Pasta with Garlic scapes, peas and Asiago cream sauce

Ever heard of a garlic scape? Wondering what the heck it is? Well, garlic and its relatives in the allium family, (leeks, chives, onions) grow underground, where the bulb begins its journey, soft and onion-like. As the bulb gets harder (and more like the garlic we know), a shoot pokes its way through the ground, its long and thin and very pliable and spins itself into a curled tendril. This stage of growth is the garlic scape. If the shoot is left attached to the bulb it will fade in color, becoming papery and whitish like we know garlic to be and it will stop the growth of the bulb below the surface. Farmers who want to keep the garlic growing snip off these scapes and sell them, a double whammy for the garlic farmer, sell the scapes and the bigger bulbs, win/win!

Yesterday the Husband suggested we take a trip to Whole Foods to see 'what looked good'. He's a smart man, that Husband! The Witch of course never turns down a trip to Whole Foods and was pretty darn jazzed about the whole idea.

Kitchen Witch: "Holy cow, garlic scapes! I thought I'd never see those here in Colorado!"
Husband: "What the hell are those?"
Kitchen Witch: "Garlic scapes, the shoot of the garlic plant. Its supposed to be lightly garlic flavored and delicious"
Husband: "So, you're getting them, right?"
Kitchen Witch: "Yes. However what I'll do with them is up for debate as I've never laid hands to them before, muchless cooked with them! Research is in order!!"

And it was then that I remembered that Yenta Mary, the Food Floozie, had just posted a delightful sounding recipe for Garlic Scapes, peas and pasta. It sounded amazing at the time and now that I had my own curled tendrils of garlic goodness in hand it was time to make it! Before I get on with the recipe let me take a moment to say that if you haven't checked out Yenta Mary's site yet, please do! She's a fabulous writer, awesome cook and filled with all sorts of interesting facts - as well as pronunciations of hard to say Yiddish words which will make us gentiles feel like we're kosher. Its a fun and informative site!

Back to the scapes! When I got home I realized I was out of peas. But I did have snow pea pods, so that's what I used. I also didn't have heavy cream and used half and half. The half & half did kinda curdle when it hit the white wine reduction, it wasn't pretty, but once the cheese was added it all came together in a cohesive sauce. However when making this again, and I will be making this again, I'll use heavy cream. Normally when making a cream sauce I'd use a fettuccine pasta but I was out, so fusilli filled in nicely. The spirals of the pasta helped trap some of the yummy garlic sauce in each bite.



Ok Witch, you've told us about how these scapes grow, how you got them and how you didn't have the correct ingredients but made due. Get on with the good part already: How did it taste?? Well my dear readers the taste was amazing! Garlic scapes are defiantly garlic flavored but its more mellow, not as sharp or hot as the garlic bulbs. The flavor of this dish was very reminiscent of chicken with 40 cloves, rich, mellow, carmalized and almost smoky. All that in 10 minutes. If you're lucky enough to run across garlic scapes GET THEM! Try this dish. I promise the garlic lover in your family will thank you!

Pasta with Garlic Scapes, Peas and Asiago cream sauce
Makes 2 servings
8 oz long pasta of your choice (fettuchini)
4 garlic scapes
about 20 snow pea pods OR 1/2 c fresh peas
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1/4 c white wine
1/4 c cream
1 sprig fresh oregano
1/2 c fresh grated Asiago cheese (parmesen would be fine, too)
kosher salt
pepper

Slice garlic scapes into 1/2 inch pieces, trimming off any tough or woody ends. Slice snow pea pods into 1/4 inch slices. Rough chop the herbs.

Bring a pot of water to boil for pasta. Cook pasta according to instructions on box in well salted water. While pasta cooks prepare sauce.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add butter and oil, once butter has melted add the garlic scapes. Toss to coat in fat and cook about 1 minute, until the scapes smell fragrent and are barely brown. Add the pea pods and cook 1 minute longer, garlic scapes will start to brown.

Add the wine and oregano and deglaze pan. Reduce wine by half. Add the cream, salt & pepper and Asiago cheese. Stir to melt and incorporate cheese into sauce. Add cooked and drained pasta, toss with sauce and serve.



Nutrition Factsprovided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 703.7
Total Fat 43.0 g
Saturated Fat 23.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 8.6 g
Cholesterol 87.9 mg
Sodium 1,043.0 mg
Potassium 124.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 47.8 g
Dietary Fiber 2.6 g
Sugars 2.1 g
Protein 29.5 g

Java Chip Frappe

Have you tried the Starbucks VIA line of instant coffees? The Witch has, and LOVES them! They are make the perfect afternoon mug of coffee and are fabulous for baking. Anytime a recipe calls for instant espresso powder I throw in a packet of VIA, usually Italian roast, in its place. VIA is a lot easier to find and the price is a lot better than espresso powder.

One of my favorite treats from Starbucks is a Java Chip Frappucchino: coffee blended with milk, chocolate chips, mocha flavoring, topped with whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle, its fabulous! It also will run you about $4.50 for a grande, and that grande (16 oz) beverage will cost you 440 calories. But its worth it, or so I thought until I made my own.

Tribute was Starbucks 30th anniversary special blend. It was available for a limited time only and was delicious!

