Greens and cheese quiche

This is a sort of ad hoc recipe, but I made it, tasted it, and proclaim it good enough to share. A result of too many veggies last week, since I got most of the share due to the long weekend. It is a version of a spinach and cheese quiche, but uses assorted greens instead, and a "crust" of shredded red potatoes instead of time consuming dough making - I suppose you can make it in any pan, but I used an 8 inch nonstick pie pan.

Trim and steam any and all greens on hand. I used the Kale, Chard and beet greens of last week. Let cool, squeeze out the water, and chop coarsely.

Cook 4 slices of bacon or turkey bacon in a pan, and then saute 1/2 an onion and 1 tsp of chopped garlic in the same pan, to get that extra flavor.

Shred 4 small red potatoes, with the peel, into a bowl. Add a 1/2 tsp of salt, mix well, and then squeeze out the water with your hands. Season the shredded potatoes with whatever is on hand - I used some grill seasoning. Pat into the bottom of the pan, and bake at 400 for about 8 minutes.

Crumble bacon, and spread over the potato crust. Mix the greens with the onions, add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella...anything tasty), and spread on top of bacon. Beat 4 eggs, add a bit of pepper and more grill seasoning, and pour over the greens. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes, or until the quiche is set (doesn't jiggle when you shake the pan).

Enjoy, and share. :)

Good, easy greens

Here's something I just this weekend stole from Mark Bittman (New York Times). I tested it, and, ecco!, it's right as rain.

Here's the recipe, in its entirety:
Poach a couple of pounds of dark leafy greens, like kale, collards or spinach. Drain, cool, squeeze dry and chop. Then toss with oil, salt and lots of lemon juice. Serve with more lemon, oil, salt and pepper. Call it horta.

Pesto whole wheat fusilli, with dark greens, carrots, and chicken

I wrote this post on my own blog during week 3 of CSA. However, since the New York Times just did a piece about beets, I thought I'd share it with you all.


"No strawberries this week, but instead we got beets. I love beets, for the nice bloody red color they bleed into the food. I don't roast the beets, just wash well, and then slice the heads into nice half moons and chop the leaves and sautée in a pan with garlic and vegetable oil. This makes a very nice and beautiful side dish, no boring colors on the plate. So this week we'll have a lot of salads again, maybe tomato-less because of the recent salmonella scare, but Maryland tomatoes seem to be ok; Last night for dinner I made Pesto whole wheat fusilli, with dark greens carrots, and chicken. It's as simple as it sounds: sautée the carrots (sliced in nice ovals) and the dark greens in oil, with red hot pepper flakes and garlic, add a quarter cup of white wine (or however much you can spare from that glass you've been sipping from while cooking...) and let it cook until the carrots are almost done, still a bit crunchy (I don't like mushy carrots). When it's almost ready add the cooked chicken ( I had leftovers from a whole chicken that Tim barbecued on Sunday). Season with salt and black pepper. The pasta cooks in salted boiling water in a different pot, and when it's al dente , drain, add to a serving dish, mix in a bit of pesto and chopped herbs . Serve right after salad. Speaking of pasta, we had an authentic Italian dinner recently with A&L and L's Italian parents. It started with pasta (Pesto linguine) , the second course was a slice of roast with bread and cheese, and we ended with salad. This (salad ending) was most surprising , but then it makes sense, you sort of clean your palate, get it ready for desert. Then I remembered that I grew up in Romania and had salad only as a side dish to the meat course. I still remember my surprise my fist lunch at Marlboro College, when I saw people had salad for lunch (as lunch, with maybe a cookie as desert). I think people's eating habits and cultures are fascinating. Bon Appétit!"