Caramelized Onion Tart

Umm oops, I haven't been on here for awhile. I moved to a new apartment and had to quickly assemble kitchen equipment (finally got a frying pan!) so there was very little cooking. And the cooking I did do was basic one-pan things like pasta or omelettes- not worthy of a blog post. This caramelized onion tart is from a month ago I think. It's really really good- I bought puff pastry because I didn't have time to make it.

The inspiration behind this pizza was an amazing pizza I had at Z Pizza in the Houston airport during a hellish layover/flight back from Cozumel. We almost didn't make it back and suddenly were able to get on the standby line! We got a quick bite to eat here- I had the Tuscan pizza, which was different types of mushrooms, feta and caramelized onions. It was very smelly- so much so that I didn't want to open it on the plane. It was so good though, so smelly and so good. I even liked the feta and I hate feta! (I guess I can downgrade the hate to a "sometimes I like")

This was easy, but not fast. It's also best the day you make it, unless you like soggy puff pastry.

Quiche Lorraine

Sauteed Leeks.

This is such a decadent recipe with a lot of cream and cheese and butter. It's based off the Le Pain Quotidien Quiche Lorraine recipe. I've never had the quiche there, but I've had a lot of soups and bread there and their super delicious Nutella-type spread.

Browned custard.

Mine turned out a little runny because I used "light" sour cream, which is runnier. It took me (and friends) several days to finish because it is SO rich and heavy. I cheated and used puff pastry- I didn't want to make dough on a week night when I only have 30-45 minutes to cook. But the dough looked delicious, so it's worth a try if you have time.

This photo doesn't do it justice- sorry my kitchen lighting is terrible!

Chicken Pot Pie

I was craving Marie Calendar's chicken pot pie so I thought I'd try to make it myself. I found a recipe from Ina Gartan, a food genius. I saved time by chopping up the vegetables the day before. I didn't have peas (darn) so I made it with potatoes, celery, carrots and green onions. I also saved time by using boneless/skinless chicken breast and pan-fried it and used Trade Joe's chicken broth. Annnndddd I used store bought puff pastry (I love puff pastry). I cheated my way through this recipe and it was SO GOOD.

Here's the roux. There's a lotta butter in this (I skipped the cream and used 2% milk instead, I figured there's enough fat in this recipe).

Ingredients chopped and ready to go! I par-cooked the potatoes and blanched the carrots (I wanted them to be slightly crunchy).

I made 2/3ish of the recipe and I made enough for four small ramekins and...

I still had enough for an 8" cake pan.... I don't have any pie pans (yet).

Look at that!!!! It was so good! The double whammy of chicken broth and chicken bouillon really make a difference in this recipe. I also ended up using the same pan for frying the chicken and the roux and I think the fond gave it some extra depth. It was very chicken-y.... and delicious.... and disappeared in 1.5 days!

Why I love Puff Pastry

I just bought a kitchenaid mixer and... wait what does that say?? Your KitchenAid Stand Mixer will mix faster and more thoroughly than most other electric Stand Mixers.. hmm INTERESTING.

Ok, this recipe is not fancy, but I LOVE Hot Pockets and I'm trying to learn to love cheese in food besides cheese burgers, pizza and chili cheese fries. Here is the blog where I found the recipe. I really love frozen puff pastry (even my Ralphs has it so yours probably will too). It's so convenient! I let it thaw while I prepare the other ingredients... just be careful not to tear it when you open the folds. I usually use it in sweet recipes- this is my first savory one with puff pastry.

When it says you should stretch the dough, you really should try to stretch it a tad bit, or make less filling. I didn't stretch the first 2 and I had leftover filling (plus 1 busted open).

Here's mine:




And I also bought pastry shells because there were on sale and ended up with this:


It's a modified version of the Fresh Strawberry Pie recipe from Epicurious (which I can't find right now...). It was basically cubed strawberries macerated, and then that juice + lemon juice + gelatin and then the macerated strawberries were added back in. This was left until almost solidifed and it was spooned into the already baked shells. Overall, delicious (but I did overbeat the cream).