to her mom, "It smells like something died out here".  We do not hear mom's reply, but we can only assume she is gesturing toward our yard and quietly commenting while rolling her eyes.  Then we hear the daughter say, "I thought there was a dead body out here".  At which point I say to my husband, "and I am burying it as fast as I can".

While this may not be an appropriate dinner story it was dinner that started this decaying garden fertilizer.  We eat a lot of vegetables which creates a lot of compost.  This recipe alone created a small pile of compost material in our old 1/2 gallon ice cream bucket that we later added to the bin.  Garlic and shallot skins, potato and yam skins, they all went into the bucket, and their tasty insides went into this spicy stew.  Serve this stew with a piece of crusty bread and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Spicy Beef, Shallot and Root Vegetable Stew
~From the Sense of Home Kitchen, inspired by Bon appétit, October 2001~
6 Servings

1 pound beef stew meat
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped shallots
1/4 cup chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 dried red chili pepper, with seeds, if you want the heat
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups beef stock
2 cups whole tomatoes in juice
3 medium-sized potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium-sized yams, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup dry red wine (use the same wine you plan to drink with dinner, if you are drinking any, I used a Cabernet Sauvignon)

Place beef chunks in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add flour; toss to coat.  Heat oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat, sauté stew meat until brown, about 5 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer beef to another bowl; reserve flour remaining in first bowl.  Add shallots and garlic to pot, stir one minute.  Add reserved flour and stir for 30 seconds.  Add both stocks, thyme leaves, and crush the chili pepper into the pot (removing the seeds if you don't want as much heat, but we love the heat).  Bring to a boil and scrap up browned bits.  Add tomatoes with their juices and beef with any accumulated juices; return to boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 45 minutes.  Uncover; add potato and yam cubes.  Add red wine and simmer uncovered until potatoes, yams and beef are tender and sauce thickens, stirring often, careful not to break potatoes, about 40 minutes longer.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Sense of Home / Recipes / Stews

Rosemary and Leek Focaccia

Sense of Home

I have had a few days off work recently and besides some spring cleaning, appointments, and organizing files I spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen.  There are so many dishes I want to try, it seems my list grows even as I am cooking.  I have also purchased a number of amazing cookbooks this spring that I am excited to cook from and hope to share my version of a few of the recipes I try.  One of the books that I have really been enjoying is Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys by David Tanis, which came out in 2010.  Mr. Tanis, by the way, is the head chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, according to his book, so he comes to the kitchen with plenty of experience.  He is also the author of A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, which came out in 2008, two beautifully artistic, cookbooks full of wonderful recipes to try.  The focaccia recipe is so good you can imagine all kinds of ingredient adaptations to place on top of the basic dough recipe.

I had leeks and rosemary on hand so those are the ingredients I chose for toppings.  In some ways focaccia is like pizza dough, any toppings will work, just use the ingredients you have available and the ones your taste buds prefer, you can't go wrong with that.

Rosemary and Leek Focaccia

~From the Sense of Home Kitchen, adapted from Heart of the Artichoke, by David Tanis~

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon honey

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading

2 teaspoons sea salt

1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra for drizzling and cooking leeks

1 cup finely sliced leeks

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Place 1/2 cup of the warm water in a small mixing bowl, add yeast and honey and stir with a wooden spoon.  Let the mixture sit until bubbles form, about 5 minutes.

Add the remaining 1 cup of water, 3 cups of flour, salt, and olive oil and stir with the wooden spoon until a sticky ball of dough forms and all the flour and oil are incorporated.  Dust the work surface with flour and turn out the ball of dough onto it, dust the dough with flour and knead for a couple minutes.

Drizzle a little olive oil into the bowl and place the dough back into the bowl, turning dough to coat with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until it has about doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and place it on a baking sheet lined with Silpat or oiled.  If you want a thicker focaccia use a smaller baking sheet, thinner use a larger baking sheet.  Work the dough into roughly a rectangle shape filling most of the baking sheet, if you do not have Silpat, the oiled sheet will take a bit more working with the dough before the dough relaxes and lays in place.  Cover the focaccia with oiled plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for another hour.

In the meantime clean and finely slice your leeks until you have approximately 1 cup of sliced leeks.  Sauté the leeks in a tablespoon or so of olive oil until they are soft, set aside.  Prepare your rosemary by roughly chopping, and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Uncover the risen focaccia dough, place the leeks and rosemary evenly across the dough, drizzle dough with olive oil.  Poke small indentations all over the top of the focaccia dough with your finger, and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until it is browned on top and the bottom appears done.  Cool on pan for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Sense of Home / Recipes / Bread

New Address and Title

The Sense of Home web site is moving to a new address and title.  Sense of Home will change to Sense of Home Kitchen and the new address is www.senseofhomekitchen.com

Blogspot assures me that the old address will work and will redirect traffic to www.senseofhomekitchen.com however, for the small number of you that are linked to my site, you may want to enter the new address.

Why the change?  Well, if you have been reading for awhile you may have noticed that this website has become more focused on cooking.  I am planting a garden and will post photos from that, I will be preserving produce from the garden and farmer's market again this year and I will post about my adventures in canning, pickling, dehydrating, and freezing, my focus will still remain on homemade, however, I will be focusing on homemade as it pertains to the kitchen, which is my passion.

I do hope you will continue on the journey of discovering new recipes, food, cooking methods, and adventures in the kitchen with me.

Sense of Home Kitchen
~Brenda

Leek and Mushroom Egg Bake

Sense of Home

I think egg bakes are one of the easiest ways to make a simple meal that will provide good leftovers for the workweek.  Egg bakes are also a perfect brunch food, serve this with a big fruit salad and you have a full meal.  I actually made this a couple weeks ago and we got a couple of dinners and several lunches out of this dish.  At the store I had purchased fresh leeks and mushrooms because they looked so good, then I wondered what I would make from them.  A soup sounded good, but we had eaten several soups lately, including this spicy chicken curry soup, that famous French onion soup, tomato soup that I had canned last fall, and it wasn't too long ago that we had wild mushroom and leek soup.  We like soup, but I wanted to make something different with my leeks and mushrooms.

Leeks are always so sandy that I cut off the root end and the dark green leaves, then I slice the remaining white and very light green leek in half lengthwise and separate the leaves, place the separated leaves in a bowl of water, and give them a good swish, then let the bowl sit while the sand settles to the bottom.  Once the sand and grit has settled, gently remove the leaves and dry them on a clean kitchen towel.  Leeks may be a little trouble to get them clean, but their mild onion flavor is perfect for this dish. 

Leek and Mushroom Egg Bake
~from the Sense of Home Kitchen, inspired by a December 2008 Gourmet Egg Custard~
8 servings

3 tablespoons butter, divided
2 cups thinly sliced leeks
10 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 cups grated Gruyère (approximately 6 ounces)
10 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (you can eyeball this one)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. with rack in the middle.  Butter a 9x13x2-inch baking dish.

Place 2 tablespoons of butter in a large sauté pan and sauté sliced leeks until tender, reserve butter and spread leeks evenly on the bottom of prepared dish.  Add one tablespoon of butter and sauté sliced mushrooms, spread these on top of leeks in the prepared dish.  Sprinkle Gruyère evenly on top of the mushrooms.

Blend eggs, milk, cottage cheese, and nutmeg in a blender with pepper and salt until smooth.

Pour egg mixture over leeks, mushrooms, and Gruyère in dish and bake until puffed, set, and golden, 35 to 45 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.



Sense of Home / Recipes / Eggs / Vegetarian Dishes

Sunday Stills

Sense of Home

Artichokes