The June issue of Food in the Time of Quarantine is out now! + Quiche Lorraine

We are living in busy, tumultuous times. So many different issues are vying for our attention and even as a lot of places move toward reopening there are still many families that prefer to try to stay at home to try to manage exposure to the virus. As many of us continue to feed our entire families for more meals than we had previously been prepared for, how do we come up with fresh ideas, to keep our meals interesting? How do we even fit such an idea into our exhausting mental load? If this feels overwhelming to you, worry not! Food in the Time of Quarantine, our free pantry staple and cheap eats recipe magazine is here to help. We are thrilled to be bringing you a second issue of our magazine! You can download a FREE copy of the magazine here: https://tr.im/FitToQ2

I couldn't have done it without my amazing contributing editors:

Angela Amberden

Azlin Bloor of Lin's Food

Jodi Kaplan of single serving chef

Mayuri Patel of Mayuri's Jikoni

Indrani Sen of indrani will teach

Giangi Townsend of giangi's kitchen

Balvinder Ubi of simple gluten free kitchen

You can download the first issue here: https://tr.im/_FitToQ1

Quiche Lorraine

Everyone needs a good quiche recipe in their

back pocket. Quiche is a fantastic way to use up

any vegetables that are sitting around in your

fridge, needing to be added to a dish before they

go off.

This Americanized version of Quiche Lorraine is

an excellent jumping off point. Traditionally

Quiche Lorraine is bacon and onions, fried

together, then used to flavor the egg custard in the

quiche. Even cheese is sometimes considered

sacrilege. In this version I've added spinach, so I

can pretend it's healthy and swiss to help preserve

the richness of the dish.

If you want to riff on this with whatever veggies

you have on hand, try to keep the ingredients to

roughly the same proportions. 5-8 ounces of

veggies, for example and around 1-2 ounces of

cheese. You would be well served to keep the eggs (4)

and cream (8oz) as they are. They create a fabulous

silkiness and are as close to a Parisian bistro

quiche as one can get, short of travel.

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

6 ounces chopped frozen spinach

1 store bought shortening pie crust

2 ounces swiss cheese, finely grated

1/2 yellow onion, diced

4 large eggs

1 cup heavy cream

pepper, to taste

Method

Take your shortening crust out of the freezer and

set out at room temperature, in preparation for

pre baking (blind baking) it.. Even if you're using a

homemade crust you want to pre-bake it so it

doesn't turn soggy. For a premade frozen crust:

defrost the crust for 10 minutes while preheating

the oven to 400 degrees.

In a pan over medium heat, cook the bacon slices

until they are thoroughly crispy and all of the fat

has rendered. Set bacon to cool on a paper towel

lined plate and drain all but 2 - 3 Tablespoons of

bacon fat. Saute the onions in the remaining fat

until starting to brown. Add spinach and when it

has defrosted thoroughly and been tossed in the

fat. Set aside to allow to cool.

Meanwhile, Pierce the defrosted crust all over with

a fork and bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until the crust

is barely starting to turn golden. Use pie weights if

you have them to avoid the crust bubbling.

Set crust aside to cool. In a mixing bowl combine

eggs, cream, gruyere, nutmeg, salt and pepper to

taste. Crumble bacon into small pieces and add

cooled bacon, onions and spinach to the eggs.

Turn oven down to 300 and and pour egg mixture

into the cooled pie crust.

Bake for 25 minutes. Turn oven up to 325 and bake

for another 25 minutes, or until top begins to color

and a toothpick inserted into the center of the pie

comes out clean. If it is still undercooked, turn the

heat up to 350 and cook for up to another 10

minutes, checking for a firm center every 5

minutes.

Serve and enjoy! The French like to serve their

quiche alongside lightly dressed spring salad mix.

Zesty Chicken Tortellini Soup

Earlier this week both of my guys were sick. It’s been miserably cold out here (well, for California, anyway) and colds seem to be everywhere. I know how comforting chicken soup can be when you’re sick, and I know some that are convinced that chicken fat holds natural antibiotics. I think that special food always makes me feel better when I’m sick. Because it’s high in vitamin c, I “snuck” some parsley in. I wouldn’t say it added much to the flavor, but it was nice to think of my soup having extra cold fighting powers. Because my toddler has been sort of picky lately (the horrors!), and especially so when he is congested, I decided to make this chicken soup more tempting with tortellini and do a sort of play on tortellini en brodo. A version of the dish with a hearty soup as its staple. And just for fun and because it always helps to clean out the sinuses, a bit of a kick with crushed red pepper flakes. The tortellinis worked to convince him to eat the solids out of the soup, carrots, chicken and all. He had great fun holding the bowl in both hands and slowly slurping the broth.

Perhaps the best thing about this soup is that it comes together quickly. Surprisingly, you can still build some excellent flavors in that short amount of time.

Thankfully, my guys are all better. It was probably just rest and time. But I would like it believe it was my soup. That magical chicken tortellini soup.

