Quiche Lorraine

I had brunch the other day with a friend and had a fantastic Quiche Lorraine at Cafe Devine in North Beach.  I decided to remake it for breakfast this morning.  It's a perfect way to start a rainy Sunday and prepare for the Giants game tonight.  I decided to not make a crust with this quiche because it takes time and frankly, I didn't feel like it.  This recipe is for 2 quiche cups that I made in mini Ramekin dishes which turned out pretty damn tasty.  I added some frozen peas for some green but you can substitute scallions or leeks instead if you have them on hand.

Crustless Quiche Lorraine:

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

1/3 cup half and half

1/2 - 3/4 cup graded Gruyere cheese

pinch of salt

freshly cracked pepper

large pinch nutmeg

2 slices of bacon, thinly sliced

1 large shallot, thinly sliced

1/4 cup frozen peas or sliced green onion or leek

2 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed

Preheat oven to 375F.  Combine everything through the nutmeg in a bowl and beat till a little fluffy (20-30 seconds).  Heat a saute pan on medium low heat and add the bacon to render the fat.  When the bacon is crispy, remove with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl lined with paper towels to absorb the fat.  Add the shallots and saute for a minute or so, add some cracked black pepper, then add the peas and the thyme.

In the 2 Ramekin dishes, separate the bacon equally on the bottom.  Spoon enough of the egg mixture on each dish to cover the bacon, then add the shallot and peas.  Spoon the rest of the egg mixture and top with the rest of the cheese and a few more thyme leaves.

Bake in the oven with a tray underneath to catch spillage for about 20 minutes.  Till the egg is set but a little jiggly.

Citrus Ginger Beef

I appologize for the quality of the photo, I only had my point and shoot with me...

The boy and I had a fun couple over for dinner the other night.  Some wine, The Blind Side and very full tummies later we decided that this dinner was post worthy.  Before, we had deliberated on what I would make and decided on an Asian menu: Citrus Ginger Beef, Brown Rice, and a Cucumber Salad.  The stir fry turned out extremely delicious and we ate ALL of it.

Citrus Ginger Beef:

1 - 1 1/2 lb of flank steak, sliced very thin, against the grain
zest of 1 orange + juice of 1 orange

zest of 1 lime + juice of 1 lime

2 inch knob of ginger, pealed and sliced into discs

3 tbsp corn starch

3 tbsp soy sauce + 2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp Amontillado sherry

1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes

2 tsp hoisin sauce

1 bunch of hericot vert or green beens, cut into bite sized pieces

1 tbsp peanut or canola oil
1 tsp toated sesame seeds
2 scallions, thinly sliced at an angle


In a large bowl take the sliced beef and coat it with the corn starch.  Add the soy sauce, sherry, and half the zest of the citrus.  Toss to coat evenly.  Let marinate for 30 minutes, toss around each 10 minutes.


In another bowl combine the other half of the citrus zest, the rest of the sherry, soy, red pepper flakes, and hoisin.  Put aside.


Heat 1 tbsp of the canola oil to very high heat in either a wok or a large deep saute pan.  Saute the hericot vert for a few minutes in the oil till they blister a bit.  Take out with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl lined with paper towels to absorb the oil.  Heat the same pan on high and add another 1 tbsp of oil till it smokes.  Add the sliced ginger and let it infuse the oil.  Add the beef 30 seconds later with all of the juice.  Saute for at least 2 minutes, until the beef has nice sear on one side.  Stir it all up and let it cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Add the reserved sauce and let it cook till it gets thick.  Add the scallions and sesame seeds and serve while hot.  Squeeze a bit more orange juice on top at the end.

Linguine alla Carbonara

Thehave made the playoffs!!! This is very exciting news for the Bay Area and calls for a celebration. They play in their first playoff game for the first time in 7 years on Thursday, October 7th at 6:30pm and to celebrate I'm going to make a deliciously tasty dish that is saved for special occasions, well at least for me it is. I'm making Linguine alla Carbonara. My version isn't awful for you, I use whole wheat pasta, it doesn't have cream or butter but it does have eggs and lots of Parmesan cheese (ehh give and take right?). I add some vegetables also, and today I used bacon rather than pancetta because I had it in my fridge. I did tweak it a bit by adding some lemon zest at the end because, well, it sounded delicious and I had some lemons from my parent's lemon tree.

Linguine alla Carbonara

(2 dinner portions)

1/2 pound of whole wheat linguine pasta
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 slices of bacon, chopped into slices or 1/3 cup of pancetta
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
zest of 1/2 a small lemon

In a large pot, bring a lot of water to boil. Salt the water with 1/3 cup of salt (a nice big handful) and place the pasta in the water, stir to make sure they don't stick to one another.


In a bowl, take the egg, 1/2 cup of the graded Parmesan and some freshly ground pepper, and whip together for a few minutes. Make sure there are no lumps in the egg mixture. *If you want you can add a splash of cream to make it extra creamy.

In a saute pan, add the bacon or pancetta on medium low heat and render the fat from the bacon. When the bacon is cooked and crispy, take out with a slotted spoon and set aside.

In that same saute pan, add the garlic and shallot and saute on medium heat till the shallot is tender and translucent. Add some cracked pepper, red pepper flakes, and frozen peas (it's going to be salty from the bacon so hold off on the salt for now) and stir to combine. When the pasta is almost done, add it to the pan with 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Turn off the heat and wait 1 minute. Add the egg and Parmesan mixture and quickly toss everything together making sure the eggs don't scramble but thicken a bit. Add the rest of the Parmesan cheese and the lemon zest and combine everything one more time. Taste for seasoning.

Garnish with some flat leaf parsley and some basil. FYI I'm enjoying this right now.