Quiche with Goat Cheese, Dried Tomatoes, and Chives

Yesterday I picked some fresh chives from the garden! Chives are cool-tolerant perennials, which means that once you have some established in your yard or garden, they will come back very early each spring, giving you something green and tasty to harvest while everything else is still bare dirt.

When I make quiche, I often make two at once, since it's not much more work--and it guarantees leftovers for another meal.

2 9-inch pastry shells (not too deep)
1/2 cup dried tomatoes, softened and chopped (soften in hot water)
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
3 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
6 eggs
1 3/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prick the pastry shells all over with a fork, then pre-bake for about 12 minutes.

Spread half of the tomatoes, chives and goat cheese in the bottom of the pastry shells.

Beat the eggs in a medium bowl, then add the milk, salt, and pepper and mix well. Pour half of this mixture into each pastry shell. If you are concerned about spillage, line two rimmed cookie sheets with foil and place the pie plates on top of them.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until quiches are done in the middle.

Makes 2 9-inch quiches, serving about 6.

Lamb Chops with Garlic and Rosemary

I made these last night with lamb from Crabapple Farm and Not Your Ordinary Farm. They were, in my mother-in-law's words, out of this world. And the preparation is embarrassingly easy. I served these with the sweet and savory parsnips, which made a nice pairing, and a green salad with local mesclun and feta for a bit of a Greek flair throughout the meal. The rosemary came from my potted plant.

6 or so cloves garlic, peeled
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp olive oil
4 large or 8 small lamb chops, at room temperature

Minced the garlic and rosemary together or mash in a mortar and pestle if you have one. Add the salt, pepper, and olive oil and stir to form a paste. Spread this all over the lamb chops, rubbing it in well. Let them sit for as long as you have time for (if more than an hour or so, refrigerate, bringing them back up to room temperature before cooking). Even 20 or 30 minutes is beneficial.

Preheat the broiler, then broil the chops for about 4 minutes on each side for medium rare (add another minute or so if you prefer them medium).

Serves 3-4.

Sweet and Savory Sauteed Parsnips

Having used up our own harvest of spring-dug parsnips in a single meal, I bought some more at Green Fields Market on Saturday. They were enormous--and so good. Prepared this way, they were mildly addictive. If you use really big ones, you may need to cut out the core, which can get woody.

1-2 Tbsp butter
2 huge parsnips, in 1/8-inch slices (4-5 cups)
Pinch of cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the parsnips and saute, stirring often, for about 4 minutes. Add the cinnamon, salt, and pepper, and continue to saute for another 4 minutes or so, until tender.

Serves 3-4.

Pizza with Red Pepper, Goat Cheese, and Dried Tomatoes

This recipe is just a variation on the last one. I put it together when I realized I was making two pizzas but only had enough spinach for one. I pulled the red pepper out of the freezer, and found that it worked well, too. In either case, you could skip the tomatoes if you don't have them, for a simpler but still tasty pizza.

1 14-inch pizza crust
olive oil
1/2 - 2/3 cup tomato sauce of your choice
1 medium red pepper, diced (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup chopped dried tomatoes (to soften, soak in hot water for a few minutes)
2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
4 oz. shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Paint the pizza crust with a little olive oil, then spread with the tomato sauce. Top with the red pepper and tomatoes. Sprinkle the goat cheese over the spinach, then top with the mozzarella.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until the crust is done and the cheese starts to brown.

Serve 3-4.

Pizza with Spinach, Goat Cheese, and Dried Tomatoes

I'll probably continue posting a lot of recipes for greens over the next month or two, until some more produce starts coming into season. But hey, there's a lot you can do with greens! Here's what I'm making for dinner tonight. In addition to the local spinach, I'm using goat cheese from Westfield Farm in Hubbardston and tomatoes that I dried from my garden last fall.

olive oil
1/2 lb spinach, stemmed
1/4 cup chopped dried tomatoes (to soften, soak in hot water for a few minutes)
1 14-inch pizza crust
1/2 - 2/3 cup tomato sauce of your choice
2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
4 oz. shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and add the spinach and tomatoes. Saute just until the spinach is wilted, probably no more than 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Paint the pizza crust with a little olive oil, then spread with the tomato sauce. Top with the spinach and tomatoes. Sprinkle the goat cheese over the spinach, then top with the mozzarella.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until the crust is done and the cheese starts to brown.

Serve 3-4.

Tortilla de Patatas with Red Peppers

Back in December I posted this basic recipe for tortilla de patatas, along with a garlic and sage variation. Last night I tried another version, incorporating red peppers, another Spanish staple, and it was quite delicious. I used red bell peppers from the freezer, along with local onions and eggs, and the last of the potatoes that I bought at Winter Fare.

1/4 cup olive oil
4-5 cups sliced potatoes (1/4-inch slices)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
5 eggs
1/2 tsp crumbled dried sage leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a heavy ovenproof skillet (10-inch is a good size). Add the potatoes and fry until tender, turning frequently to keep them from sticking.

When the potatoes are tender, remove them from the pan and drain off all but about 1 Tbsp of the oil in the pan. Add the garlic, onion, and pepper and saute until tender, about 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat. Turn on the broiler.

Beat the eggs and salt in a large bowl. Add the potatoes and vegetables and stir to coat. Heat the skillet again, adding a bit more oil so it is well coated, and pour in the egg and potato mixture. Cover over medium heat, shaking frequently, until half set. Finish under the broiler (just a few minutes should do the job).

Serve warm.

Serves about 4.

Thanking the Weather Gods

This weekend, I planted radishes, carrots, kale, Swiss chard, arugula, spinach, lettuce, mizuna, and a few other kinds of cool weather greens in the garden, which is free of snow and dry enough to work the soil. Normally I think of this as an early-mid April activity, so I can only say thank you to the weather gods for providing a nice snowy winter followed by a quick melt without too much rain at the same time. Peas still need to go in, though we do have some very early ones getting started in the greenhouse.

The bigger job remaining to be done now is to get seeds started indoors for all the warm weather veggies--tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, herbs, and all that good stuff. This means giving over 1/3 of the dining room table to flats and lights, which is less than ideal (but the only available space safe from the toddler), but the results are so good it's worth it.