Leek, Mushroom, and Camembert Quiche

In 2011, I spent part of the summer studying in Lyon, France. As a student, I tried to save money on most meals so I could splurge on a few dinners out in the city known for its food scene. This frugalness involved many Subway sandwiches early on in my stay. I was quite proud to learn the local nuances of ordering a 6-inch sub en français (lettuce is “salade”, rather than “laitue” as displayed on the menu). But soon enough, my friend and I discovered a small café just down the road from our residence with the same price point as Subway but a bit more French culture. The café had a lunch deal where you could get a slice of quiche, a side salad and a dessert of your choice for just 3 Euro! It was at that café where I fell in love with leek, camembert and honey combo in quiche form. This recipe is my version of the quiche that was a regular mainstay of my time in Lyon.

This is not a time to use your grocery store honey – stop by a farmer’s market and pick up local product to really taste the flavour potential of honey. Or if you have any vacations coming up, I encourage you to take a look for honey on your travels. I love picking up honey as my memento of a trip – honey from different regions of the world have different flavours dependant on the local flowers. I served mine with honey I picked up on a recent trip to Portugal.

A simple arugula salad with lemon juice, olive oil and salt n peppa makes the perfect side

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Leek, Mushroom, and Camembert Quiche with local honey

Ingredients:

• 1 leek, sliced

• 1 pint of mushrooms, sliced

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

• Kosher salt and pepper to season

• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes

• 6 large eggs

• ¾ cup 5% cream (or whatever level M.F. you desire – the higher the milk fat the creamier it will be)

• Camembert cheese, sliced into .5 cm slices (keep the cheese in the fridge until right before you slice it – will make it easier to slice thinly)

• 1 store bought pie crust, or homemade (here’s my favourite pie crust recipe - Ina Garten does no wrong!)

• Serve with honey

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare a 9” pie plate with your pie crust. Place the prepared pie plate onto a cookie sheet (this catches any overflow and makes it easier to carry the pie plate flat).*

2. Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add in the sliced leeks and sautee until soft and translucent (5-7 mins)

   • In the same way that you soften onions, the goal here is to not get any colour (brown/black) on the leeks. They should be soft and tender. The best way to tell your leeks are cooked is when they don’t hold their half circle shape as strongly any more, there’s a bit of wiggle to their shape.

3. Add in chopped mushrooms to the pan and don’t stir. Let the mushrooms cook in the pan on one side for 3-5 mins. This will allow them to brown nicely.

4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Add red chilli flakes to the leeks and mushrooms and stir. Continue to cook until the mushrooms are cooked through (another 3-5 minutes). Remove from heat.

6. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs and cream and season with salt and pepper

   • Try to not get too much air into the eggs while you whisk them by keeping the whisk low in the bowl. This will ensure a custard-y texture for the quiche filling.

   • Only season your eggs right before pouring into the crust – if you season them too early they will turn grey

7. Distribute the leek and mushroom mixture evenly on top of the crust. Pour the egg mixture in next – it should reach just to the top of the crust.

8. Gently place slices of camembert on top of egg mixture – they will sink a little bit but should generally float.

9. Place in the preheated  oven and bake for 25 mins.

10. Check the quiche after 25 mins and give the cookie sheet a gentle shake. If the centre still jiggles, continue to bake and check for jiggle every 5 minute increment. I like mine browned on top, so the extra 10 mins does the trick.

11. Let it sit for 10 mins to cool and set. Slice and top with drizzles of honey. Enjoy with a light arugula salad (arugula, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper).

*if you want to blind bake your pie crust this is when you would do it. Blind baking involves putting the pie crust into the preheated oven with a piece of parchment paper and pie weights or dried beans on top to allow the crust to pre-bake for 10 minutes before putting in the quiche filling. This ensures your crust is cooked through. Honestly, I only do this about 10% of the time when I feel really ambitious. Since the oven is quite hot for this quiche the crust will bake through well without a blind bake, but it certainly won’t hurt to do this if you’d like.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake (Gluten Free)

Growing up, my mom always preferred lemon desserts. In the true fashion of trying to copy everything my mom liked, I have now developed a strong preference for citrus based desserts. But desserts are always a bit of a downfall for me when I have company over for dinner. I always seem to run out of time.

Enter this 7-ingredient lemon olive oil cake that involves no flour (gluten-free friendly and no flour all over your kitchen!) and no fancy baking equipment. You don’t even need vegetable oil! Just your regular everyday cooking extra virgin olive oil. Don’t have a cake pan? You can do this in a square brownie pan! Don’t have a lemon? Use an orange! The world is your oyster/cake. One bowl, a quick 15 mins in the oven and your dessert is ready.

The result is a thin, crumbly, spongey cake that’s not too sweet but hits the spot after a decadent meal. Also goes well with tea for an afternoon treat.