This frosty beverage was super simple, used ingredients I have on hand all the time and took about 2 minutes to prepare. And best of all, its around 200 calories! Into the carafe of my blender I added a packet of VIA instant coffee, milk, a touch of half and half, sugar, chocolate and ice. Now granted, my version didn't have a whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle, but, it was an amazing frappe and I saved myself $4.50 and 240 calories! Now that's witchcraft! Who needs Starbucks when you've got a Witch around?

Java Chip Frappe
makes 1 serving
1 c ice cubes
1/2 c 2% milk
Packet VIA instant coffee
1.5t cocoa powder
1.5t sugar
2T chocolate chips
2T half and half

Combine all ingredients in the carafe of a blender. Pulse to break up ice then blend until smooth and frothy, about 1 minute. Serve and enjoy!



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 201.9
Total Fat 11.1 g
Saturated Fat 6.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.7 g
Cholesterol 20.9 mg
Sodium 62.3 mg
Potassium 39.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 24.8 g
Dietary Fiber 1.0 g
Sugars 20.0 g
Protein 6.4 g

Gyros with Tzatiziki sauce

Gyros is one of my all time favorite foods, ever. When I was pregnant with the Little Witch we had to pass 2 gyros places weekly on our way to Lamaze class. Needless to say we had gyros for dinner at least once a week! I love love love it!!!!

While the Witch has a well stocked and equipped kitchen, I do not have a spit or a rotisserie, which would make making gyros hard. After all its a cone shaped loaf of meat, with a large skewer through the middle that is grilled on a vertical rotisserie. Not exactly standard home kitchen equipment. So what does a Kitchen Witch do when she wants to make gyros but has no gyros rotisserie?

I decided to make the gyros meat into a loaf, much like a meatloaf, seasoned gyros style. That means lots and lots of garlic, Mediterranean herbs and spices and a blend of beef and lamb. I used a 50/50 mix of ground beef and ground lamb for cost savings as the lamb is expensive, and most gyros is a lamb/beef blend. Because it is a meatloaf I added some basic binders, 1 egg and a bit of cracker crumbs, to help hold it all together. The Witch then chucked all the ingredients into the food processor and let it all blend together well, which helps it to bind and form a cohesive loaf that won't fall apart when sliced.

When you order a gyros sandwich they shave the meat off the spit so each piece of meat is browned. Its so good, and something I didn't want to forgo in my homemade version. After the loaf cooked I removed it from the oven and allowed it to rest for about 20 minutes. I then sliced the loaf into thin (1/8 inch thick) slices and pan fried them in a bit of olive oil. The meat slices browned up nicely and got crusty and browned on the edges, just like a good gyros should be. Pile the meat onto a hot pita bread, top with tzatiziki sauce, lettuce, tomato and feta and feast!! The final browning step is optional but I'd not forgo it, the seared edges really helped transform the gyro loaf from a meatloaf to a gyro sandwich.

Gyros
makes 8 servings
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground lamb
6 cloves garlic minced
1 medium onion minced
1.5 t kosher salt
1/8 t pepper
1 sprig fresh rosemary minced
3 sprigs fresh oregano minced
1/2 t cumin, ground
1/8 t coriander seed, ground
1 egg
2 T milk
6 saltine crackers OR 1/4 c bread crumbs
3 T olive oil

Pita bread (click here for a homemade version)
Tzaiziki sauce
shredded lettuce
feta cheese
diced tomatoes

Tzatziki
makes 8 servings, 2 T each
1 cup greek yogurt plain (Greek Gods Traditional Greek Yogurt is what the Witch used and recommends)
1/2 cucumber, grated and squeezed dry
1/2 t dried dill weed
about 6 leaves each mint and oregano, chiffonade
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 t kosher salt
1/8 t ground pepper

Combine everything into a bowl and stir well. Allow to sit for at least 1 hour before eating so the flavors can blend.



Preheat oven to 375F

Finely mince the herbs and press garlic thru a garlic press (or finely mince, your choice). Combine everything BUT the olive oil into the work bowl of a food processor. Run for 30 seconds or until the mixture forms a ball and is throughly mixed.



Form the meat into a long rectangle, (about 8 inches wide and 2 inches tall, 14 inches long) making it slightly thinner in the middle. Drizzle 1 T olive oil over the top of the loaf and bake for 35-45 minutes or until it reads 160F internally. Remove from oven and allow to rest before slicing.

OPTIONAL: Slice meat into thin (1/8 in) slices. Heat a skillet over medium high heat and add 1 T of olive oil. Once oil is hot fry the slices of gyros until they are golden browned. Flip and brown on 2nd side. Remove from pan and allow grease to drain off.



Assemble the gyros sandwiches with 3-4 slices of gyro meat, lettuce, tomato, feta cheese and tzatizki sauce wrapped in a warmed pita bread. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe Calculator
Gyro meat ONLY
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 371.8
Total Fat 30.3 g
Saturated Fat 11.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 14.2 g
Cholesterol 107.4 mg
Sodium 467.7 mg
Potassium 295.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 2.6 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 0.2 g
Protein 20.7 g

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Tzatiziki sauce ONLY

8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 35.2
Total Fat 2.8 g
Saturated Fat 1.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 7.5 mg
Sodium 77.9 mg
Potassium 25.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 1.8 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 1.5 g
Protein 1.1 g

Spanakopita

My first experience with spanakopita was with my Aunt Katina. She's from Greece and these were always one of her specialties. I remember small triangles of some awesome flaky pastry with cheese and something green in them and that they were amazingly good. My mom always heated them up in our toaster oven - they were a perfect little snack! Little did I know that 'those triangle things that Aunt Katina makes' had a real name and that you could actually get them from other places than Aunt Katina! Who knew?

