Pepperoni Pizza Quiche

This month’s What’s Baking theme is quiche, which really opens up a world of possibilities. I make quiche or frittatas for dinner every once in a while, and they are a great, quick dinner. My husband likes quiche, too, which is great. I went looking for something interesting, beyond the traditional ham and cheese quiche and I found this recipe for pepperoni pizza quiche. I figured that would be a winner since my husband is such a big fan of pepperoni pizza.

This recipe only uses 3 eggs, which isn’t a lot of for a quiche. The filling also has evaporated milk, which in the end gave this quiche a lovely consistency. This was very easy to make, and we really loved it. The ingredients can be whatever you have. I used turkey pepperoni since it has less fat, and used a combination of shredded mozzarella and shredded Mexican blend, as that was what I had on hand. We added mushrooms. You could really use any combination of meat, cheese and vegetable add in.

As I said, my husband and I really loved this. It was quick and easy to make and tasted wonderful. The texture was nice and creamy, but didn’t have the feeling of being under baked. This will now be my go to recipe for quiche, and I can change up the mix-ins depending on what we have on hand. Thanks to this month’s host, Liz of Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks .

   

Pepperoni Pizza Quiche

1 unbaked 9-inch frozen pie shell

5 ounces sliced mushrooms

8 ounces shredded cheese, divided

2 ounces sliced pepperoni, quartered, divided

12 ounce can evaporated milk

3 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sauté the mushrooms over medium heat until cooked. Allow to cool slightly.

Into the bottom of the pie shell, sprinkle 1 cup of the cheese, half of pepperoni pieces and the cooked mushrooms. In a medium bowl, whisk together the evaporated milk, eggs, flour, Italian seasoning, and the garlic powder. Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust. Top with the remaining cheese and pepperoni. Place the quiche on a baking sheet.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe from Nestle

Cheese and Tomato Galette

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is the Cheese and Tomato Galette. You can find the recipe for this with a quick search online. It is quite simple: galette dough, a sour cream pie crust enhanced with some cornmeal. Roll that thinly, top with cheese, basil, and the best tomatoes you can find! The galette makes for a nice light dinner, which is what we did at out home! Don’t forget to check out all of the links left by the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers on the Tuesdays with Dorie site .

I didn’t change this recipe up all that much. My only change was using cheddar cheese in place of Monterey Jack cheese, as I had that on hand already. I made a trip to the local farmer’s market in hopes that they would have tomatoes. I was in luck because I did find some there. It’s pretty early for tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest, but I took what I could find. They were very nice, but you get even more flavorful tomatoes later in the summer. I was even able to find local basil, and it was the nicest basil I have ever used.

I made the galette dough in the food processor, which is a lot easier as this dough is fairly sticky. I also made sure that I used lots of flour on the counter when I rolled out the dough. The assembly is quick and then just a short while in the oven. I liked this a lot, but it is fairly rich for a “light” dish. I think next time I would slice the tomatoes a little thinner, but that would be the only change I would make. And now I have some extra galette dough in the refrigerator to make another treat. 

Recipe from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan, page 429

Apple and Cheddar Scones

My husband sent me this recipe for apple and cheddar scones, and I was intrigued. Apple scones sounded good. I know that savory scones can be great. Apple and cheddar are a natural pair. But I wasn’t sure what they would be like together. I had a little bit of cheese left over, just the right amount for this recipe, so I decided to give it a try.

Scones have to be eaten as soon as they come out of the oven. Thankfully scone recipes are usually quick and so you can make them up and serve fairly quickly. This scone requires a little more work, with cooking and cooling that apple/sugar mixture, then allowing the scone dough to chill. I made the apple/sugar mixture the night before, so the prep was quicker in the morning. The original (British) recipe called for 2 apples, but I know the apples I get in Washington State are much larger so I just went with one large apple. It seemed to be the right amount for the dough. Too much apple mixture and the dough wouldn’t have come together.

I just patted out the dough instead of rolling it out, which was very easy. I made one dozen scones with this recipe, cutting them in 3” rounds. These scones are interesting. I think they taste a bit, I don’t know, eggy? I like the apple and cheddar. I think they would be good served with soup, maybe squash soup or something like that. I think they would be better with a stronger cheddar, as the one I used was quite mild.

Apple and Cheddar Scones

1 large apple, peeled and diced

¼ cup sugar

1-2/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons cold butter, cut in pieces

2.5 ounces cheddar, grated

2 eggs

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Heavy cream, for brushing

Additional grated cheddar, for sprinkling

Put the apple and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook on medium, stirring frequently, until the apple is tender.   Transfer to a small bowl and allow to cool completely.

In a large mixer bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and butter. Mix until crumbly. Add the cool apple mixture, cheddar, and one egg; mix until the dough comes together loosely. Add the second egg and cream; mix just a bit more, until a shaggy dough forms. Form the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Place the dough on a floured surface and pat into a ½” thick round. Using a round cookie cutter, cut scones and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Reshape the scraps of dough and cut additional scones. 

Brush the scones with cream and sprinkle with a little grated cheddar.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Recipe from Multiculti Kitchen

Cheesy Biscuit Bread

While I seem to live in the world of chain restaurants, there are a few chains that we don’t have locally. One of those is Red Lobster. There are locations north and south of where we live, so I guess if you are desperate you can still go visit. Last time we were there was with my husband’s dad. I’m not the biggest fan of fish, but I do really like their biscuits. They are fantastic! But I don’t think that I will venture such a long way to have tasty biscuits.

Especially when you can make something similar at home! This recipe came from my husband’s aunt, and I figured it would pair nicely with soup I was making for dinner. I followed the recipe, but in writing up this blog post, I realize that I had left out the egg, but the bread turned out perfectly. I wasn’t sure about the cayenne pepper, as I don’t like spicy things that much, but I’m glad I kept it in as it adds a lot to the flavor.

The bread will taste differently depending on what type of cheddar you use. I used an aged English cheddar, which is quite a bit different than what Red Lobster uses I’m sure. This bread is fantastic, and the loaf did not last very long after it was cut. The cheese flavor comes through loud and clear and the pepper and cayenne add just a hint of spiciness. This was easy to make and I’m sure I will be making this again.

Cheesy Biscuit Bread

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

4 ounces cheddar cheese, cut in 1/4” cubes

1-1/4 cups milk

¾ cup sour cream

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9” x 5” loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne, and pepper. Add the cheese cubes and stir gently, making sure they are covered with flour.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, sour cream, butter, and egg. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and fold in with a spatula. The batter will be lumpy.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan; smooth the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Cool one hour before slicing.

Recipe from my husband’s aunt. You can also find the recipe lots of places on the Internet like here and here.