Zucchini Gratin

This is my adaptation of an Ina Garten recipe. I was watching Ina’s show on television recently and saw her use zucchini to make a gratin. For once, I had all the ingredients on hand and was able to try it out immediately. According to Ina, this gratin can be assembled a day in advance and baked just when needed.

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp butter
1 onion, thinly sliced
½ tsp red pepper flakes
2 large zucchini, sliced into ¼ inch thick rounds
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
4 tsp all-purpose flour
½ to ¾ cup milk (I use 2%)
¾ cup grated mozzarella (I kept the block of cheese in the freezer for 15 minutes to make grating it easier)
½ to ¾ cup bread crumbs


Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan and cook the onions till soft. Add the red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and nutmeg followed by the zucchini and cook until tender.

Stir in the flour and then add the milk. Mix well to remove any lumps that may be present. Cook over low heat until it thickens to form a sauce.

Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish. (I used a 9-inch pie dish for this.)

Mix the bread crumbs with the grated cheese and sprinkle on top of the zucchini mixture.

Dot with 1 tablespoon of butter cut into small bits and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is all bubbly and the surface develops a nice brown crust.

Notes: I think I’ll try grating the zucchini (instead of making rounds) and squeezing out the excess water from it when I make this gratin the next time. There was something not quite right about the texture here. I’ll also use another kind of cheese- the Mozzarella here gave the gratin a slightly chewy and almost rubbery texture. Ina recommends Gruyère cheese for this recipe.

Mushroom And Spinach Quiche With Potato Crust

I recently watched an episode of Cook Yourself Thin where a quiche was made using a potato crust. It seemed like a great idea and one that I couldn’t wait to try out.

A crust made up of shredded potatoes is definitely a healthy alternative to the usual fat-laden pastry crusts I’ve seen used in most quiche recipes. I followed the recipe very closely and did not make too many changes. I had a crisper full of vegetables in the refrigerator, and so I used a little bit of everything for this quiche.
Here’s what I did…

Ingredients:
For the crust:
3 potatoes peeled and grated (I used Russet)
2 tsp oil
Salt
Pepper

For cooking in a pan:
2 Tbsp oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
½ onion, diced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
¼- ½ tsp dried thyme (optional)
4 cups sliced mushrooms,
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup chopped asparagus
2 cups baby spinach

For the custard:
3 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
Salt
Pepper
3 Tbsp freshly grated Gouda cheese

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch pie dish/plate (I used glass) with some oil. Squeeze all the excess water out of the grated potatoes. Toss grated potatoes with oil, salt, and pepper. Press into an even layer in pie dish, up the sides like a crust. Bake until golden brown at the edges and dry, about 20-22 minutes. Then broil for 2 minutes or so. Watch the crust carefully here so that it does not burn. Let cool.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Heat oil in a large skillet, over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until mushrooms release their liquid and most of the liquid evaporates. Stir in the chopped asparagus and red bell pepper pieces. Cook till the vegetables soften. Add spinach and cook, stirring, just until spinach wilts, let cool slightly.

Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Spread the vegetable mixture in an even layer in the pie dish. I used all but one cup of the cooked vegetable mixture here since I thought it would be a little too much for the quiche. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the vegetable mixture. Carefully pour in egg mixture.

Bake until golden brown and set in the center, about 30-35 minutes. Let cool, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon-Butter Crepes

Recently, on our way back from a wonderful trip to Montreal, we stopped in the Schroon Lake region of the Adirondacks of Upstate New York for a while. We love the Adirondacks. H has been there a couple of times now and the last time we were there (which happened to be my very first time), was two years back, and we’d spent almost four days then exploring the region. This time around though, we were just passing through and did not have a lot of time, but we just had to make a quick stop to take in the jaw-dropping scenery and the stunning landscapes. Nature’s breathtaking beauty had me speechless!
Here are a couple of pictures of the ice-covered Schroon lake.


















Walking along Schroon Lake's Main Street, we came across this quaint and charming eatery called The Morningstar Bistro. This is what this delightful little place looked like...

We decided to stop in for a quick meal before heading back home. After studying the menu for what seemed like an eternity, I finally settled for a lemon-butter crepe. H decided to go for a sandwich and the soup of the day- a gingered carrot soup. The meal ended with an espresso for H and a hot cocoa for myself.

Here's a picture of what I had...
This is what H had...


This weekend, I tried to recreate the fabulous crepes of the Morningstar Bistro. With the help of Food Blog Search, I came pretty close to doing just that. I followed Marc’s recipe (he also has some great tips for making the perfect crepe) and was very happy with the way my crepes (my first ever, BTW) turned out.
Here' s the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 ½ cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Butter
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Powdered sugar

Method:
Put all the ingredients (except the butter, lemon juice and powdered sugar) in a blender and process to get a smooth batter.

Melt a teaspoon (or more) of butter over medium heat in a stainless steel pan and using a ladle, pour the batter onto the pan. Take the pan off the heat and tilt in a circular motion so that the batter thinly coats the bottom of the pan.
When the edges start to brown, carefully flip the crepe and cook the other side for another 30 seconds or until you see a couple of brown spots when you peek under the crepe.

Transfer to a plate, apply a smidgen of butter all over the crepe while it is still hot, squeeze some lemon juice (be very generous here), and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar.Repeat the process with the rest of the batter. This recipe makes about 7 crepes.


These crepes make its way to AWED: France.

Blueberry Clafouti

Blueberries were on sale last week at my neighborhood grocery store. So I picked up 2 pints. While scouting around the internet for something nice to make, I came across this recipe for a clafouti. This was something new to me but it seemed simple and straightforward enough, and so I was willing to try it out.

Clafouti (pronounced clah-foo-tee), sometimes spelled clafoutis, is a custard-like baked French dessert that is typically made by baking fresh fruit (traditionally cherries) and a batter, somewhat similar to pancake batter, in a baking dish. (Source: Wikipedia)

Without making too many changes to the original recipe, this is what I did.

Ingredients:
1 pint= 2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
½ - ¾ cup sugar (depending on sweetness desired)
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
¾ cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Butter for greasing the baking dish

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking dish.

Arrange the blueberries in the dish in a single layer.

Place the eggs in a mixing bowl and whisk until they begin to turn light and fluffy, and foam. Stir in the sugar and continue whisking. Add the milk, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, and flour, one at a time, until the mixture is light and airy. Beat until well combined.

Pour the batter over the blueberries to cover evenly.

Bake in the oven until the top is golden and set, and springs back when touched. (Check after 35 minutes or so. Mine took about 50 minutes.)

Remove from oven and cool slightly. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, cut into wedges and serve warm.

I had no idea what to expect since I'd never tasted a clafouti before but judging from the taste I'd say that I did a pretty decent job with my very first one. I think it's great not only as a dessert but would also make for a healthy and filling breakfast, albeit a little sweet, considering that it’s basically just a baked fruit pancake.

After making the clafouti I looked around for an event that I could perhaps send this across for, and sure enough, there was one! :D

So, off this goes to the WTSIM Berried Treasure event and AWED: France.