Lavender Scones

A long, long time ago, I posted about my best friend Lauren's Mom's (aka Julie Mom's) lavender scones.  I'm OBSESSED WITH THEM.  I love them so much I can't even tell you.  Not too long ago, I welcomed an exciting treat in the mail - Julie Mom had sent me my own box of lavender scones!!! GET OUT OF HERE I said.  I've been rationing them out like a Civil War soldier at Gettysburg.  I still have a couple left but not for long.  I want them to last forever.

Thanks Julie Mom for my amazing, delicious gift.  I love them so much I just had to share them with you guys.

Here's the recipe!

3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
3⁄4 cup (1 1⁄2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄2 -inch pieces
2-3 tablespoons dried lavender buds (more or less, depending upon availability)
1 cup chilled buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400°F. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large 
bowl. Ad butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix 
in lavender buds. Gradually add buttermilk, tossing with fork until moist clumps form. 
Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 
turns. Form dough into 1-inch thick round. Cut out using 2 1⁄2” round biscuit cutter. 
Transfer to baking sheet. Bake until top of scones are golden brown, about 15 minutes. 
Let stand on baking sheet 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature.

Stay hungry! 

Heirloom Tomato Quiche

I know it's a bloggerly thing to love fall.  Pumpkin spice everything, autumn wreaths, babies in pumpkins.  But as much as I enjoy fall (and I really do!), I'll always love summer more.  Maybe I'm feeling especially nostalgic for summer this year because I had a long wonderful chunk of time off with Will or maybe it's just because I've heard that the Farmer's Almanac is calling for a brutal winter around here.  Either way, I'm clinging to the last bits of summer wherever possible and this time, it comes in the form of late-season tomatoes.

I made up a quiche late last night (hence the lack of in-progress shots) using some beautiful heirloom tomatoes.  It was very easy and turned out super tasty.

Here's what I used:

1 pie crust (I used store bought.  Sorry, Mom)
3 medium tomatoes
4 eggs
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup parsley
1 cup half & half
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon herbes de provence

I preheated the oven to 350, then rolled out my crust into a pie plate.  I still have yet to buy a real quiche dish from last time I made one but a pie plate worked just fine.  I took about a third of the cheese and sprinkled across the bottom of the crust, then added a layer of tomatoes, followed by more cheese, more tomatoes, and then the last of the cheese, all the while sprinkling in a little salt, pepper, & herbes de provence.  In a separate bowl, I whisked the eggs together with the half & half, then poured it all evenly over the tomatoes & cheese and baked the quiche for 50 minutes.

It reheated beautifully the next day and was a hit with Jesse & my mother.  Served with a salad, a small slice of this tasty quiche made a perfect lunch that tasted like summer, even though the leaves are all almost down outside.

Enjoy and stay summery hungry!

Shower Me with Quiche

You guys remember my friend Colleen?  The one who is responsible for introducing the most amazing ham and cheese sliders I have ever, ever had in my life?  Yeah.  That one.  She's getting married and I just happen to be so lucky to be part of her big day.  The weekend before last, we showered Colleen in gifts (and booze) and I showered myself in quiche.

No...really. 

Before I swan dived into said quiche, I was greeted by an adorable name tag.  THANK GOD for name tags.  I was wondering how I would remember who I was after drinking mimosas all day... 

We were also greeted by yummy brownies that we were encourage to take on our way home...

THE QUICHE.  We're getting closer...

Here are adorable little cupcakes.  I don't bake, so I can totally get behind a homemade brunch and store bought (not just any store...pick a good one) dessert.  Especially when it tastes like heaven.

Now to the quiche.  I took one bite and knew I was in totes trubs.  Heavy cream?  Check.  Bacon?  Check.  Flaky, buttery crust?  Check, check check.  Damn it damn it damn it.

It was seriously the best quiche I've ever had in my life.  SO GOOD.  And you know I demanded the recipe!! (scroll to the bottom peeps)

Awww....look at Colleen in the hot seat.  I LOVE IT.

I love this photo...happy, joyful faces, all around.

This wrapping put me to shame.  I refuse to wrap things. Mainly because it's not green I'm lazy.

Here's Colleen's future sister-in-law, Joanne, taking down all of the gifts...

