Ham and Asparagus Quiche

I just finished reading The Hound of Heaven at my Heels, a fictional version of the lost diary of the great poet Francis Thompson, "a heart-breaking and soul-lifting account of his spiritual, psychological, and physical regeneration. It is the story of a young man who finally finds his soul and his vocation." (<-- taken from the back cover of my edition)

It includes Thompson's poem, "Daisy," an ode to a little girl he met as he walked one day. From the preceding section: "I spoke to her gently; she confidently spoke of the flowers, the birds, and brothers and sisters--nothing, surely, to interest any man, yet I listened, enchanted. How simple and strange and wonderful and sweet. All this exquisiteness ordinary men take for granted, like the daisies they trample underfoot, knowing not what daisies are to him whose feet have wandered in grime." Isn't that just how we feel now, having lived through the cold and dark winter, just to see flowers and grass, and trees with leaves budding again?

A lot of adults are intimated by (or think they hate) poetry, and that's probably largely due to the way it's approached in school - not a lot of appreciation just for the beauty of it, and tons and tons of picking apart and analyzing. In the latest episode of my favorite podcast, Julie Bogart talked about her marvelous idea of poetry tea parties - weekly sessions with her kids in which they share tea and treats, and each one brings a poem to share. I am not not NOT wishing away these sweet toddler years, but oh my goodness. I can't wait for poetry tea parties to be a part of my life!

Here's the whole poem, if you want a little more to savor.

Daisy

Where the thistle lists a purple crown

Six foot out of the turf,

And the harebell shakes on the windy hill--

O the breath of the distant sift!--

The hills look over on the South,

And southward dreams the sea;

And with the sea-breeze hand in hand

Came innocence and she.

Where 'mid the gorse the raspberry

Red for the gather springs,

Two children did we stray and talk

Wise, idle, childish things.

She listened with big-lipped surprise,

Breast-deep mid flower and spine:

Her skin was like a grape whose veins

Run snow instead of wine.

She knew not those sweet words she spake,

Now knew her own sweet way;

But there's never a bird, so sweet a song

Thronged in whose throat that day.

Oh, there were flowers in Storrington

On the turf and on the spray;

But the sweetest flower on Sussex hills 

Was the Daisy-flower that day!

Her Beauty smoothed earth's furrowed face.

She gave me tokens three:--

A look, a word, of her winsome mouth,

And a wild raspberry.

A berry red, a guileless look,

A still word,--strings of sand!

And they made my wild, wild heart

Fly down to her little hand.

For standing artless as the air,

And candid as the skies,

She took the berries with her hand,

And the love with her sweet eyes.

The fairest things have fleetest end,

Their scent survives their close:

But the rose's scent is bitterness

To him that loved the rose.

She looked a little wistfully,

Then went her sunshine way:--

The sea's eye had a mist on it,

And the leaves fell from the day.

She went her unremembering way,

She went and left in me

The pang of all the partings gone,

And partings yet to be.

She left me marveling why my soul

Was sad that she was glad;

At all the sadness in the sweet,

The sweetness in the sad.

Still, still I seemed to see her, still

Look up with soft replies,

And take the berries with her hand,

And the love with her lovely eyes.

Nothing begins, nothing ends,

That is not paid with moan;

For we are born in other's pain,

And perish in our own.

Ham and Asparagus Quiche

I got a 10-pound ham for Easter dinner, and there were 3 adults and 1 toddler in attendance, so you can imagine that we have eaten a lot of ham lately. Let me be clear: this was totally intentional, and is in no way a complaint. I made the obligatory (and awesome) split pea soup, and lots of sandwiches, and lots of ham 'n' eggs, but this was my favorite use for the leftovers. Maybe because it's light and springy, or maybe because it can be eaten at any time of day, or maybe just because it was so delicious. Make it, and you can decide for yourself!