This recipe might not be an authentic Greek version, I don't know if they use cream cheese or Asiago cheese, my guess would be not. The Kitchen Witch uses these cheeses because, well, they're delicious and work well with the spinach. Something both versions do have in common is the use of feta cheese, its salty sharp tang is what makes this spinach pie delicious. Well, that and the filo dough, and the butter. Mmm...butter...

If you've never worked with filo don't fear it! It's not as hard as it looks. You'll find filo (or phyllo) dough in the frozen section of your grocery, where pie shells are. One box has 2 sleeves of dough in it, and you'll use less than 1/2 of one sleeve for this recipe. Allow the dough to thaw completely before using it, if its even a little frozen it will rip and tear. Been there, done that. Unroll the filo dough and cover it with a damp towel. Have your butter melted and the pan that the dough is going into ready to go. Work quickly as the thin sheets of pastry like to dry out but do not be alarmed if the dough tears. Its very thin and this is to be expected. Honestly, after its all baked no one will ever know if your pastry is pieced together because it kept ripping or if it stayed in one nice sheet. Again, I've had both happen, they both ended up fine.

Spanakopita can be made in a large pie form as I've done here, or you can make smaller appetizer sized ones by folding a bit of filling into strips of buttered filo dough and folding into triangles. Both versions can be frozen with great success. Enjoy this Greek delight!

Spanakopita
makes 8 wedges
12 oz bag frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 green onions sliced very thin
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup feta cheese
1/4 c asiago cheese, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t dill weed, dried (if using fresh double the amount)
a few gratings of fresh nutmeg or a pinch ground nutmeg
1 t kosher salt
1/8 t white pepper
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted
7 sheets filo dough

Combine everything BUT the butter and the filo dough sheets. Mix well.

Preheat oven to 400F

Using an 8x8 pan butter the bottom and sides liberaly with melted butter. Lay 1 sheet of filo dough over the pan, making one edge flush to the sheet of dough and the other overhanging. Press into place and up the side. Brush that sheet of dough with melted butter. Place another sheet of filo over the 1st one, leaving another edge hanging off. Repeat 2 more times so each side of the pan has a piece of overlapping filo dough.




Spread the spinach and cheese mixture evenly into the pan.



Bring the overhanging sides up and over the cheese mixture, buttering each layer before folding the next over top.

Butter 2 full sheets of filo dough, fold in half and lay on top. Press into place. Butter top layer.

Using a sharp knife cut the pie into wedges or squares before baking.



Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 212.9
Total Fat 16.1 g
Saturated Fat 10.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.9 g
Cholesterol 50.3 mg
Sodium 600.9 mg
Potassium 174.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 11.1 g
Dietary Fiber 1.6 g
Sugars 0.5 g
Protein 7.2 g

Kapama

This recipe came to me courtesy of my cooking buddy Eric. He said that kapoma, a Greek chicken stew, was a family favorite when he was growing up. I say we never had deliciousness like this when I was a kid, but I am very glad to know about it now!

This dish couldn't be more simple or delicious. Its got 7 ingredients in it, and that includes salt & pepper! I bet you have most everything in your pantry right now!

Chicken pieces are dredged in cinnamon and braised in tomato and lemon juice. It sounds odd I know, but believe the Witch, its delicious! The cinnamon is not at all dessert like, you won't think that someone somehow mixed up a cinnamon roll with your chicken dinner. The cinnamon mellows a lot while cooking, the acidity of the tomato and lemon also help take it in a new direction far away from the cinnamon in desserts that we all know and love. The sauce that results is amazing, so rich, flavorful and delicately scented with cinnamon.

I do hope you'll try this dish soon. Its become a family favorite here as well - the 4 yr old Little Witch loves it and requests it often. I'd call that a success any day!

Kapama
makes 4 servings
6 chicken thighs OR 4 chicken breasts, your choice (I used boneless skinless thighs but have done it with boneless skinless breasts too. I'm sure you could use bone in meat, it would probably have more flavor in the finished dish as most bone in meat tends to be more flavorful. If using bone in adjust cooking time to 1 hr)
3 T cinnamon
1 t kosher salt
1/8 t pepper
2 T butter
29 oz can tomato sauce
juice of 1 lemon
about 1/2 c water

Mix the salt, pepper and cinnamon together. Dredge chicken pieces until thoroughly coated in cinnamon mixture.



Heat butter in a large non reactive skillet with a lid. Once butter stops foaming add the chicken pieces and sautee until browned, about 2 minutes. Flip and brown 2nd side.



Pour the tomato sauce over chicken. Add the water to the can to rinse it out and pour into the skillet as well. Add lemon juice. Bring up to a boil then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover and simmer on low heat for 45 min to an hour.