I seriously had to take this picture a 4 times.  Lauren likes to talk/blink/make fun of me while I'm trying to take pictures of her.   Regardless, she's a rehearsal bouquet making PRO.

As promised, here's the quiche recipe.  

Quiche Recipe ( a la Colleen's fiancé, Bill's, aunt)


1 Med. Onion Chopped
1/2 lb. of Bacon cooked, drained, crumbled
1/2 - 3/4 lb lb. swiss cheese shredded
1 pck frozen chopped spinach
4 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbl melted butter
1 3/4 c whipping cream
2 frozen deep dish pie shells

Cook frozen pie shells according to directions
Cook Bacon drain and crumble, dump grease
Saute onion and spinach in same pan then mix in bacon
Shred cheese
Mix up other additives (salt, pepper, nutmeg, butter, cream, eggs)
Split spinach and cheese into two pie shells
Add cream and egg mixture to each pie shell
Cook for 10-15 min. at 400 F
Reduce heat to 350 F for 30 - 45 minutes

Can be made ahead and put in freezer. Just cook less at 350 F ( about 20 -25 minutes ). Wrap well and put in freezer.
Stay hungry!

A Proper Irish Breakfast for Two



It seems a little odd to be posting about food when the entire eastern seaboard is getting owned by Sandy.  I'm sitting in my cozy, dry, Chicago condo and am safely watching the storm from under my duvet.  My entire family (including Caitlin, well she's not family but almost) is on the east coast.  I don't like it.  I don't like it one bit. Stay safe out there my peeps. 

Anyway, the food show must go on so here we go.  On.

Our dear and oft mentioned friends, Rick and Jenny (Ralph's parents) returned from Ireland and brought back a TON of amazing goodies.  In addition to a giant box of chocolates, nativity calendars, jam, etc. they brought us the key items to make a proper Irish breakfast.  Sigh.  Begin the waterfall of drool.

To begin, they brought us soda farls.  Basically it's soda bread that has been flattened and broken into four pieces or "farls."  Don't worry.  I didn't know that.  I had to look that up. 

It was doughy but light, and just delish.  I grilled each side in a skillet with some butter until it was nice and toasty and crispy.  YUM.

Next, came the potato farls. This was unlike anything I had before.  It was like a dense, savory pancake made with mashed potatoes.  I know, sounds loco, but it is SO good.  I grilled this in a pan as well.  Also with butter.  Duh.

Oh lord.  Oh sweet lord.  RASHERS.  Rashers how do I love thee?  Let me count the (ten) different ways.  One for each of you.  Rashers are like bacon but like a hundred times better.  They are sliced thin and aren't cured, but are still nice and salty.  It's as though bacon and ham had a baby and named her Rasher.  Actually, that's exactly what it's like.

DAMN.

With a couple fried eggs, Charlie and I kicked off our Sunday in true and utter bliss.  You can see the difference in the soda farl vs. potato farl.  The soda farl is bigger and fluffier and the potato farl is smaller and more dense. 



 This makes me want to move to Ireland.  Ralph?  You coming with?

THANK YOU Rick and Jenny for such an amazing and thoughtful gift.  If you would like to sample some amazing, authentic Irish food like rashers, you can order them from Tommy Moloneys.  

Stay hungry!

Truffle Egg Toast

One of my favorite restaurants in Chicago is Davanti Enoteca.  It's this incredible Italian restaurant with unique and out of the box dishes, and they have something called Truffle Egg Toast.  I wanted to make the truffle egg toast at home and lucky for me... it came out pretty damn good.  

I love eggs.  They are cheap, fast, and you can use them a million different ways.  I especially love egg yolks.  Yum. 

Begin by cutting a rustic crusty piece of bread about two inches thick.  From there, you can either scoop out a well or use a biscuit cutter like this one. 

Just make sure you don't cut all the way through to the bottom...

Next, layer a couple piece of cheese over the bread.  I used Swiss.  You can use whatever you want.  I also thick havarti or munster would be good as well. 

Place the bread under the broiler until the cheese begins to melt and sink into the well.  Mine took about 2 minutes or so until it looked like this:

Next, take the bread out of the oven and immediate separate two yolks from the whites and drop them into the well.  You can preserve the whites for later use, or discard them.  Whites are healthy for you so obviously I have no need for them in this house. 

