One of my favorite menus for Sunday brunch is Quiche and recently I just adapted this bacon-less quiche Lorraine from this original recipe... again from Joy of Cooking.

Quiche Lorraine is a specialty of the Lorraine region of Northeastern France, where it was first made as early as the sixteenth century.  Traditional quiche Lorraine contains no cheese.

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Prepare the pie crust.
3. Cook the bacon in heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the fat is almost rendered but the bacon is not yet crisp. Drain on paper towel. (Skip this step if you don't use bacon).
4. Beat together the rest of the ingredients.
5. Arrange the bacon on the bottom of the pie crust and pour the custard (egg mixture) into it.  Bake until the filling is browned and set, 25-35 minutes.

I made this perfect crust from Joy of Cooking after gazillion years of reluctance :)... As it turned out, it's not as hard as I thought.



This dough makes a light, flaky crust that shatters at the touch of a fork.  The recipe makes two 9-inch pie crusts, or two 9 1/2- or 10-inch covered pie crust.  I made mine in a couple of 4-inch ramekins and it works well too.  If you need only a single pie or tart crust, decrease all ingredients by half or freeze half the dough for future use. 

• Using a rubber spatula, thoroughly mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
• Add the shortening and/or butter and break it into large chunks; if using butter, cut it into small pieces, then add it to the flour mixture, Cut the fat into the dry ingredients by chopping vigorouly with a pastry blender or by cutting in opposite directions with 2 knives, one held in each hand.  As you work, periodically stir dry flour up from the bottom of the bowl and scrape clinging fat off the pastry blender or knives.  When you are through, some of the fat should remain in pea-sized pieces; the rest should be reduced to the consistency of coarse crumbs or corn-meal.  The mixture should seem dry and powdery and not pasty or greasy.
• Drizzle over the flour and fat mixture the ice water.
• Using the rubber spatula, cut with the blade side until the mixture looks evenly moistened and begins to form small balls.  Press down on the dough with the flat side of the spatula.  If the balls of dough stick together, you have added enough water; if they do not, drizzle over the top 1-2 tablespoons ice water.
• Cut in the water, again using the blade of the spatula, then press with your hands until the dough coheres.  The dough should look rough, not smooth.  Divide the dough in half, press each half into a round flat disk, and wrap tightly in plastic.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and preferably for several hours, or for up to 2 days before rolling.  The dough can also be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 6 months; thaw completely before rolling.

The secret of rolling dough is to lean into the pin rather than down on it:  The goal is to enlarge the dough, not press and crush it. Use firm, decisive sweeping strokes and try to get the job done as quickly as possible.

Rolling the dough: Start by clearing a large work surface, as you will need lots of elbow room.  You can roll dough on a wood or plastic pastry board or on a marble slab (which remains cold and thus helps keep the dough from softening)  or directly on a clean smooth countertop.  Do not roll dough next to the oven or in a hot corner of the kitchen, for the fat will melt.  If the dough has been chilled for longer than 30 minutes, let it stand until it feels firm yet pliable, like modeling clay, when pressed.  If too cold, the dough becomes to soft during rolling, loosen it from the work surface, slide a rimless cookie sheet beneath it, and refrigerate until it firms up.

Flour the work surface-lightly if you are an experienced pastry maker but a bit more generously if you are starting out.  Excessive flouring toughens dough, but sticking is a disaster.  Place the dough in the center of the floured surface and flour the dough as well.  Exerting even pressure on the pin, roll the dough from the center out in all directions, stopping short of the edge.  In order to keep the dough in a circular shape, each stroke should be made in the opposite direction from the one that preceded it.  You can do this by rotating the dough itself rather than by moving the pin.

Be sure to check the dough for sticking by periodically sliding your hand beneath it; strew a little flour on the work surface as necessary.  Seal cracks and splits by pushing the dough together with your fingers.  If the split reopens, your dough is probably too dry.  Dab the edges of the split with cold water, overlap the edges slightly, and press firmly with your fingertips, sprinkling a little flour over the repaired area if it feels moist and sticky.  If the dough assumes an irregular shape, cut off the protruding piece, moisten the edge of the patch with cold water and press it over the short spot.

Roll the dough roughly 3 t o4 inches wider than your pan.  This will allow plenty of dough for covering the entire pan and for constructing a rim.  Place the pan (right side up for a tart pan, inverted for a pie pan) in the center of the dough to calculate the width by eye.

Fitting the Dough into the Pan:  Fold the dough in halves or quarters place it in the pan, and unfold the dough it to cover.

I adapted this recipe from the original from pear liqueur recipe at eatboutique.com and it turned out so yummy.


