Vegetable Quiche with Smoked Gouda

409. Quiche love is a real thing.  After enjoying our most recent quiche, post #407, I wanted to experiment with a couple different ingredients.  Oh the possibilities with a block of Gouda Cheese, bacon, fresh chives, zucchini and mushrooms.

I made half a recipe of pie crust and filled a 9" spring form pan with the dough to create a high, deep filling that can stand alone once baked.

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Chop up each of the filling ingredients before mixing your eggs.

The Gouda was a smoked variety with apple and hardwood flavor and it added such amazing flavor.

This quiche was packed with so much flavor, texture and every bite was my favorite.

Once baked, the house smelled intoxicating.  Paired with a light spinach salad, what more could you need or want for dinner?

And what a lovely slice of deliciousness.  Happy Weekend!

"Cooking is like painting or writing a song.  Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors - it's how you combine them that sets you apart."

~Wolfgang Puck, Master Chef

Potato Leek Soup

 

307. A fall favorite soup always contains potato and cheddar cheese.  You could almost call this soup "Loaded Potato Soup".  I enjoyed a bowl the next day for a private lunch at the snack bar which in fact tasted even better a day later.

 Here is my recipe for Potato Leek Soup

15 medium potatoes or 8 large, peeled and diced
2 leeks, cut lengthwise and in half placed in a cold water bath to remove sand.  Chop leeks into pieces
Fresh dill chopped, approximately ⅛ cup
Salt & Pepper to taste
water
2 cups whole milk
2  cups shredded cheddar cheese
olive oil
butter as much or as little as you prefer (Butter makes everything better!)
1 lb bacon, fried till crisp and set aside

In a large 8 quart pot place olive oil and bring up heat.  Add diced potatoes and stir allowing some potatoes to lightly brown.  Add chopped leek and half of the dill.  Pour in water to cover potatoes till floating.  Bring to a boil then turn down to simmer till potatoes are tender.  Turn soup off till ready to serve.  15 minutes before serving turn heat back on and add milk, butter and cheddar cheese.  Bring soup temperature back up to just about boiling.  Add another pinch of dill and transfer to serving tureen.

 Serve soup and have crispy bacon bits as an add on as well as fresh chopped dill.

This soup is simplistic yet tastes sophisticated and has a depth of flavor and textures.

"A potato is like a garden carried in the pocket."

~ Ancient Irish proverb for gardening - circa 100bc

Sweet Pumpkin Soup

239. Memories of childhood come flooding back into my mind. It's a Friday night in late October. The air is crisp and chilly. The sounds of whistles blowing and fans cheering our local High School Football team stand out in the distance. Bright lights illuminating the neighborhood from the local stadium. The kitchen windows are steamed up as a hot pot of Sweet Pumpkin Soup gently simmers on the stove.

My mother would always make a pot of Sweet Pumpkin Soup each year in the fall. It is ultimate comfort food for me.

Sweet Pumpkin Soup

4-5 cups raw pumpkin, cubed

1/2 cup water

8 cups milk

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

liquid from cooked pumpkin (reserve after draining pumpkin)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup sugar

cinnamon and sugar

Place cubed pumpkin and 1/2 cup water into a stock pot. Bring to a boil and simmer till pumpkin is tender. Drain liquid and reserve. Mash pumpkin to desired texture leaving chunks if you so desire. Pour milk into pot with cooked pumpkin. Bring to a simmer.

Dumplings: In a separate bowl add melted butter, flour, salt and 1 cup drained liquid. Begin to stir together till it forms a sticky dough. If dough is too dry continue to add more liquid until it comes together into a sticky dough.

Once the soup comes to a boil, dip a tablespoon into the soup to warm the spoon, then scoop a spoonful of dough onto the spoon creating a small ball of dough. Then drop into the soup. Reheat the spoon each time and continue till all dough is used. Simmer the soup for about 25 minutes till dumplings are cooked. Stir in sugar.

Soup will thicken.

Ladle hot soup into bowls and sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar.

"And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen."

~Ward Elliot Hour