Asparagus Quiche

The weather last week was quite Spring-like, so I decided to make some Asparagus Quiche! (Although the weather as I am writing this is decidedly not spring-like.)
Quiche, as I am sure you all know, is a French dish that is at the intersection of Frittata and custard tart. It has a pastry shell and is filled with a savory egg based custard. The traditional Quiche Lorraine has bacon and gruyère, but I made this quiche vegetarian with asparagus, onions, and gruyère.

First I browned the onions in olive oil with some red thai curry paste.

And then I added the garlic and cooked it for about 30 seconds.

And then I added the asparagus (first I cooked the stalks, and then I added the tops, because the tender tops cook more quickly)

To cook the asparagus I added some water to the pan and let the asparagus simmer until it was soft, adding water as necessary. I wanted it to be soft rather than al dente to meld better with the texture of the custard.

Then I made the custard with 5 eggs and a cup of milk. I then added about a cup of freshly grated gruyère as well as some salt and pepper (and a little bit of chili pepper).

I poured the custard into my blind baked pastry dough, and added the asparagus to it.

I then baked the quiche for about 20-30 minutes.

The quiche was quite tasty, although it could have used either a bit more salt or some more cheese. I served with a bright salad to contrast with the butteryness of the crust.

Carrot Ribbon Salad

I am a big fan of carrots, and I am a big fan of salad, but I could never figure out how to combine them in a satisfying way. Cutting the carrots into round slices just made them too thick and woody in comparison with the lettuce, and shredded carrots tend to clump up unattractively. But, when I was peeling carrots, I realized that the peels were the perfect thickness for a salad. So I just kept peeling, even after the skin was long gone, to make carrot ribbons.

I used 2 carrots to get about 1-1.5cups of loosely packed ribbons (I would use a third carrot if I made this again). To continue my salad, I decided to add a small handful of cranberries and toasted pecans to add a bit of interest, and I topped it with a box of spring greens.

For the dressing, I made a mustard vinaigrette with a large spoonful of mustard, a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, a larger spoonful of red wine vinegar (too much balsamic makes a salad cloyingly sweet instead of light and refreshing), an equal amount of olive oil, and a crank of freshly ground pepper.

I brought this salad to a Track pasta feed (where we feast on carbs the night before a race) and it was a nice change from all of the pasta and cookies. At the pasta feed, my friend and I actually ended up making a lemon-olive oil dressing with the hosts home-grown lemons for some of the plain pasta people had brought, and it was delicious: lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, mustard, and "italian seasoning" tossed with pasta.

Bacon Avocado Sandwich

     Last week, my friend brought an avocado sandwich to school. It looked really good. I wanted one too. So, on Thursday morning, instead of making my usual ham and cheese or pb and j, I decided to make an avocado sandwich. And what better with avocado than bacon? 

     I mashed a few slices of avocado with Cholula hot sauce and lime (to slow oxidation as well as to add flavor)

     I had fried the bacon the night before, and then I just cut it up and placed it on the avocado! The combination of creamy and crunchy/salty was very tasty. As we approach the summer months, this sandwich could be improved with some ripe tomato slices and lettuce into a BLTA! 

     And I appologize for the not very good photos. 7 am is kind of early to be thinking about exposure.

Tomato Sauce and Carrot Cardamom Cake

Tonight, my parents went out, so my brother (who is home for spring break) and I decided to make some ravioli and carrot cake!

Above is the tomato sauce I made to go with the ravioli. It has onions, garlic (which I sliced rather than crushed), red thai curry paste, some of my mom's mystery spices, canned tomatoes, jarred tomato sauce, and peas. 

This is Spiced Carrot Cake, but really should be called Cardamom Carrot cake, because cardamom is its only spice. It was, however, delicious. 

And I successfully temporarily fixed my camera! Unfortunately, as I had to duct tape the piece that holds the batteries in, I'm not sure how I will change the batteries... But until then I can still take pictures!