Serve chicken with sauce over rice or orzo pasta.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 258.3
Total Fat 10.5 g
Saturated Fat 4.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.0 g
Cholesterol 101.5 mg
Sodium 1,611.8 mg
Potassium 946.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 21.1
Dietary Fiber 6.7 g
Sugars 8.9 g
Protein 23.3 g

Technique: Grilled Steaks

Grilling steaks seems like a relatively simple concept: hot coals meets slab o' beef, let it cook and voila, a perfectly medium cooked steak, just like your favorite steak house, right? Well how many times has it worked out for you? If you're like the Witch, that answer is not nearly enough! Usually the outside is beautifully seared, the milliard reaction done to perfection and yet the inside is raw, beyond rare OR cooked so well done that a shoe could be made from your steak. Neither of these is acceptable. Nothing is more frustrating than spending a lot of hard earned money on steaks just to mess them up in the cooking process.

Recently the Kitchen Witch purchased some beautiful thick cut top sirloin steaks. These babies were THICK, 1.5 inches or so!! Honestly I've never cooked a slab of beef this large, except in a braise, so the idea of throwing it onto hot coals and hoping for the best wasn't too appealing to me. By the time the internal temp was up to 130F (med rare) the outside would be charcoal. Not what I wanted for my beautiful thick cut top sirloins! Whats a Witch to do?

That's when I remembered a technique for cooking steaks that I heard about from America's Test Kitchen. For cuts of beef that should never be cooked beyond medium, which is pretty much everything except commercially ground beef, they suggest starting the meat out in a slow oven (250F) until the internal temperature is with in 20 degrees of your final desired temperature. So if your target temp is 135F then pull the meat out of the oven at 115F. Then you take the meat out of the oven and sear the exterior for the crusty browned deliciousness you'd expect from a good steak.

The gentle heat of the oven does a few things for your meat.

1. The internal temperature of the meat is slowly brought with in 20 degrees of finished product target temp, so when you put on the grill all you're really doing is searing the outside and getting lots of color and flavor. The heat from the grilling will bring the meat up to the proper temp, awesome sear on the outside, keeping it tender and juicy inside, since the bulk of the cooking has been done in the oven.

2. The relatively low temp of the oven also helps desiccate the meat, which may sound counter productive but, believe the Witch, it works. When you evaporate some of the surface moisture you are able to get a good sear and brown color on the exterior. Desiccating the meat also acts as slow aging process in fast forward. Removing some of the moisture concentrates the beefs flavor and jump starts the enzymes that break down the beef tissues resulting in tender and flavorful meat, much like your favorite steak house.

This technique works best on thicker cuts of meat. If your steak is less than 1 inch thick then you should be fine just grilling it directly because there is less mass to heat through. This is also a great technique to use on London Broil, a relatively inexpensive cut (it goes on sale for $2 a lb often here) and needs to be cooked to med rare/medium at the most.

Technique: Grilled Steaks
thick cut steaks (1.5 inches thick)
kosher salt
pepper
cooling rack that will fit into a sheet pan
thermometer

Pat the steaks dry with paper towel. Remove as much surface moisture as possible.

Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and pepper and allow steaks to rest at room temperature for an hour.

Place steaks on the cooling rack set inside a sheet pan and place into a preheated 250F oven. Allow meat to cook until internal temperature is 110-115F (time depends on the thickness of the meat, how long it sat at room temp, etc). Remove from oven and place immediately onto a heated grill or skillet to sear.

Cook meat until the outside is browned and the internal temperature is 135F for medium. Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes so the juices can redistribute themselves with in the meat.

Tortilla Soup, Happy Cinco De Mayo!

This recipe was first posted on Andrea the Kitchen Witch in Feb of 2010. In honor of Cinco De Mayo the Witch has decided to share it with you all again. The Witches' camera is broken right now - no new posts until it gets fixed :( Until then please enjoy this recipe from the archives!

After making mole last week, I had a lot of Mexican style ingredients around the kitchen that needed to get used. Things like corn tortillas and jalapanos. It was lunch time on yet another snowy day here in Colorado Springs, a bit of warming was in order. What warms you inside and outside better than tortilla soup?

I've made tortilla soup many times and it always follows the same basic recipe. And its usually good, not great, but good. This tortilla soup, however, was amazingly good. What a taste sensation! It was the first time that I added lime, something I'll never leave out again. Other than the chicken stock, this soup contains no meat. Between the beans and toppings I guarantee you'll never miss the meat.

I cook corn tortillas into my soup, rather than just garnishing the top with them. After all, this is tortilla soup! It takes about 30 minutes of simmering for the tortillas to break down and incorporate into the soup. Its not a pretty process but the taste is fantastic. When you look at the finished product you'll see how creamy the soup looks, and theres no dairy in it at all. That's the magic of the corn tortilla. Rich chicken stock, creamy black beans, spicy jalapanos, all made rich and creamy by the addition of tortillas. A splash of lime juice makes everything stand up and pay attention.

The best part of tortilla soup is the garnishes - add anything you like. I like the creaminess of avocados, the color and acidity of tomatoes and the cooling action of sour cream and cheese. This is a great dish for the entire family, kids and adults both have fun adding their own toppings, making their own custom bowl of soup.

