Winter – Page 37 – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

Quiche with Beet Greens

January 28, 2012January 28, 2012by Rebecca4 Comments

Sometimes, you stumble across a good thing. And you keep making it randomly here and there as convenience allows. Over and again and each time tweaking a bit here and a bit there. And each time it tastes delicious and just a twinge different.

That’s what this quiche has done. It’s one of those decadent gone-wholesome things that somehow tastes better than either merely decadent or wholesome can on their respective own. I first tried this with chard, mushrooms, wheat germ, cheddar, and milk. Now it’s beet greens, flax seed, smoked gouda, and buttermilk. This is incredibly forgiving.

Just add enough greens, (whatever you have on hand that needs used up is fine), to make you think you might turn into popeye, and I guarantee, it’ll turn out alright.

The trick, I think, is the crust. It’s incredibly unconventional, not at all like any other quiche I’ve ever found. And oh, so delicious. Half the greens go in the crust, you see. And it’s like magic happens in the oven. I think if I were really starving I could live on the crust alone and be happy.

Quiche with Beet Greens, Serves 2-3

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour or all-purpose gluten free flour mix

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. ground flax seed

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1-2 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 lb. beet greens (can easily substitute chard, spinach, etc.), finely chopped stems and leaves

1/4 medium red onion

1 oz. smoked gouda cheese, grated

2 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

pinch of dry mustard powder

pinch of nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, flax seed, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Set aside. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium. Add half the beet greens to skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook until greens wilt and release liquid.
Add cooked greens to the flour mixture and mix with a fork to incorporate. Transfer to a 6-inch cake pan and firmly press mixture into bottom and about half-way up the side of the pan. If using gluten-free flour, you may need to add a bit extra moisture to this mixture, such as oil and water. Bake until golden and firm, about 25 minutes. Cool.
In reserved skillet, heat about 1/2 tablespoon oil over medium. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add remaining greens to the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the grated cheese. Top the prepared crust with the greens and cheese mixture.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, nutmeg, mustard powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pinch of black pepper. Pour this custard over the greens mixture. Bake until the custard is set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Winter

Mastering the Humble Scone

January 27, 2012January 23, 2012by Rebecca2 Comments

It’s time again to share another successful Daring Bakers challenge! This time around Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

That’s right. Scones in the rest of the world (as in not the U.S.) are the same thing as our biscuits. Who would have known? (unless you’ve traveled to England, Ireland, or Australia of course.) Well, let’s just say that during my time over in Europe, scones made a showing for quick breakfasts to-go while we were catching the morning bus to far-off places. Usually I’d take the wholemeal versions and W would opt for the creamy white fluffs, like these.

Back in America, I’d mastered the perfect biscuit recipe yielding light and fluffy (and somewhat healthy) results. But then gluten happened. Or, shall I say, a reaction to gluten happened, and here I am with a challenge on hand that was more than enough challenge for the first month of the year and baking gluten-free!

I tried several recipes for scones–none of which began as gluten-free because I believe that everyone should have access to this recipe, not just those with special diets. I did end up deciding that all of Audax’s wonderful work proved correct and she had developed (or discovered) the best basic recipe for the English scone or American biscuit that could be easily adaptable for me. So I only tweaked my flours a bit, but left the remaining recipe the same for you to try.

In the future, I will be creating a wholegrain version of these to satisfy my desire for texture and heft, but for now these do perfectly with a bit of rhubarb jam and a good strong cuppa. And they will become my go-to for all those friends and fam that don’t share my desire for wholegrain!

Basic Scones (a.k.a. Basic Biscuits)

Serves about four. Recipe can be doubled.

Ingredients:

1 cup (140 gm) all-purpose flour or 140 grams all-purpose gluten-free mix plus 3/4 tsp. xanthan gum

2 teaspoons (10 gm) fresh baking powder

¼ teaspoon (1½ gm) salt

2 tablespoons (30 gm) frozen grated butter

approximately ½ cup (120 ml) cold milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to very hot 475°F

2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)

3. Rub the frozen grated butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones.

4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!

5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)

6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick. Separate into four equal portions and gently form into rounds.

7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Lightly flour the tops.

8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.

9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

Winter

Cheesy Italian Charcuterie Sandwich

January 14, 2012January 14, 2012by Rebecca3 Comments

There’s this little Italian shop in Corvallis that W and I love so much. Most people go there for the lovely Italian sandwiches. We mostly go there for the meats, cheese, and wine. The gentleman-owner seems to slice his cuts thinner and nicer than any other place in town. And he knows his stuff too. And the place just makes me want to step on over to Italy. Right now.

Now that I only get to Corvallis a couple times a month, it seems important somehow to try to stop by when I’m in town. Though we’ve tried a variety of meats, we tend to always go back for the same ones. A recent jaunt led us to this amazing creation. One that though completely unplanned until the instant those ingredients were smacked on the bread, will go down as one of the best.

Though something about the bread may have added to the intrigue. I was supposed to post about the December Daring Bakers Challenge last month. But a month of traveling and work and planning for other life changes led me to be a bit behind on the sourdough challenge. So when I finally did get around to it, I made a Rice, Flax, and Brazil Nut recipe that just didn’t have enough activity for me. (Wild yeasty sourdough activity, that is). And while I’d like to say it was the obscure ingredients, this time I think it might be that that particular cookbook just doesn’t work for me. I own a copy and have tried multiple recipes with and without various sourdough starters. I’ve never met with success. And so when I saw the challenge recipe source, I really did groan as I just knew I was doomed for failure. As such, the bread never did rise, really. But it sure tasted good. Not like the brick it looked like. But real flavor that was a real match for the lovely ingredients that topped it off. So while I won’t recommend you try this particular bread recipe, do have a go at the ingredients on top, with or without a sourdough bread.

Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create sourdough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with sourdough recipes from Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sourdough bread in, from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

Cheesy Italian Charcuterie Sandwich

good quality bread

3-4 thin slices good quality salami

3-4 thin slices good quality pepperone

1-2 thin slices medium or sharp cheddar cheese

1-2 thin slices good quality mozzarella cheese

4-5 kalamata olives, sliced

1-2 brown muchrooms, sliced

Sliced yellow bell pepper

handful fresh spinach leaves

Turn oven to broil.
Toast bread until slightly dry.
Layer on meats, mushrooms, pepper, olives and cheeses. Pile spinach on top.
Place in the oven on broil for 2-3 minutes. You want the cheese to sizzle and pop and the spinach leaves to start to charcoal.
Take out of the oven and enjoy!