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Lemon Olive Oil Cake

30 minutes total

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs

• ½ cup white sugar

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

• 1 large lemon zested (yields about 1 tbsp lemon zest)

• 2 cups almond flour (ground almonds)

• 1 ½ tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp kosher salt

• ½ lemon, juiced (yields about 2 tablespoons)

 Method

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 9” cake pan by oiling the sides/spraying with cooking spray and lining the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment paper

2. Tip: trace the bottom of your pan on a piece of parchment paper and cut out the circle to get the perfect piece

3. Whisk together the eggs, olive oil, sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl until smooth

4. Add the almond flour, baking powder and kosher salt on top. Mix together with the wet ingredients using a fork, which helps prevent you from overmixing. Mix until combined.

5. Add the lemon juice and fold into the mixture.

6. Pour into the prepared pan.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. The top should be evenly brown.

8. Let cool completely before serving. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar on top. Or with a big scoop of ice cream.

Spicy Feta Dip

I’ve lived in Greektown since moving to Toronto and I am so grateful to be living in a neighborhood with such a lively culture, not to mention delicious food on every corner. From Squareboy slouvaki to dinners at Pantheon ordering way too many appetizers and dips, I have many food memories from the last 4 years living on the Danforth. This recipe is inspired by Tirokafteri, an addictive spicy feta dip. I have been guilty of ordering this as take out for a solo snack on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. The below is my lazy version of this traditional dip, but is perfect when you are in a pinch for an easy appetizer for company. The flavours are unexpected and always go over well with a crowd! Bonus is that it comes together with only three ingredients.

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Spicy Feta Dip

Total time: 30 mins

Ingredients

400g of feta cheese

2/3 cup of sour cream (14% m.f.)*

3/4 cup pickled hot peppers, diced (I usually buy the jar of pickled banana peppers)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F

2. Break the feta up into smaller chunks and pulse in the food processor until it becomes small crumbs. Add in the sour cream and blend until smooth.

3. Pour this mixture into a bowl and fold in the hot peppers.

4. Place in an oven safe dish and bake for 15-20 mins until heated through.

5. Broil on high for 1 minute to get a bit of colour on top. Let it sit for a few minutes to cool and set. Serve with greek pita..

*You could sub in greek yogurt for the sour cream but I prefer the higher milk fat of sour cream to hold the dip together.

** If you don’t have a food processor, you can also mix by hand - you just might not get as smooth of a texture

Brown Butter Chicken Stew with Cranberry-Parsley Dough Boys

This recipe is inspired by two key memories for me: the doughboys from my mom’s beef stew and a memorable meal in France.

My mom used to make beef stew with dough boys (or dumplings as we sometimes called them) growing up - a classic winter meal. There was something really magical about how when the cover came off the stew, these puffed up biscuits appeared. I can remember being told to not touch the cover of the pot because otherwise the doughboys wouldn’t turn out. For this recipe I’ve added in my favourite holiday condiment, cranberry sauce, to the doughboys for a little sweetness and tartness, and parsley for a fresh bite.

One summer during undergrad, I studied in Lyon, France. Quite a few meals from Lyon have stuck with me in 8 years that have passed, but the chicken and leek stew I had my last night was one of the most affecting. It was one of the first times I had leeks, and I was amazed by the gentle onion flavour but buttery texture of the leeks. Browning the butter at the begin of this recipe adds a nuttiness to the base of the stew, building from that flavour profile.

Veggies prepped

Fluffy doughboys with cranberries and fresh parsley

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Brown Butter Chicken Stew with Cranberry-Parsley Dough Boys

1 hour total

For the stew I recommend using a dutch oven. If you do not have a dutch oven, you can always start the browning in a cast iron skillet or frying pan and then transfer everything to a pot for the simmering of the stew.

Stew:

10-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (around 900g)

Seasoning: summer savoury* (~1 tbsp), kosher salt (~ 1 tsp), pepper (~1 tsp)

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 leek**, the pale green/white part sliced length-wise, and then chopped into half cm slices

5-6 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into 1cm pieces (yields about 3 cups)

4-6 stalks of celery, diced (yields about 2 cups)

1 package of cremini or white button mushrooms, halved

½ cup frozen green peas (optional)

4 cups of chicken broth (or 1 tetra pack, 900ml)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp all purpose flour

Doughboys:

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

¼ cup freshly, finely chopped parsley

2 tbsp cold butter in small, 1 cm cubes

¼ cup cranberry sauce (if you choose to not include cranberry sauce you might need to add a bit more milk)

¾ cup of milk (1% or higher)

Stew:

1. Melt the butter in the dutch oven over medium-high heat. Allow the butter to start bubbling and brown, until you see particles begin to look like they are almost burning. The butter should smell nutty and fragrant, and have an overall brown look to it (if you scoop some up into a spoon the liquid should be golden brown and the particles will look dark, almost black). Once the butter reaches this state, add in the olive oil and stir in. This will prevent the butter from burning.