Tortilla soup
serves 4
4 cups chicken stock
2 fresh jalapanos or fresh chili of your choice OR 1 small can jalapanos or green chilies
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 t fresh toasted & ground cumin seeds (pre ground is fine if that's what you have)
1 cloves garlic minced
2 T onion fine mince
8 fresh corn tortillas
1/2 lime, fresh or squeeze of lime juice on each bowl of soup
drizzle of oil
S&P
GARNISHES: diced avocado, tomato, green onion, olives, cilantro, sour cream, tortilla strips


Prep all ingredients first. Dice jalapanos, discard veins and seeds if you like a milder soup. Mince onion and garlic. Toast the cumin and grind it.
Kitchen Witch Tip: If you're unsure about the heat level desired from your soup, remove the vein and seeds from your pepper. Dice the pepper and add to the soup. Dice the vein and seeds and reserve, add some if you need more heat. The vast majority of the heat is in the vein and seeds of the pepper. I do this when making spicy dishes that I expect the kids to eat, the base dish is quite mild, the adults can add more spiciness as desired.

Heat a medium sized soup pan over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of oil to the pan and sautee onions for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, beans, jalapanos, cumin and stock, reduce heat to medium. Taste and season with S&P as needed. Tear 4 corn tortillas into hunks and stir into soup, allow to rapidly simmer for 30 minutes. You need some good simmering action here, the agitation of the bubbling will help break down the tortillas and allow them to dissolve, helping to thicken the soup and add a rich corn flavor. Stir every 5 minutes.



While soup is simmering heat oven to 450*. Brush both sides of corn tortillas with a touch of oil. Slice tortillas into 1/8 inch wide strips. Put tortilla strips on a baking sheet and toss with 1/2 t kosher salt. Bake strips 8 minutes, turn them over and bake about 5 minutes longer, or until strips turn golden and smell like toasted corn.



Ladle soup into bowls topping with tortilla strips and any/all garnishes you like.

Nutrition information provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Nutrition Facts
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving *~*does not include garnishes*~*
Nutrition Facts
Tortilla soup
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 195.8
Total Fat 2.3 g
Saturated Fat 0.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Cholesterol 6.3 mg
Sodium 1,400.5 mg
Potassium 342.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 36.5 g
Dietary Fiber 7.4 g
Sugars 1.0 g
Protein 8.5 g

I've entered this soup into a blog challenge for tortilla soup recipes, click HERE to check out all the awesome soups, too!

Skillet Quiche with sausage and cheese

The Kitchen Witch loves quiche, let that be understood. Egg pie, filled with delicious things like cheese, veggies, meats, I mean hello!? Its delicious! Quiche is also a major caloric blow, thanks to the pie crust. Pie crust can be a nightmare to make. It can be disastrous to roll out. And even when both of these steps go well, the crust can fight back and be tough and dry, not flaky and flavorful like it should be. So why not forgo it all together and use something that we KNOW goes well with eggs? Something like hashbrowns.

A layer of hashbrowns serve as the crust, the fillings get piled on top and it's capped with an eggy custard that is so soft you'd swear there was a LOT of cream in it. But no, the Kitchen Witch strikes again - using a mere 4 eggs and 2% milk the custard will never miss the cream. Now this is not to say that quiche is low calorie, well at least not this version loaded with Swiss cheese and sausage. It rings in at 590 calories per serving, but that serving is 2 slices of delicious quiche. Add a salad with a low cal dressing and you're good to go.

When making quiche really look at what you have in your fridge to use up. Quiche is magic for left overs. What better place to use up some of that left over Easter ham than in a quiche, add some cheese and left over asparagus from the same meal and voila, a brand new dinner, using only 1/2 new ingredients. Experiment with your families favorite flavors or be bold and make up a new one of your own. I like to follow the guideline of 1 veg, 1 meat and 1 cheese when making quiche.

Any leftovers will reheat nicely but avoid the microwave. To reheat quiche place slices on a baking sheet and put into a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 350F. Heat quiche until hot through, about 5 minutes.

Skillet Quiche with sausage and cheese
makes 4 servings, 2 slices each
1 box sausage links (8 links)
4 eggs
1.5 c 2% milk
2 slices swiss cheese
1-2 roasted red bell peppers diced (jarred)
1/2 onion diced
3 large russet potatoes
3 T butter
2 T oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste

preheat oven to 375F

Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Shred potatoes for hashbrowns. Squeeze out the potatoes to drain the juices. Add 2T oil to the hot pan then put onions and potato shreds into the pan pressing firmly to make a solid layer. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Dab pieces of butter over top of hashbrown and sprinkle with salt, continue to cook until deeply golden on 1st side. Once browned flip hashbrown and cook on 2nd side.

While hashbrown is cooking cook the sausage until done. Remove, drain fat and dice sausage.



Once hashbrown is browned on 2nd side add the cheese slices, sausage and diced red peppers.



