Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

After our usual Sunday morning watching CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, we sat down to a delish Easter Brunch.

The menu:

Tarragon Scrambled Eggs with cream cheese

Turkey Sausage

Tropical Fruit Salad

Roasted Asparagus

French Press French Vanilla Coffee

Now we're headed off to a basketball game and then some more studying.

Artichoke and Asparagus Quiche

Reading Terminal has been overrun by early spring asparagus! I picked up three bunches and have been eating asparagus for about a week straight. We also had some canned artichokes in the cupboard and a little cheese left from DiBruno Brothers.

Quiche-y Goodness pre-baking

Finished product!

Artichoke and Asparagus Quiche Recipe:

Filling:

1 (14.5 oz) can artichokes drained and squeezed to remove excess water

1 bunch asparagus

1/2 cup cheese, cubed (this is to your preference, I used a hard Parmesan-ish cheese)

4 eggs

1/3 c. sour cream (I used light)

2/3 milk

salt and pepper

Crust:

This can either be made crustless or with a generic pie crust recipe. I can't give out mine... family secret. If you need a recipe, try this set of step-by-step directions.

Filling:

Preheat oven to 425. Roll out dough and fit to a 9 inch pie pan. Place pie crust and pan on a baking sheet to prevent spillage if your crust bubbles over.

First, prepare your asparagus by snapping off the tough, woody stems. I've tried to use them before and trust me, they're nasty.

Fill a mixing bowl with 1 tray of ice cubes and cold water. Set aside, this will be used to shock your asparagus.

Fill a skillet half way with water, cover and bring to a boil. Once the water has come to a rolling boil, toss in your asparagus and blanch for 2 minutes.

Drain your asparagus and immediately toss the spears into the ice bath. This will stop the cooking process and keep the spears nice and crunchy.

Remove the spears from the ice bath and drain. Slice the asparagus into 1 inch pieces.

Dice the cheese and artichokes to match the asparagus in size.

Toss the vegetables and cheese into the bottom of the pie crust. Make sure they cover the bottom of the crust evenly

For the custard:

Thoroughly beat the four eggs together. Add in the sour cream, milk, salt and pepper.

Beat the custard mixture thoroughly and pour over the veggies and cheese.

Bake the quiche at 425 for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 and bake for 50 more minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Can be served either hot or cold.

Viennese Plum Cake

Viennese Plum Cake

Topped with a dusting of powdered sugar and a scoop of Philadelphia style vanilla ice cream

Recipe:

Cake:

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs at room temperature (added one at a time)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS sour cream
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Plum Layer:
4 to 5 plums (quarter plum, discard pit and slice thinly)
1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

Strusel:

1/2 cup flour

4 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Line a square baking dish with tinfoil and spray generously with PAM. I used our cast iron grill pan.

Cake:

1) Combined flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2) Mix melted butter and sugar until fully incorporated.

3) Add eggs, one by one, and mix well after each addition.

4) Whisk in sour cream and vanilla extract

5) Whisk in the flour mixture in batches and mix well

6) Pour the batter into your skillet of baking pan

Plum layer:

Toss the plums in the cinnamon and sugar

Lay the plums on top of the cake batter in a uniform pattern. This makes the cake look as good as it tastes!

Strusel topping:

1) Combine flour and sugar and mix well

2) Mix in melted butter until thoroughly mixed

3) Mixture should look grainy or sandy

4) Crumble evenly over the plums

Bake for 50 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes. When you are ready to serve, dust the plum cake with powdered sugar and serve with a big scoop of ice cream!

Pickled Okra

March 29th was a day I never thought would come. While Mary was visiting me I picked up 2 pounds of fresh okra at Reading Terminal and a bag of pickling spices. I had been dying to try making my own pickled okra for a while and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

I recycled a pickle jar and packed as much fresh, raw okra in there as I could.

Recipe:

Empty, clean 46 fl. oz. pickle jar

2 pounds raw, washed okra

2-3 TBS Pickling spice

4 whole garlic cloves

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup water

2 TBS kosher salt

1/2 tsp sugar

First, wash your okra really really well. Drain. Pack the okra tightly in the pickle jar.

Next, Bring the vinegar and water to a boil.

Add in all ingredients besides the okra. Boil rapidly for 2 minutes.

I let the liquid cool for about 5 minutes (I'm impatient) and then poured it over the okra in my pickle jar.

Let the jar sit for a while to cool. Screw the lid on as tightly as you can. Then comes the hard part. Let the okra marinate for 10 days. The okra was a little slimy at first but I just added a few TBS of water and shook the jar.

I'm always so happy when our fridge looks like this. Stay tuned for an asparagus and artichoke quiche!