One 9-inch pie crust, store-bought or homemade (I always make this recipe)

4 large eggs

3/4 cup half and half

salt and pepper

1 cup cubed ham

1 bunch asparagus, chopped into 1-inch sections

4 ounces grated Swiss cheese

2 scallions, chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together the eggs, half and half, and salt and pepper. Stir in the ham, asparagus, scallions, and cheese, and pour into the pie crust. Bake 50-60 minutes, until filling is set and golden at the edges. Allow to cool slightly (or completely) before slicing. Serve with a simple green salad, dressed with oil and vinegar or lemon juice.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

**NOTE: I have fixed the thing that was making it impossible to pin photos to Pinterest, thanks to this helpful post. If you have a blog and you've been having the same issue, I hope that helps! If you don't have a blog but you like to pin my posts and recipes, thank you! I love it when you share!!

For my blogday, I asked people to suggest things they'd like to see on the blog. My good friend Cassie asked for some asparagus soup, and since this hot weather is about to send the asparagus packing, it's now or never! I had never had asparagus soup before, and I have to say this is not my favorite preparation of this vegetable. Upon first taste I thought maybe I hadn't seasoned it well, or maybe it was too much stock and not enough vegetable, but after letting it rest a day in the fridge it turns out it was actually a pretty nice soup. It's just very, very subtle. And since asparagus has such a short season, I'd rather just barely saute it and toss with pasta, or shave it and pile it on a pizza, or steam it and dip it in a creamy sauce. But! If a velvety, subtly-flavored light green soup sounds like just the thing for you, give this a try!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

I've seen several recommendations from other sources that if you puree asparagus, you should strain it to remove any lingering tough or woody pieces, but I found it to be an unnecessary step. My soup was plenty smooth without straining. Follow your heart, though, and make sure to trim your asparagus well. Peeling the hard edges might also help with especially woody asparagus.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch spring onions, or 1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1- to 2-inch lengths

4 cups water, vegetable stock, or chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute about 3-5 minutes, until slightly softened. Add asparagus and toss together. Season with salt and pepper, add the water or stock, and simmer until the asparagus can be easily smashed against the side of the pot with a spoon, about 10-15 minutes (more or less depending on how thick your asparagus is). Puree in batches in a blender, and then return to the pot over low heat. Stir in the butter and cream, taste, and adjust seasoning. Serve warm or cold.

Yield: about 4-6 servings

The Spoils of Spring

We've been running around like little chickens with our heads cut off for the past few days.  Remember that list of goals I had last week?  I accomplished most of them, and some other ones!  We bought a couch and a TV stand.  We painted the living room.  We bought some decorative wall thingies.  Our backyard container garden is off to a great start (check out the details over on the Coppertop Garden page).  We managed to get our apartment tidy enough to show to CTG's parents, and then I cooked dinner for them!

GO ME!

Yes.  That's how awesome I am.

One of the best things about fresh local produce in the summer is how little you have to do to prepare it.  Many things are fantastic just as they come from the market - give me a ripe tomato, sliced on a plate, and I call it lunch.  Drizzle it with olive oil, and serve with fresh mozzarella and basil, and I die a happy woman.  I've made several happy meals out of a bunch of asparagus: steamed and dipped in some leftover egg salad dressing, ribboned on top of a pizza, blanched and stirred into leftover curry, fried in olive oil instead of potatoes alongside a juicy burger.

And then there's this little pasta dish I made for my in-laws on Friday night.  The one I waited three days to make, after finding the fresh peas!  I'm glad I gave it some time to solidify in my head, though.  It was worth the wait.

Spoils of Spring Pasta (Peas, Asparagus, and Mint)

16 oz. long, flat pasta (I used linguine, but I think fresh tagliatelle would be amazing)
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch spring onions, white parts sliced into thin rings
2 bunches fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups shelled fresh peas (or frozen peas), blanched
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, sliced into thin strips
6 oz. fresh goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Boil a large pot of water, salt it, and cook the pasta until 1-2 minutes from done.  Drain, reserving a cup and a half of the starchy pasta water.  Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a wide, deep pan, and add the onions and garlic.  Saute for 2-3 minutes, until soft.  Add peas and asparagus, stir, and add about a cup of pasta water.  Cook for a couple of minutes, until the asparagus is bright green, and then add the pasta.  I had to transfer it to the big pasta pot at this point so that I could toss it together.  Toss over low heat until the pasta has absorbed most of the sauce, adding more pasta water if it gets too thick.  Remove from heat and toss in the mint and half of the goat cheese.  Taste, and adjust seasonings.  Transfer to a large bowl, and crumble the other half of the goat cheese on top.  Garnish with sliced mint or whole mint leaves, if desired.  Serve with green salad and warm bread (I made a rosemary focaccia).