Put the apples and spice in mason jars, close the lids and shake them several times;
Put away the jars in dark and cool cupboard for 1 week. (Do not peek)

After a week, drain the liquid into a bottle;

Boil 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups water over medium heat to make simple syrup. It should take about 10 minutes (but mine took much longer. I also used palm sugar here. It has distinct flavor but tastes good;

Let the syrup cool a bit and pour into the bottle. Shake the bottle a bit.

The concoction is ready to drink but you can put back into the dark cupboard for 2-3 more weeks or months for even sweeter and more gorgeous elixir :)

Persimmons are in season again...Yum! There are generally two kinds available here in California: Fuyu persimmons which I love to eat fresh and Hachiya persimmons which are horribly astringent when raw (and I learned that the hard way :)), but turned divinely sweet when completely ripe. The other day, I was wondering if persimmons would make good cakes and found this super easy recipe on http://allrecipes.com. I tried half of the recipe with hachiya persimmon and a little modification and they turned out really great. I've found another favorite recipe :) INGREDIENTS  (Note: for this batch, just to try it out, I made 1/2 of everything and reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup instead of 1 cup. The half recipe baked as cupcakes only needed 40 minutes baking time. So keep your watch. Half recipe yielded 8 cupcakes. For convenience, half recipe is shown in red:
  2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour / 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder / 1/4 t. baking powder  2 teaspoons baking soda / 1 t. baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt / 1/4 t. salt 1 1/2 cups sugar (reduced from 2 cups in the original recipe) / 3/4 c. sugar 1 cup milk / 1/2 c. milk 2 cups persimmon pulp (I only had 1 fruit that only gave 1/2 c. but it still turned out great) / 1 c. persimmon pulp (about 2 persimmons 2 eggs / 1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract / 1 t. vanilla extract   DIRECTIONS   - Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch loaf pan or line muffin pan with muffin cups  - Whisk together the flour baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a bowl, set aside. - Whisk together the eggs, persimmon pulp, milk, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl until smooth. Fold the persimmon mixture into the flour mixture until no dry lumps remain. Pour into the prepared pan.  - Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes Half recipe needed only 40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack     Fast Facts: The word Diospyros means "the fire of Zeus" in ancient Greek. As a tree, it is a perennial plant. The word persimmon is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Powhatan, an Algonquian language (related to Blackfoot, Cree and Mohican) of the eastern United States, meaning "a dry fruit". (Source: wikipedia)

This menu is very easy and can be assembled in about 15 minutes.  It's perfect for vegans, very low in calories and refreshing for summer days. Ingredients:

• 1 package of Extra Firm Tofu
• 1/3 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Palm Sugar (you can buy it from any Asian grocery stores or substitute with regular sugar)
• 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest (optional)
• 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
• 1 teaspoon Sasame seeds 
• Cilantro for garnish

In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients except for tofu and sesame seeds for the vinaigrette, stir well and chill. Cut tofu into squares about 1/2 inch. thick. Pat dry.  Heat your grilling pan or just regular pan.  When hot just lay the pieces of tofu into the pan.  Brown both sides and use flat spatula to carefully move the browned tofu into a salad plate. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the tofu.  Sprinkle the sesame on top. Then serve with cilantro or vegetable of choice.

I always love to read Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate every now and then -- especially during Valentine's Day fever (hee. hee). Tita's rituals and magic in her recipes are the most romantic of all times.



Last Valentine's Day, I attempted magical rituals of my own -- and the results were pretty good.... My presents brought a big smile and magically disappeared in a flash...



xoxoxoxoxoxooxox

[grandmother] said that each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves; just as in the experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches. For a moment we are dazzled by an intense emotion. A pleasant warmth grows within us, fading slowly as time goes by, until a new explosion comes along to revive it. Each person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. . .You must of course take care to light the matches one at a time. If a powerful emotion should ignite them all at once they would produce a splendor so dazzling that it would illuminate far beyond what we can normally see; and then a brilliant tunnel would appear before our eyes, revealing the path we forgot the moment we were born, and summoning us to regain the divine origin we had lost. The soul ever longs to return to the place from which it came, leaving the body lifeless. . .
-Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel-

. . . when she first felt his hot gaze burning her skin. She turned her head, and her eyes met Pedro’s. It was then she understood how dough feels when it is plunged into boiling oil. The heat that invaded her body was so real she was afraid she would start to bubble—her face, her stomach, her heart, her breasts—like batter, and unable to endure his gaze she lowered her eyes and hastily crossed the room. . .
-Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel-

xoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxo

The kitchen becomes a veritable reservoir of creative and magical events, in which the cook who possesses this talent becomes artist, healer, and lover. Culinary activity involves not just the combination of prescribed ingredients, but something personal and creative emanating from the cook, a magical quality which transforms the food and grants its powerful properties that go beyond physical satisfaction to provide spiritual nourishment as well.

-"Romancing the Cook," by Susan Lucas