Chicken Tortellini Soup




2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups mirepoix
2 Tablespoons minced Italian parsley
2 Tablespoons olive oil
8 cups low chicken broth
16 ounces cheese stuffed tortellini
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons herbed salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Cut chicken into 1” pieces. Heat your soup pot over medium heat. Add olive oil, then mirepoix, parsley, crushed red pepper 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper.

2. When mirepoix has been cooked through, add garlic and saute for one minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken stock, chicken, remaining salt and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.

3. Add tortellini. Cover and cook until tortellini is tender, up to 10 minutes.


Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Andouille Sausage and White Bean Soup - Soup Weather Part Deux

There are as many incarnations of this soup recipe as there are variations on a basic red pasta sauce. The only thing on which the various versions can concur is that the creamy, nutty taste of white beans and their broth is a perfect marriage with the earthy taste of leafy greens and the lusciously fatty, zingy taste of Cajun style pork sausages. This variation on the recipe calls for a bouquet garni, a small bundle of herbs that is typically used in stocks and soups and is traditionally wrapped in a leek (use a leaf from the discarded dark green outer leaves).

Because of its thick, creamy broth this is a hearty soup to have as a meal. I recommend serving it with some toast brushed with a crushed garlic clove and a salad with your favorite dressing.

Andouille Sausage and White Bean Soup

Makes 6 - 8 servings

2 - 4 Andouille sausages, roughly diced (the more sausage you use, the spicier the soup will be)
1 Leek, cleaned and all but one dark green leaf discarded (the leaf is saved for your bouquet garni) and sliced into 1/2" pieces
3 Medium carrots, cut lengthwise and sliced into 1/2" pieces
2 Cans white northern or navy beans (15 oz cans)
1 bunch of kale, chopped small
3 sprigs of thyme
1 bayleaf
1 clove of garlic, gently crushed
6 Peppercorns
6 cups low sodium organic chicken broth
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons cooking sherry
4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
(Optional) salt, to taste
(Optional) 1/2 lb. orzo or a small tubular pasta such as canneroni or mezzi rigatoni (or you can even go for something as fun as stars or alphabet noodles), cooked according to the package directions with 1/2 cup of the cooking water reserved

1. Place thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns and garlic inside outer leek leaf and fold edges over both vertically and horizontally. Secure bouquet garni with kitchen twine as if you are putting ribbon on a wrapped gift. Set aside and, in a soup pot warmed to medium heat, add olive oil. Add sausage to pot and cook until just browned, about 10 - 15 minutes.
2. Toss in sherry and vinegar, and cook 3 - 5 minutes to pick up the fat from the bottom of the pot.
3. Add leeks, carrots and kale and saute until tender, about 8 minutes.
4. Add beans, bouquet garni, stock, water and bring to a boil briefly, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour, until broth starts to get creamy with bean broth.
5. Stir in the cooking water from your optional pasta, if you've made it--it will give the soup a sweet, starchy boost, and cook for an additional 5 minutes to incorporate.
6. Serve each bowl with roughly 3 heaping tablespoons full of cooked pasta (optional).

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken with New Potatoes

One of the best things about doing this blog is the food smell after each new kitchen experiment; it often lingers. Sometimes up to 24 hours. The only thing I enjoy as much as a lovely lingering smell is an easy, 1-dish dinner. This roast chicken, relying on classic techniques, such as placing a fork-pierced lemon inside the cavity and rubbing the skin with butter, so that it mixes with the chicken fat lemon and fresh herbs to form a luscious roasting sauce for the baby potatoes and onions, is more delicious than words can describe! I guarantee this will make your house smell heavenly! I like to serve this with my favorite greens mix, dressed in vinaigrette.

As a bonus, the chicken carcass makes a great base for homemade chicken stock.

Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken with New Potatoes

1 lemon
1 clove of garlic, gently crushed
1 large sprig of rosemary
3 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 onion, quartered
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons butter
Salt, to taste
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
2 lbs. medium sized new potatoes, any type (yukons are great with this), washed and quartered
1 onion, quartered

1. Preheat oven 400 degrees. Rinse the chicken with water inside and out and pat dry thoroughly with paper towels (the drier it is, the crispier the skin).

2. Season the cavity with salt and pepper.

3. Roll the lemon back and forth on a clean countertop, pushing down with the heel of your palm, to help release the juices. Going around the lemon, pierce the fruit from top to bottom with a fork every 1 or so inches, so it has rows of piercings. Rub butter all over the outside of the chicken, then place lemon, garlic, bayleaf, thyme and rosemary inside the bird's cavity. Season the chicken skin with salt and pepper. sprinkle the remaining butter all around the chicken in the pan.

4. Add to greased roasting pan, breast side up, and tuck the wings in. Tie the drumsticks together, to help the chicken hold its shape. If you can use a single long piece of twine and also wrap it around the breasts, keeping the wings tucked in, this will further help its shape.

5. Toss the onions and potatoes in a bowl with 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Add to roasting pan and roast at 400 degrees for approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours, making sure to baste the bird occasionally and turn the bird over after 40 minutes and test the potatoes--they are done, or maybe need 5 minutes more to reach the desired tenderness. Carve and serve with the potatoes.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!