Mini quiches

When many people become vegetarians, they often slack on eggs and dairy. It's understandable, really. They're both hard to see and don't actually require the death of a living animal to acquire. However, there was always something about the way in which factory farm hens are forced to live that made me go to great pains to avoid conventional eggs. Therefore, it's not surprising that one of the first things I started making from scratch for parties were mini quiches. You can also have the flexibility of using whatever you want - I chose local king trumpet mushrooms.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb king trumpet mushrooms
• 1 t minced rosemary
• 1 T olive oil
• 3 oz grated swiss cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 C half and half
• 24 filo dough mini shells

Instructions:
Chop the mushrooms and mince the rosemary. Saute the veggies in olive oil over medium heat until well browned.

Mix the cheese and the vegetables.

Distribute evenly among the shells.

Beat the eggs into the half and half. Pour into the shells to fill. Place in an oven preheated to 350ºF for approximately 30 minutes. Serve while warm.

Spinach dip

This dish is fun because you can serve it in a bread bowl. Everybody loves a bread bowl! It's also really simple. I just happened to have fresh spinach in season. When you have it in season, blanch 1lb batches and freeze for the winter. Frozen spinach is perfect for this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb fresh chopped spinach
• 2 packages cream cheese
• 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 3 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco
• 1 t thyme
• Water chestnuts, chopped (optional)
• Pimentos (optional)
• Salt and ground pepper to taste

Instructions:
In a microwave safe, covered and vented bowl, microwave the chopped spinach for 5 - 10 minutes until completely wilted. If using frozen spinach, defrost. Drain and press out all the water.

In a pot over medium heat add the cream cheese stirring occassionally to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Serve immediately or refrigerate and warm in the microwave prior to serving. Serve with or on nice, crusty bread.

Simple sweet potato fries

In Michael Pollan's Food Rules, one of the rules that I follow often is "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself." He suggests if you do it yourself you'll you won't do it as often due to the amount of time required. He talks specifically about French fries, which as it turns out aren't that hard to make, but definitely take more time than rolling up to a fast food window.

You'll likely make things that are slightly healthier by making them from scratch. And being able to choose your ingredients means you can get what's local and seasonal (those of you in New England with potatoes in your pantry, I'm talking to you). For this recipe, I used sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes to provide more vitamins and a sweetness that no one can pass up (inspired by Yoav).

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1/4 C canola oil
• 1 T salt
• parchment paper

Instructions:
The trick to getting perfect fries is to cut them all the exact same size and rather skinny (about 1cm x 1cm). Potatoes have a tendency to roll around on the cutting board. To prevent this, cut off a part of one side to serve to stabilize. Then whenever it starts to feel shaky, turn it again to stabilize. Once you've got the flat pieces it's pretty easy to make the sticks.

In a very large bowl, pour the oil and half of the salt over the potato sticks. Mix to coat well. You can do this part ahead of time and let sit for up to 12 hours. After that the potatoes will start to lose their moisture.

Place in an even single layer on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. I don't like to use parchment paper, but I have a feeling that if I didn't I'd never get them off the cookie sheet.

Place the cookie sheet in the oven preheated to 475ºF. Don't touch them. Enjoy the chirping sound emanating from the oven as they roast, but fight the urge to jostle or flip them. Pull them out after 25 minutes. They'll be a bit charred on the edges and bubbly in the middle. Sprinkle a little more salt on them and serve.

Truffle roasted nuts

Nuts are always a great thing to have around. They're amazingly snackable and pretty healthy to boot. Fortunately, I've got lots of nuts available from the local farmers market. They have all sorts of flavors, but I decided to flavor them myself, inspired by a recipe from Salt House.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb nuts (whatever you like)
• 1/3 C honey
• 1 t white truffle oil
• Salt to taste

Instructions:
Heat honey and tuffle oil in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add the nuts and mix well. Spread on a well greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Place in a preheated 325ºF oven. Take out and stir every 5 minutes for 20-25 minutes.

Take out of the oven to cool, sprinkling more salt on after cooling for a few minutes. Break up as it cools. Store in an airtight container, but they're not likely to last long.

Monthly micro-batch: spicy café con leche ice cream

While I was in Boston visiting friends over the holiday, my good friend, Jodi, gave me a disc of chocolate from local producer, Taza. Called Chocolate Mexicano, it inspired me to create a fun micro-batch with cayenne peppers I dried during the summer and some of my favorite locally roasted coffee, Ritual Roasters.

Ingredients:

• 1 C coffee
• 1/8 - 1/4 C sugar (err on the side of less since the chocolate already has sugar in it)
• 1 dried cayenne pepper
• 1 C half-and-half
• 1/2 C whipping cream
• 1 disc of Chocolate Mexican, chopped rough

Instructions:
Gently heat the coffee over a medium flame. Dissolve the sugar and reduce the coffee by half. Cut the pepper into large pieces and add to the coffee mixture. Mix in the half-and-half and whipping cream. Heat till almost bubbling then remove from the heat. Let it cool then put in the fridge over night to allow the flavors to meld.

Before processing in the ice cream machine, strain through cheese cloth to remove the chunks of pepper. Process till smooth in the ice cream machine. Add the chocolate to mix in, then freeze to harden it up a bit.