Frittata Primavera

I've been wanting to try my hand at frittata for a while now.  I am a big fan of eggs.  They're so versatile, tasty, filling, and healthy.  I came across a good-looking recipe in Mark Bittman's Food Matters (a book I will eventually read cover to cover), and last night I finally decided to give it a go.  I love that the recipe is flexible; you can basically use any combination of veggies, meat (or not), and cheese (or not) that you feel like (or have on hand), so it's a very simple and obvious choice for a busy weeknight.  On this particular weeknight, I was busy because I met my adorable and fashionable friend after work for a glass of wine and some shoe shopping.  After a glass of delicious California Cab and having acquired these little beauties,

Oh how I love these!!!

I took my tired and hungry self home, grabbed an armload of veggies from the fridge, and started slicing.

I heated some olive oil and butter in a skillet, and added:

Half a Vidalia onion,

Some sliced red cabbage (why is this called "red?"  It is clearly purple.),

5 stalks of green garlic, sliced,

10 stalks of asparagus, purple and green,

A few leaves of spinach, ribboned,

and 3 eggs, salt and pepper, and about 3/4 cup of jack cheese with basil.

This is after about 10 minutes of undisturbed time on a very low flame, and 3 minutes under the broiler.
Does it look amazing to you?  I'm hungry again just looking at it.

Dinner is served!  Frittata, a piece of toasted Italian bread, and a tiny glass of Chardonnay.

Though it's only 3 eggs, it is a LOT of food.  Especially just for little old me.  So I saved half of it for lunch today.  So healthy, so springy, so delicious!  Buon appetito!

More-Vegetable-Than-Egg Frittata
adapted slightly from Mark Bittman's Food Matters

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, peeled and sliced
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 to 6 cups of chopped or sliced raw of cooked vegetables, drained of excess moisture if necessary
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon or mint leaves (optional)
2 or 3 eggs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Put a tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet and turn the heat to medium.  When the oil is hot, add the onion and cook, sprinkling with salt and pepper, until it's soft, about 3 minutes.  Add the vegetables, raise the heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften, anywhere from a couple of minutes for greens to 15 minutes for sliced potatoes.  (I added each vegetable separately, as I sliced, so that I could eat faster.  Just slice and add the longer-cooking-time veggies first.)  Adjust the heat so the vegetables brown a little without scorching.  (If you're starting with precooked vegetables, add them to the onions and give a couple of good stirs before proceeding.)

When the vegetables are nearly done, turn the heat to low and add the basil.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pan is almost dry, up to another 5 minutes for wetter ingredients like tomatoes or mushrooms.  Add cooked meat, if desired, just before adding the eggs.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs with some salt and pepper, along with the cheese if you're using it.  Pour over the vegetables, using a spoon if necessary to distribute them evenly.  Cook, undisturbed, until the eggs are barely set, 10 minutes or so.  (You can set them further by putting the pan in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes, or running it until the broiler for a minute or two.)  Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature. 

P.S. The shoes are from Banana Republic.  Just in case you need them too.  ;)

IT'S ALIVE! Demystifying Yeast.

Often, when I mention to someone that I made something involving yeast (rolls, bread, pizza dough), they shake their heads and say, "Wow.  I've never had any luck with yeast.  I could never do that."  If this sounds like you, and you've given up on having home-baked yeasty breads, I am here to say... (cue motivational speaker voice...)

YOU CAN DO IT! 

Yeast is not magic, no matter how magical the products taste.  It's science!  Let's explore, shall we?

I wish.