Place the bread back under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until eggs begin to set.  I like very running eggs but if you don't want them runny, I would suggest turning the oven down to 375 and cooking the bread and the eggs until they are set to your preference.  This is a very flexible dish. 

 

Now...for the best part.  I LOVE truffles.  Like love love LOVE.  Obviously, they are incredibly expensive so there are a couple of items I keep on hand that help impart the flavors, but are easy on the wallet.  Enter:  Truffle Oil and Truffle Salt.  You can get both at specialty food stores like Williams Sonoma or Whole Foods.  I drizzled some oil over the bread and eggs and sprinkled some of the truffle salt. 

 

 Dude. 

 

How outrageous does this look?  

 

Not only is this super, super easy...it's also incredibly tasty.  

 

This would be the perfect dish to make for company if you want to knock their socks off, but not spend all day slaving in the kitchen.  From start to finish...this took 5 minutes.  Dare I say this is the new egg in a hole???  I think I might. 

 Stay hungry!

Easter Ham Hash

So you bought a giant ham out of fear your guests were going to swarm it like locusts of biblical proportions...and now, you have more leftovers than you know what to do with.  

Fear not.  I have a plan.  And it just happens to be a pretty damn good one, too. 

See?  I would never lead you astray. Get your party pants on (aka your least restrictive pants you own).

Here are our ingredients: 

3 Cups Yukon Gold Potatoes, Chopped

2 Cups Diced Ham

1/4 Cup Diced Onions

1 Garlic Clove, Chopped 

1 Stick of Butter, Separated

Green Onions for Garnish

5 Eggs, Separated 

1-2 Tbs of Fresh Lemon Juice

Salt & Pepper

1 Tbs White Vinegar

You want to cook, cool, and cut the potatoes.  If you try to cook them raw on the griddle, they'll never  cook right.  Trust me...I've tried.  I love Yukon gold potatoes.  They are flavorful and creamy and just the best.  I had some extra left over from the potato salad I will post on Thursday, so this worked out great.  

Melt the butter on a large pan or griddle and saute the garlic and onion until it begins to soften. 

Once the onion cooks down a bit, add the potatoes, ham, and green onions. 

 

You want the potatoes crispy crispy CRISPAYYYY.  Spread them out evenly on the pan and let them sit for a couple of minutes.  This will allow them to form a nice, crispy crust.  If you keeping messing them and turning them around they'll never get crispy.  Soggy potatoes make me sad. :(

 

So, you can eat it like this...

...but I'm not done yet.  Oh no. 

I used to be terrified of poaching eggs.  Mostly because I don't like to do my research before I try something new, and the first couple of times I would put the egg into an aggressively boiling pot - damaging the delicate egg.  Instead, get a pot of water very hot, but not boiling.  Splash in a little vinegar and then create a whirlpool by stirring the water around and around with a spatula.  Crack the egg into a small dish and then drop it into the middle of the swirling water.  Let it cook for 2-3 minutes.  If you are cooking a bunch at a time, don't do the whirl pool.  You can check if it's done by picking it up out of the water with a slotted spoon and gently poking the egg with your finger.  If it's super jiggly, let it cook for another minute or so.  If it's firm - you over cooked it.  You want something in between. 

Now...onto the hollandaise.  Whisk 3 yolks as hard as you can until they become frothy.  Since I was just making this for my husband and I, I cut the recipe in half. 

Place the yolks over a double boiler and keep whisking until they begin to thicken.  Make sure you keep it moving - if you stop the eggs will scramble. 

Sloooowwwlllly pour in half a stick of melted butter, continually whisking as you go.  Squeeze in a little lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon) and a couple of pinches of salt.  As soon as it comes together and is the right saucy consistency, pull it off the heat. 

 

Place the poached egg in the middle of the hash and drizzle the most amazing sauce ever on top...

Yes.  This tasted as good as it looks.  Maybe even better. 

Creamy, crispy...indulgent.  I just loved this and was so overly impressed with myself.  I believe egg yolks are up there on my list of God's most thoughtful gifts to humankind. 

I had to break a lot of eggs before I mastered how to do a poached egg correctly, but once you get the hang of it - it's super easy and comes out delicious every time.  The whites are perfectly firm and the yolks are runny. 

Yeah...this happened. 

I had a hard time shoveling this into my mouth because I was too busy patting myself on the back and high fiving myself with my feet. 

 

Stay hungry!