In a bowl add the eggs, milk and a pinch of salt & pepper. Whisk until well combined. Pour egg mixture over the hashbrown/sausage/cheese/peppers and place skillet in the preheated oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until center is just set and doesn't wiggle. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
4 Servings, 2 slices each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 589.9
Total Fat 40.7 g
Saturated Fat 15.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 9.1 g
Cholesterol 263.1 mg
Sodium 894.8 mg
Potassium 544.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 31.9 g
Dietary Fiber 1.9 g
Sugars 5.4 g
Protein 21.5 g

Cake Pops

Cake pops have been all the rage in the blogesphere for a while now. I'm pretty sure we have Bakerella to thank for these delicious little treats. The Little Witch LOVES the birthday cake pops at Starbucks but man, they get pricy!! $1.50 a pop is highway robbery when you can make an entire batch, of 40 pops, for $5 or so.

So a few weeks ago the Little Witch and I were at Starbucks. She wanted a cake pop. I caved and got her one to go with my grande Pike Place. As we were enjoying our treats I was asked a question.

"Mom, can you make cake pops?"
"I sure can sweetie!"
"What? You can? With sprinkles too? What about the stick?" I love how she thinks she's caught me in some big fallacy and tries to call me out. Such a sassy girl!
"Stick and everything. I can make them, no problem!"
"I want you to make cake pops TODAY Mom. Let's go to the store & get what we need!"

Now thats a girl after my own heart. So being a good Kitchen Witch I did my daughters bidding and off we went to the craft store for candy melts and pop sticks.

~*~Disclaimer: The candy melts DO have PHO's in them. While this breaks one of my 'unapproved ingredients' rule I made the exception for these babies. If anyone knows of PHO free candy melts PLEASE let me know!! The brand I used claimed to be 'trans fat free' yet ingredient #2 was partially hydrogenated oil, so, as far as I'm concerned its unapproved. And yet I used it. So there! Rules were meant to be broken, right??~*~

I've made 2 batches of these pops, the first I used a store bought cake mix and homemade frosting, the 2nd batch was homemade cake and frosting. I have to say that the homemade cake held up a LOT better in pop form than the cake mix did. Cake mix cake is very soft and got too mushy. The homemade cake had more tooth to it, and when the frosting is mixed in made a thicker paste to work with. If you have the time I highly recommend making your own cake. And if its a bit on the dry side that's GOOD! With all the icing that's added to the cakes a dry cake tends to work better than a super moist one.

Vanilla cake
Source: Epicurious
makes approx. 40 pops
2 cups AP flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum free preferred)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temp.
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup 2% milk

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 T vanilla extract
2 T milk
3 T butter, softened

Candy melts, about 8 oz
candy sticks (available at craft stores, 50 for $2 or 150 for $4)
sprinkles
Optional: foam to stick pops in to dry, if you don't have foam then you can either hold the pops to dry (drag) or place on parchment paper (which works but makes flat spots and your sprinkles will sink into the candy coating.) Your choice!

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare pan of choice (The Witch uses a sheet pan lined with parchment for cake pops, it bakes faster and since you're making cake crumbs the shape is not important.)

Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer whip the butter. Add the sugar and beat again until fluffy. Add the vanilla. Mix in eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping down the sides after each addition. Add 1/3 of the milk, beat until smooth. Add 1/2 the flour and mix well. Scrape down sides and add 1/3 milk, beat well. Add remaining flour, scrape down sides and mix. Finish with last addition of milk, mixing until just smooth. Pour cake batter into prepared pan and bake until done by toothpick test method.

Icing:
In the work bowl of a stand mixer whip the butter. Once light and fluffy add the vanilla and powdered sugar. SLOWLY mix this, adding 1T of milk at a time until you have an icing consistency. Once all sugar is incorporated turn the speed to HI and whip the icing for 2-3 minutes.


Making the cake pops:
1. Allow the cake to cool completely. The cake must be room temp or it will melt the icing and not form balls properly.

2. Crumble cake into the work bowl of a stand mixer. Yes, just crumble it up. You are going for cake crumbs. I know it seems wrong, trust me.


3. Once cake is crumbled up attach the paddle to your stand mixer and mix until nothing but crumbs remain. Any big pieces break up by hand.


4. Add 1 1/2 c icing or 1 tub of premade stuff to the cake crumbs. Mix on low speed until completely incorporated. The cake will take on the texture of play dough once its mixed properly.


5. Shape balls. The Witch uses a cookie scooper to make the balls then goes back and smooths the balls by hand.

6. Melt candy melts in microwave using 30 second bursts to melt candy melts. Stir well between heating cycles. It took about 90 seconds to melt throughly in my microwave

7. Dip sticks into melted candy melts and then place stick into cake ball. (this really helps the cake to stick to the stick)

8. Place cake balls with sticks in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up before dipping in candy melts

9. Remove cake balls from the freezer and dip into candy melts. I like to have a spoon on hand to pour melted candy melts over the top by the stick. Swirl the pops in the melted candy and allow excess to drip off.

10. While candy melts are still wet sprinkle with sprinkles. Place cake pop into styrofoam to allow candy to harden OR place onto parchment paper to cool.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
40 Servings, 1 pop each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 142.6
Total Fat 5.7 g
Saturated Fat 4.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.1 g
Cholesterol 22.8 mg
Sodium 63.5 mg
Potassium 13.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 21.1 g
Dietary Fiber 0.2 g
Sugars 16.2 g
Protein 1.3 g

Yakitori Sauce

Here in Colorado Springs there's an awesome little Japanese restuarant that I've been going to for over 25 years now, called The House of Yakitori. They serve, yes that's right, Yakitori! Yakitori for those of you who don't know is skewered pieces of chicken, cooked over a charcoal grill, glazed with a delightful sweet sauce that is similar to teriyaki, but yakitori sauce is thicker, richer and a lot more flavorful than teriyaki sauce. For years I've been saying that I need to make my own yak sauce (as we fondly refer to it) and yet getting it just right has elluded the Witch, until now!