2. Season the chicken thighs with kosher salt, pepper, and an even dusting of summer savoury (both sides).

3. Add the chicken to the pan to brown on each side (about 2-3 mins). Try not to overcrowd your pan or the chicken will steam instead of brown. Depending on how many pieces you do, you may need to brown in two shifts.

4. Once the chicken is browned on both sides, place it on a plate and cover. There should be some juice and oil left in the dutch oven.

5. Add in your leeks and saute until soft over medium heat (4-5 mins). Then add in celery, carrots, mushrooms and sautee for a 5 more mins. Season your vegetables with salt and pepper.

6. Add the chicken and chicken broth into the dutch oven and simmer on low-medium, covered, until carrots are soft and chicken is cooked through (15-20 mins). During this time you can prep the dough boys dough (instructions below). When you first pour in the broth it may not look like enough liquid but the vegetables will cook down and keeping the stew covered will maintain the liquid.

7. Once the carrots and chicken are cooked through, remove about ¼ cup of the stew broth into a small bowl (it’s ok if some leeks come with it) and whisk with 2 tbsp of flour until a smooth slurry is formed

8. Pour the slurry into the stew both and stir to mix in – this will help thicken the stew as it simmers.

9. Your stew is ready for the doughboys! Instructions below
   

Doughboys:

When making the dough boys, think about the delicate art of making biscuits. The same principles apply here:

• You want your butter cold and evenly distributed into the flour, looking like small peas

• Once you add in your liquid, you want to stir as little as possible, just bringing it the dough together. Over mixing will cause some dense, hard doughboys.

1. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper using a whisk to evenly distribute

2. Add in the fresh parsley and add in the butter. I like to use the palm of my hands to slide the butter pieces between my hands creating small “sheets” of butter in the flour. You could also use a pastry cutter but hands work well for this small amount!

3. In a bowl or measuring cup, gently fold the milk into the cranberry sauce. You don’t want to over stir otherwise you will have purple doughboys. A few gently folds will get the liquids mixed.

4. Pour your liquid into the dry ingredients and “fluff” using a fork until no dry spots exist. Do not overmix, just stir until the dough comes together.

5. If you are into green peas, now would be the time to stir them into your stew. Taste your stew and adjust seasoning as needed (salt and pepper, more summer savoury if desired)

6. Drop small scoops (~2 tbsp) of dough into the surface of the stew. Remember the dough boys will double in size so don’t make them too big! And try to leave a little space between them.

7. Cover for 15 mins. DO NOT OPEN THE POT. You will be very sad if you do.

8. After the 15 mins, open the pot. The dough boys should look light and fluffy, but a density that when you poke them they barely bounce back.

9. Serve with some additional chopped parsley on top and enjoy!

* summer savoury is a dried herb from the East Coast of Canada, you could substitute with savoury, thyme, rosemary, herb de provence.

**substitution: if you don’t have leeks, you can always use white onion for the base

Go-To Winter Side Salad

6 simple ingredients

One of the first bloggers I followed on Instagram was Dulanotes - I loved her simple approach to truly yummy food. Back in 2016, she posted this recipe for Pork Scalloppine with Fennel Salsa Verde. Fennel is one of my favourite vegetables - tastes amazing raw with lemon juice and some salt n pepper, but also cooks into a buttery texture similar to cooked cabbage when braised.

I’ve taken Dulanote’s fennel salsa verde recipe and adjusted it over the years to make what I call the best winter side salad around. Winter meals tend to be heavier, especially when entertaining - braised meats, meat wrapped in pastry, etc. The brightness, acidity and crunch of this salad will balance the richest of tourtieres, beef wellingtons, pork ragu pastas and so on. A family favourite, always requested when I go home for the holidays, it also holds up well in the fridge for leftovers thanks to the kale base (albeit a little wetter than when first served).

Make it extra festive: add pomegranate seeds

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go-to winter side salad

Yields 4-6 servings

15 mins to prepare

Ingredients:

1 small fennel bulb, plus the fronds

¼ cup of lemon juice (typically juice of 1 lemon)

1 tbsp of capers

1 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil

2 shallots, finely diced

1 head of kale

Kosher salt

Ground pepper

Method:

1. Dice the fennel bulb, yielding about ½ cup of fennel and add to a large mixing bowl. Tear off the fronds from the stems, and roughly chop before adding to the bowl.

2. Roughly chop up the capers to make them smaller bites, and add to the large bowl - it’s ok if some of the brine comes with it

3. Add your diced shallots, lemon juice, olive oil to the bowl, season with salt and pepper - give it all a good stir to emulsify the oil into the lemon juice

4. Remove the kale leaves from the stems, rinse, and chiffonade* into 1 cm thick strips  

5. Add the kale to the bowl and mix with the your (clean) hands, squeezing the dressing into the kale to tenderize it a little bit

6. Serve and enjoy!

*chiffonade refers to thinly slicing greens/herbs into long thin strips. To get consistent sized strips, I bunch the kale up into a tight ball with my left hand and thinly slice. After I’ve completed this, I chop into thirds the other direction.