Yeasts are unicellular microorganisms.  The word "yeast" comes from the Indo-European root yes-, meaning boil, foam, or bubble.  In baking, the yeast converts sugars present in the dough into carbon dioxide, which gets trapped in little pockets and causes the dough to rise.  When you slip the dough in the oven, the yeast dies, and the air pockets set, resulting in that heavenly texture, full of bubbles and holes.  Yeasts are also used in the production of alcoholic beverages; the sugars present in fruits or grains are converted into ethanol, carbon dioxide, and other byproducts which affect the flavor.  Learn more (I did!) about the history and ecology of yeasts here.

The trick to getting yeast to do your bidding is a simple matter of temperature.  If the water or milk you use to "proof" the yeast isn't warm enough, it won't convince the yeast to wake up and start doing its job.  If it's too hot, the yeast will die without having fulfilled its life's mission!  Now, I'm sure you could find out the ideal temperature for yeast to grow, and then use a digital thermometer to make sure it's perfect.  Or you could do this: stick your finger in it.  If it's room temperature, it's not hot enough.  If it burns you, it's too hot.  If it feels like bath water (in other words, you can put your finger in it, but after a few seconds it starts to get a little uncomfortable), it's juuuuuust right.  Good job, Goldilocks.  You're ready to add the yeast.

Spoon some yeast into the hot liquid, stir it very briefly, and then leave it alone!  You can't make it do anything.  It has a mind of its own.  Let it do its job.  With any luck, in a few minutes, your yeast will have gone from this:

to this:

POOF!

Now, when I performed this bit of science-magic last night, it was all for some pizza dough.  And so, to my 1 cup of hot water + 1 tablespoon of yeast granules, I added a teaspoon of sea salt and (about) 2 cups of flour.  Maybe a little bit more.  The point is, you want to end up with a dough that doesn't stick to your finger when you poke it.  When you've got it, take the dough out, spray some cooking spray in the bowl, replace the dough, and spritz the top a bit, too.  Then put a damp kitchen towel on top and put it in a warm place to rise.  Put your pizza stone in the oven and crank the oven as high as it can go (this is the secret to a crispy, awesome crust!).  Let the dough rise until it's doubled in bulk, and then punch it down and cut it into pieces.  From this size batch of dough, I made 4 smallish, very thin crust pizzas, but you could make two larger, not-as-thin crust ones, too. 

Here are my ready-to-go toppings:

Green garlic, lemon zest, parmesan cheese, and asparagus ribbons!

Thank you to Deb at Smitten Kitchen for the ribboned asparagus idea!  I love it!

Roll out the dough and place it on the hot pizza stone.

Brush with olive oil.

The cheesy, meaty toppings need more time than the asparagus-ribbon topping.

In goes the asparagus-lemon-parmesan-topped pizza! 

Cook time is 8-12 minutes total, until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden and crispy.

I made a boy pizza (tomato sauce, jack cheese with basil, and prosciutto) and a girl pizza.

Dessert pizza!  Apricot preserves, ricotta and lemon zest.

What can't you put on pizza?!  Yum.  

Ribboned Asparagus Pizza

(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
makes 4 flatbread pizzas

Dough:

1 cup very warm water

1 Tbsp. dry yeast

1 tsp. coarse sea salt

2 cups (or more) all-purpose flour

Topping:

Olive oil (for brushing)

12 asparagus, peeled into ribbons

1 cup shaved parmesan cheese

zest of 2 lemons

4 stalks of green garlic, thinly sliced

Combine the warm water and yeast and let rest until yeast is foamy.  Add salt and flour and mix together, then knead until it forms an elastic, not-sticky dough, adding more flour as necessary.  Cover with a damp towl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour).  Meanwhile, put a pizza stone in the oven, and preheat oven as hot as it goes.  Divide dough in four pieces, and roll into thin, oblong shapes on a floured surface.  Place the dough, two pieces at a time, onto the preheated pizza stone, brush with olive oil, and place in the oven for 4 minutes.  Remove and add asparagus, green garlic, parmesan, and lemon zest.  Return to oven and bake for 5-8 minutes longer, until the asparagus is wilted and the crust is golden and crisp.  Slice and enjoy!