After many, many, many taste tests at the restaurant I was fairly confident that I knew what was in the sauce. Soy sauce, that was a given. Sugar, most likely brown sugar seemed right as well. And yet, time after time, it STILL wasn't yak sauce. Good teriyaki sauce, sure but yak sauce, no. What was missing I wondered?

Hours were spent at the Asian Pacific grocery, staring at the products in the 'SAUCES' aisle (and let me tell you thats a BIG aisle there!) wondering what I needed to take my sauce from good teriyaki to holy cow that's it Yakitori sauce. Then it hit me. Mirin! Mirin is a rice wine product with a very high sugar content. And it is EXACTLY what my yak sauce was missing.

The joy on the faces of my daughter, nephew, sister and husband was aparent when I offered them a sample of my yak sauce. At first they all looked at it like "oh sure Witch, you've claimed to make yak sauce before and its just NOT the same!" Then they try a sip. Their faces changed from dismay to delight, eyes light up and my wonderful wonderful nephew Ben even proclaimed "this is BETTER than yakitori sauce, it has more flavor and isn't as sweet as theirs!" The boy is almost 10 and is a genius, what can I say? :)

So here it is dear readers. Yakitori sauce. Its rich, thick, syrupy, sweet, salty, savory, umami laden and delicious. Perfect on grilled meats, especially chicken and beef. Because of its high sugar content it will burn quickly on the grill so use a judicious hand when dolling out the sauce over the coals. I sincerely hope you all enjoy this as much as we do!

Yakitori sauce
makes about 8 servings
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2 T rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic whole, crushed with back of knife

Combine everything in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer. Remove garlic cloves after 5 minutes of simmering. Continue to cook until sauce has reduced and is a thick syrup.



Chicken skewers:
1 lb chicken thighs boneless and skinless, cleaned and cut into chunks for skewering
2 T yakitori sauce
1 T soy sauce
bamboo skewers, soaked in water a minimum of 30 min before grilling

marinate chicken in the sauces for 1 hour. While chicken marinates soak the bamboo skewers in water. The moister the skewers are the less chances there is that they'll burn up on the grill.

Skewer about 2 oz of chicken on each skewer. Grill over hot charcoal until done.
Drizzle with yakitori sauce when finished.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Yakitori sauce only
Amount Per Serving
Calories 101.4
Total Fat 0.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 1,054.0 mg
Potassium 85.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 26.4 g

Nutrition Facts
Chicken skewer with sauce, 1 each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 183.5
Total Fat 2.7 g
Saturated Fat 0.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Cholesterol 57.3 mg
Sodium 1,113.4 mg
Potassium 244.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 26.4 g
Protein 14.6 g
Protein 1.0 g

Vanilla Bean bundt cake with strawberry topping

Strawberry season is in full swing much to the delight of the little Witch and her Daddy. Those two LOVE strawberries! With pounds of strawberries on the counter, which have an especially short shelf life, whats a Witch to do? Make strawberry shortcake is the logical answer, but there's one big problem with that: the Witch doesn't like the shortbread part of the strawberry shortcake. That's why in the Witches' kitchen you'll find a vanilla bean bundt cake in lieu of shortcakes. Same idea, better flavor, who doesn't love that?

I was making this dessert for a dinner party for adults I decided to add a splash of white wine to the berries while they macerated. I really liked the way the wine flavored the berries, it added sweetness, acidity and a nice balance that really elevated this from a simple strawberry sauce to something special. The syrup that resulted from the wine, lemon, sugar and juices from the berries was awesome with the vanilla cake. Now if wine's not your thing you can of course leave it out. But I highly recommend trying it. It really made the berries shine!

The vanilla bean in this cake and strawberry sauce come from my latest acquisition from Savory Spice Shoppe, vanilla bean paste. Now I feel this name is a misnomer, when I think of a paste I envisioned a thick paste that was all vanilla beans. What it is however is vanilla beans in a thick syrup. Delicious still but not what I had envisioned. As a result you need to use a LOT of this product to get the vanilla rich results. I started out with a teaspoon and soon ended up with about 1 TABLESPOON in the batter. Honestly it could have used another tablespoon - but I wimped out (mostly due to costs!) and added some vanilla extract as well to emphasize the vanilla flavor. If you don't have vanilla bean paste fear not, you can use vanilla beans split and scraped or just use vanilla extract. It won't be 100% the same but when the cake is being slathered with berries, who cares!

