Recipe: Asparagus Pancetta Quiche

I love quiche because it's quick and easy and because you can throw just about anything into it.  A couple of Easter's ago I made an Asparagus and Canadian Bacon Quiche and it was a delicious hit at the party.  Of course, when I was making my quiche last week, I forgot all about that recipe, so I made a new recipe using ingredients that I had in my kitchen (which were considerably different than the ingredients I'd had that Easter.  Rather than ricotta I used pecorino and stracchino cheese, a rich creamy spreadable cheese. It has a lovely flavor and tang and really kicked up the flavor of my quiche. I also used pancetta (the Italian equivalent but less fatty, cubed version of bacon) instead of Canadian bacon (also healthier than regular bacon).  I like pancetta because it isn't overly salty but still rich in flavor. I also made a few other changes, like the crust and sauteing the asparagus instead of boiling it.
I love making quiche on lazy Sundays. It's definitely a great use of time!

Ingredients:
1 pie crust (I used a pre-made non frozen crust, but anything will do. You can even make your own!)
1 tbs olive oil
2 small shallots
150 g pancetta
1 bunch of asparagus
4 eggs
200 g stracchino
100 g soft pecorino, in small pieces

what everything should look like sauteed

red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Lay your pie crust in an oven proof pan.  If you're using a frozen crust, just remove it from the freezer.

mixing it all together

Dice up your shallots.  Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan and when the oil is hot add in your pancetta (or if you prefer, bacon or Canadian bacon, in which case just skip the oil).  When the pancetta is sizzling add in the shallots.  Sweat the shallots over a low flame while you clean and then cut your asparagus into inch long pieces. Keep an eye on your pan and stir periodically. When the shallots become transparent and the pancetta has gotten some color, toss in the asparagus. I used really thin asparagus so I only sauteed it for a minute or so before removing everything from the heat. They cooked the rest of the way in the oven.

Gorgeous before baking

 If you are cooking with thicker asparagus, saute them for 2 to 3 minutes or until they are just about fork tender.
Let the mixture cool for a few minutes and in a separate bowl whisk the eggs, stracchino, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper together.  Do not use a lot of salt because the pancetta is already
salty enough.  If you're using bacon, don't use any salt at all. Carefully fold in the sauteed asparagus mixture and pecorino into the egg mixture.

When the asparagus is well coated with egg, pour evenly into the pie crust and fold the edge of the crust over onto itself.

Beautiful

Bake for about 45 minutes. The quiche is done when the crust is golden brown and when the egg
has risen and set all the way.

Recipe: Almost "Italian" Grilled Cheese

My roommates periodically think I'm crazy. They see me making mac & cheese or grilled cheese or any of my various strange mixings of sweet and savory and think I'm insane.
It makes me laugh, because I may be strange, but I make really good food.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I know I can cook and cook well. The constant request for meals from friends leads me to believe that for as strange as my recipes can be, everything must be quite good.

In any case last night I made myself a different grilled cheese with this lovely creamy cheese called stracchino. It's another spreadable cheese that has a richer texture and taste than something like cream cheese.
It's very typically Italian so I decided to go with one of it's traditional pairings for my grilled cheese.  Often in restaurants you'll see crostini (toasted bread) with stracchino and sausage, so I decided to do a grilled cheese utilizing the combination.
And then of course I added my own twist by adding an egg cooked over easy to add to the texture and flavor of the whole sandwich and served it with a rich balsamic vinegar as a dipping sauce.

Ingredients:
2 sausages
1/4 small onion
1 tbs olive oil
1 egg
Stracchino cheese
2 slices of whole grain bread (I used white bread because it's what I had)
2 pats of butter
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste

Dice a quarter of an onion finely and put to the side for the moment. Remove the casing from your sausage and cut (or tear) it into small pieces.  Pour a little olive oil into a saucepan, not a lot because the sausage should render out its own fat. Let the oil get hot slowly over a low flame and then add the

onions. As the onions begin to sweat add in the sausage and red pepper flakes to taste.  Leave on the heat stirring often until the sausage is cooked all the way through.
Put the sausage and onion into a plate but do not drain the oil from the pan.  You can use the renderings to cook your egg quickly.  Put the pan back over a low heat and crack the egg into the pan carefully. Spice with a little salt and pepper (I would suggest more pepper than salt).  If you prefer, you can keep your egg sunny side up and cook it on just the one side.  I like cooking both sides briefly, so after a few minutes I very carefully flip my egg and let it cook a little more.  I like to keep the yolk still runny, so I don't leave it in the pan for very long.
Unfortunately, I wasn't using a nonstick pan last night so I had a bit of a problem flipping my egg.  It looked a little wonky but still tasted delicious.  I put the egg on the plate with the sausage and put it to the side.
Next spread the cheese thickly on both sides of bread.

At this point you have two options, you can either grill the bread in the remaining oil in your first pan or you can get a second clean pan and use butter.  I chose to use butter because I liked the idea of the additional flavor and also because my egg had stuck in the first pan so I don't imagine the bread would've cooked evenly.  Using the first pan however would give your bread a lovely smoky, sausage taste that would work on the whole.

If you choose to use butter, place it into a new saucepan and melt slowly on a low flame. When the butter has melted, add your bread into the pan.  Let it brown for a few minutes until golden and then remove from the heat.
Add your sausage and then egg onto one piece of bread. For additional flavor, you can drizzle the egg with balsamic vinegar or a balsamic reduction or you can do what I did and use the balsamic vinegar as a dipping sauce.
The richness and bite of the vinegar should really complement the creaminess of the cheese.