Cooking out West

As I said yesterday, we have just returned from spending almost a month with my in-laws. Last summer, their house was in complete disarray; they were in the process of putting in an addition, as well as doing a complete kitchen remodel. Last summer, my mother-in-law moved all of her kitchen into her dining room and survived by cooking with only a microwave. But this summer, we got to enjoy the fruits of the labor, and I enjoyed every minute working in the new kitchen.


While we were there, my in-laws welcomed some friends whom they hadn't seen in twenty years. My mother-in-law and I had great fun preparing a dinner to feed 13 people, centered around her famous garden linguine recipe. I made two batches of Peter Reinhart's pain a l'ancienne (recipe here), most of which I turned into garlic bread. (A couple loaves were left plain for the non-garlic lovers.)

I also baked a batch of these banana split brownies to go with my sister-in-law's homemade Tagalong ice cream.


The next morning, my hubby baked a batch of his famous fancy scrambled eggs (eggs with onions, ham, and cheddar), and, having had both cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins requested, I made both! I used Peter Reinhart's all-purpose sweet dough recipe for the cinnamon rolls (recipe here) and a Cook's Illustrated recipe (via Tracey's site) for best blueberry muffins. I actually baked the muffins twice over our vacation; they truly are the best.


Finally, we took our annual camping trip to Yellowstone. In previous years, we've just brought cold foods in the cooler and visited Yellowstone restaurants, but this year, hubby decided we should actually cook at the camp site. As we pulled into the campgrounds, dime size hail began to fall on the car, and my intrepid hubby built our fire through a continuous rainfall.

For dinner, I'd prepared hobo packets. Hubby was expecting the traditional simple ground beef, potatoes, carrots, and a little butter, but since I was preparing them at home, I decided to go a little fancier. I was inspired by this post on 100 Days of Real Food, and I used her marinade (olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, basil, thyme, oregano, and salt). In the packets, I included chicken sausage, onion, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and a green pepper (only in hubby's...the rest of us don't like peppers). With our packets, we had yogurt and fruit. We, of course (we were camping after all), enjoyed s'mores for dessert.

For breakfast the next morning, we made campfire eggs-in-a-nest, which was about the most delicious way possible to start our day.

Eggs in jars, part 2: Mini-quiches

Last summer, I discovered eggs in jars: we loved the ease of preparing them in advance and having a nice, easy, healthy, tasty breakfast in the morning. But as the school year progressed, hubby and I went back to making normal scrambled eggs for breakfast. I really enjoyed the flavor of the eggs in jars, but the texture got a little dry after a few days.

A couple of weeks ago, we took the family on a little mini-vaca to a waterpark. I like to bring our breakfasts and lunches so that we're not eating out every meal. The kids' breakfast is easy: they eat yogurt and cereal every morning. But I wanted something with more protein for hubby and me, something that could be made ahead of time and reheated in the microwave. And I thought of the eggs in jars. And then I thought of the quiche we'd had a few days before, and wondered if I could combine the two.

I've played with the recipe a few times, combining this one from the Kitchn, this one from Emeril, and this one from NM's Modern Baker. I make a batch in half-pint mason jars, screw on the lids, and pop them in the freezer. The night before, I put one in the fridge, and the next morning, I just throw it in the microwave for 90 seconds and have a delicious quiche!

Disclaimer: I like that the texture is much lighter and more quiche-like, even after several days. It never gets that rubbery texture of old scrambled eggs. And I really like the flavor from the zucchini, but it does create a little extra liquid at the bottom of the jar; hubby didn't like that part.

Quiche in jars
makes 5 half-pint mini-quiches

2/3 cup 2% milk
2/3 cup cream
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped onion (or green onions)
2 small zucchini or 1 large, grated
2 slices ham, chopped (or sausage or turkey sausage)
1/4 cup sharp cheddar, grated (or gruyere or pepperjack)

1. Preheat the oven to 375º.
2. Whisk together the milk, cream, eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a large measuring cup.
3. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and saute for a minute. Then add the grated zucchini and cook for 3 - 4 minutes until the veggies begin to soften.
4. Butter the mason jars. Divide the zucchini and onion mixture evenly between the five jars. Then divide the ham and cheese equally. Finally pour in the egg.
5. Bake the jars (I put them all on a sheet pan for ease of moving them) for 30 - 35 minutes, or until the inside registers 160º.
6. Cool and then cover. These can be kept in the fridge and heated for about 60 seconds in the microwave. They also freeze really well. Just pull the (defrosted) jars from the fridge, microwave for 60 - 90 seconds, and enjoy!

Pizza rustica (TWD: BwJ)

I'm not sure how it's April already, but here we are: the first Tuesday of the month! Our first April Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is pizza rustica by our very own (Modern Baker Challenge and Bake!) Nick Malgieri!

This recipe (or maybe April itself) sneaked up on me, but luckily it's the kind of recipe where you can realize you need to make it at 8 a.m. at work, send the hubby to the grocery store at 3 p.m. for a couple of key ingredients, and still be eating dinner by 5:30.

Pizza rustica is made with a sweet dough, which is quickly mixed in the food processor and handles like a dream. Into the crust goes a mixture of cheese (ricotta), more cheese (Romano), even more cheese (mozzarella), and meat (prosciutto). I wanted to make the recipe as written the first time, but I know some of the other TWDers experimented with adding veggies, and I would love to do that next time: some onions, spinach, maybe a pepper. Yum! You may be thinking that it doesn't sound like pizza, and you'd be right; it's much more like a quiche. Luckily, some of the TWDers had been talking about that very fact, so I named it "quiche" when describing it to the family and no one was disappointed.

I know the sweet crust-salty/savory filling was weird for some people, but with my big sweet tooth, I thought it was quite tasty! The hubby loved it. In fact, he's pretty sad that I need it for my lunches this week and he won't be able to eat it every day for breakfast. The kids, never fans of foods with ricotta, didn't like the filling, but both ate pieces of the crust like it was a cookie.

For the recipe, buy a copy of Baking with Julia, or check out today's hosts: Emily of Capitol Region Dining and Raelynn of The Place They Call Home.