One last thing, when I served this dessert I made a vanilla bean whipped cream too. It was really good, but I forgot to take a photo of it, and it was all gone by the time I got around to actually taking pictures. Which is a shame, it was the crowning touch to this already delicious dessert. I'll include the recipe for the vanilla bean whipped cream, but you'll have to use your imagination on how it looks. Here's a hit: white, whipped and fluffy with black specks of vanilla in it. Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with strawberry topping
makes 12 servings
2 c ap flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 T vanilla bean paste
1 t vanilla extract
1 c sugar
1/2 c oil
3/4 c milk

Strawberry topping
1 lb strawberries, hulled, washed and sliced thin
1/4 c sugar
2 T white wine
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 t vanilla bean paste OR 1 t vanilla extract

Vanilla bean whipped cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 T powdered sugar
1 t vanilla bean paste

Slice berries, place into a bowl and toss with sugar. Add the vanilla, wine and lemon juice, stir well. Allow berries to macerate at room temperature for 3-4 hours. If desired you can crush berries with a potato masher.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and paste and mix well. Add the eggs, mixing well. Finally add the milk, mix until smooth.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until batter is smooth. Pour into a sprayed bundt cake pan.

Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 40-50 minutes or until cake tests clean and top is browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with berries and whipped cream.

Whip cream by combining all the ingredients in a work bowl and mix on HI until thick and whipped. Don't let it go too long or you'll end up with vanilla bean butter.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
12 Servings with berries, juices and whipped cream
Amount Per Serving
Calories 357.9
Total Fat 17.6 g
Saturated Fat 5.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.8 g
Cholesterol 43.8 mg
Sodium 208.3 mg
Potassium 159.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 45.4 g
Dietary Fiber 1.9 g
Sugars 27.5 g
Protein 4.8 g

Brined curried & roasted chicken legs and thighs

Brining chicken is the single most important thing you can do to ensure you'll get juicy flavorful chicken. I don't do it every time I'm ashamed to admit and when I do, I'm always blown away with just how juicy and how much flavor gets into the meat. The reasons not to brine are flimsy: not enough time, seems too hard, just an odd idea for the home cook, but really it couldn't be easier!

All a brine is is a super salty flavored solution. The salt in the solution draws moisture out of the protein but then through osmosis, the brine is drawn into the flesh, along with all the flavors you add to the brine. I like to add herbs, spices and aromatics to mine since those flavors actually penetrate the meat. This time I decided to add a bit of curry powder into my brine. I love the flavor of curry powder, its not over powering and really works well with chicken. 1 T worth of the yellow stuff in addition to some garlic & onion granules (they dissolve better in the brine which is why I use the granules, but fresh is fine too), a touch of brown sugar for flavor and a background sweetness along with the required salt yielded a very flavorful brine.

The chicken brined for 8 hours before I baked it. Baking was as simple as removing the pieces from the liquid, putting them into a roasting pan, pan into the oven. Set a timer for 1 hour and voila, dinner's done! The flavor of this was really delicious. The curry was mild and both the husband and I decided that our chicken tasted similar to rotisserie chickens from Sams, which is a pretty good thing if you've ever tried their rotisserie chicken. Savory is the best way I'd describe the flavor. It was not overly salty, rather just gently seasoned and juicy, bursting with flavor.

A few final notes on brining:

~~the skin (in my experience) doesn't get as crisp as non brined birds. That makes sense to me, the chicken is submerged in salty water for 8 hours so crisping up that skin is going to be hard! If crispy skin is very important to you take care to pat the chicken dry before baking it (I did not) and/or run it under the broiler before serving(this I did do).

~~You can brine boneless skinless cuts but they take a LOT less time, up to 2 hours maximum for a boneless skinless chicken breast, otherwise you run the risk of over brining which would produce a salty piece of meat. Ew.

~~Some choose to rinse their brined meat before baking, that choice is up to you. If you are sensitive to salt then please rinse. If you're like me and can't get enough of that rock then forgo it.

~~Experiment with the flavors in your brine! Fresh rosemary spears is delicious on poultry, as is sage. I've added fruit to the brine and then stuffed the bird with the fruits and let it roast, delicious!

Most importantly, give it a try!! All it takes is a little for-though to get the protein into a brine 8 hours before cooking time and a bit of imagination on what flavors you want to experience.

Brined curried chicken legs & thighs
makes 4 servings
Brine:
1/4 c kosher salt
1 T brown sugar
1 T curry powder
1/2 t garlic powder, can use fresh minced garlic, 2 cloves
1/2 t onion powder, can use 1/2 fresh onion cut into chunks
4 cups boiling water
about 8 cups ice

4 pieces of bone in skin on chicken thighs
4 pieces of bone in skin on chicken legs
(can use any chicken pieces you like, breasts respond well to brining, they stay juicy and flavorful)

Mix the spices, salt, sugar and boiling water together until salt & sugar dissolve. Pour into a large bowl that can hold the brine as well as the chicken pieces and add ice. Stir to cool brine down. Not all the ice will melt, this is OK.

Add the chicken pieces. Move chicken and brine to a cold location, like the fridge, and allow to brine for 8 hours.

Transfer brined chicken pieces to a baking pan (I had to use 2) and bake at 375F for 1 hour or until internal temperature reads 180F and skin has rendered fat and browned slightly. Finish browning under hot broiler if desired.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 142.4
Total Fat 4.6 g
Saturated Fat 1.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.4 g
Cholesterol 96.4 mg
Sodium 222.3 mg
Potassium 273.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 0.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 0.0 g
Protein 23.8 g