Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

2 deep dish pie crusts
8 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup green onions (approximately 1 bunch), diced
1/2 cup onion (approximately 1/2 small onion), diced
1 red pepper, diced
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
5 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups shredded Gruyere (and/or Emmental) cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from pan to drain. Blot out some of the oil from the skillet, leaving 1 to 2 teaspoons. Add green onions, onion, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Cook and stir until tender and browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside.

Whisk eggs, egg yolks, cream, and milk together in a large bowl. Add thyme and stir to combine.

Sprinkle 1/3 onion mixture on the bottom of the baked crust. Top with 1/3 cooked bacon and 1/3 Gruyere cheese. Ladle in half the egg mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 the onion mixture, 1/3 bacon, and 1/3 cheese. Pour in remaining egg mixture and top with remaining onion mixture, bacon, and cheese.

Bake filled quiche in the preheated oven until browned and set, but no longer jiggly in the centre  40 to 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Adapted from AllRecipes

Roast Beef

Ingredients

joint of beef
medium onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tbsp. flour
salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°F. Pour olive oil over the joint of beef and rub it in with your hands. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the joint and rub that in. Sprinkle the flour over the top beef fat and pat it with your hands. This will crisp up the fat when it’s cooked. Peel and chop the onion and sprinkle the pieces under and immediately around the beef.

Calculate cooking time based on the weight of the meat. If you want your roast beef rare, cook it for 17 minutes per 450 g of meat. Add an additional 15 minutes for medium or 30 minutes for well-done meat. Cook for 15 minutes at 450°F, then lower the heat to 375°F and cook at this temperature for the remaining amount of time.

While the beef is cooking, baste it at least twice. Take the meat out of the oven, tip the juices to one end and spoon them all over the meat. This helps to keep the joint moist when cooking.

When the beef is cooked, cover it with foil and let it stand. This will enhance its flavour and make carving easier. For a 450 g (1 lb) joint, 20 minutes standing will be enough. For larger joints, let the meat stand for 40 minutes.

From Cook UK

Baked Pesto Chicken

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1/2 cup basil pesto
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Trim all visible fat and tendons from chicken pieces, then cut each chicken breast lengthwise into 2 or 3 strips.

Spray a 9″ x 12″ baking dish with non-stick spray, then spread 1/4 cup of the basil pesto over the bottom of the dish. Lay chicken strips over the pesto, then spread the final 1/4 cup of basil pesto over the chicken.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes, just until chicken is barely firm and cooked through. Don’t cook it too much at this point, or the chicken will be overcooked by the time the cheese is melted and browned.

When chicken is barely cooked through, remove foil and sprinkle chicken with 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese. Put dish back into the oven without foil and cook 5 minutes more, just until cheese is melted. (If your broiler is separate from the oven, start preheating it when you take the chicken out.) After I melted the cheese for 5 minutes I switched my oven to broil and broiled for 5 minutes more, just long enough to get the cheese lightly browned.

Serve hot. There will be some flavorful juice in the bottom of the dish when this is done, so you may want to serve with rice, couscous, or quinoa to soak up the juice.

From Kalyn’s Kitchen