The Cooking Chronicles: Creature of Comfort

Like Brooke, I know this warming trend should really trigger some sort of change in the kinds of dishes I should be craving, but the reality is – I love cold weather comfort foods. So though at some point a transition to lighter, more seasonal fare will take place, I’m going to take my sweet time.

Potato-Crusted Quiche

A few weeks ago, one of my coworkers talked about her favourite quiche recipe – instead of the usual pastry crust, she liked to use shredded potatoes as the base, pressed into a pie plate. I’d really never considered potatoes as a base before, but it seemed like an idea too good not to try.

I found a recipe for a potato-crusted quiche that involved slices of potatoes, a great way to use up the bag of baby potatoes I’d picked up from Kuhlmann’s. As directed, we tossed slices of potato with melted butter, parmesan and seasonings, then did our best to artfully arrange the slices in two pie plates.

Crust, pre-baking

After baking them for half an hour, we filled them with a mixture of cream and Greens, Eggs and Ham duck eggs and threw ham, mushrooms and cheddar in one, and sautéed onions and spinach bacon and parmesan in the other. We served the quiche with a side of mixed heritage greens, also from Greens, Eggs and Ham.

Potato-crusted quiche

Quiche with a side of greens

Amanda stopped by for dinner that night, and loved the quiche – as scalloped potatoes are a favourite of hers, she especially appreciated the potato base. Mack and I both really enjoyed the quiche as well – no doubt, this will be a recipe we will be coming back to again.

Vij’s Stewed Cinnamon-Scented Lamb Curry

The last lamb stew I made was a bit of a bomb – too sweet, and more than anything, highlighted the gamey taste of the meat, something Mack was not a fan of. With one more package of lamb stew from Eat Local First left to use, I wanted to find a recipe that he would actually like. Vij’s stewed cinnamon-scented lamb curry seemed like a good fit, given the strong flavours and Mack’s affinity towards curried dishes.

I had to do a few substitutions – canola oil instead of ghee, sour cream instead of yogurt, and just 1lb of meat instead of 2, but other than that, I followed the recipe as printed. I wasn’t sure the sauce would ever thicken, but it did, to a luxurious consistency. The curry was most pointedly infused with cloves (with the cinnamon barely detectable), but the flavours were very similar to the shortcut butter chicken dish that is a staple in our kitchen. The lamb was super tender after two hours on the stove, and, hurrah! wasn’t gamey at all. Mack gave it the thumbs up.

Vij’s lamb curry