The holidays can bring overnight houseguests. Bless their little hearts, they appreciate a delicious start to the day, breakfast dishes that make them feel like they are getting special treatment. These dishes are a delicious way to make the first meal of the day more festive.
A combination of eggs and cheese is so inviting. Classically, bacon and egg quiche comes to mind, a recipe that can show off some shortcuts that neither jeopardize taste nor appearance. Another tantaliziing option is from culinary guru Jacques Pepin. He makes a dish he calls a “soufflan,” that combines the delicious elements of both flan and souffle. The quiche uses Swiss or Gruyere cheese, while the soufflan shows off both cream cheese and cottage cheese.
Ina Garten’s Breakfast Panna Cotta is scrumptious, and most of the work can be done a day in advance; the luscious creamy mixture chills in the fridge overnight. Just before serving top each panna cotta with crunchy storebought granola and mixed berries.
With any of these concoctions, your guests will feel the holiday love.
Quiche Lorraine boasts a great combination of flavors and textures, with its smooth cheesiness offsetting the chewiness of the bacon. (Photo by Cathy Thomas)
Quiche Lorraine
The combination of flavors and contrasting textures make Quiche Lorraine a favorite for brunch or breakfast. Its smooth cheesiness offers the perfect foil to the crunch of the crust and the salty-sweet chewiness of bacon.
If you like, accompany it with a bowl of mixed fruit, and if desired, a storebought coffee cake or quick bread.
I take a major shortcut that doesn’t sacrifice the quiche’s flavor or appearance. The holiday can be hectic, so I use — heaven forbid — prepared refrigerated dough (the kind that comes rolled into a cylinder). After it’s placed in the pie pan and crimped it looks made-from-scratch cozy.
To prevent the edge of the crust from over-browning, it is covered during the final segment of baking. Strips of aluminum foil work (not the heavy-duty kind), but I really love the convenience of using a pie crust ring. Made of aluminum or silicone, this gizmo fits over the edge of the pie crust. Often the edge of the crust gets brown long before the filling is cooked. So, once it is nicely browned, the ring tops the exposed crust while the egg-cheese-bacon filling finishes cooking.
Yield: 6 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 rounds of prepared pie dough, such as the 14.1-ounce refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crusts
Sheet of aluminum foil
Nonstick cooking spray
About 2 cups of dried beans or pie weights (metal pellets)
5 ounces bacon, about 6 to 8 slices, divided use
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground white pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese or Gruyere cheese; see cook’s notes
Cook’s notes: In the Alsace-Lorraine region of northeast France, classic recipes for Quiche Lorraine don’t include cheese. I just can’t help it, I like to add cheese. Sometimes I add a minced green onion along with the bacon in the custard (in Step #5).
DIRECTIONS
1. Arrange oven rack to lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Ease 1 round sheet of chilled pie dough into 9-inch pie pan (avoid stretching dough). To prevent shrinkage, press dough with a bent finger where sides of pan meet the bottom. Using a second sheet of pie dough, cut 3 or 4 (1/2-inch wide at widest part) crescent shaped pieces. Fit those crescent shaped pieces under the edge of dough to extend it. To make a raised edge that can be crimped (also called fluted or scalloped), fold edge of dough under. Press the folded edge gently between your thumb and index fingers to make a raised edge. Make this raised edge as even and uniform as possible. To crimp, place index finger of left hand against inside edge of pie. Place thumb and index finger of right hand on either side of left index finger and gently pinch. Move thumb to where your left index finger was and repeat process until entire pie is crimped.
3. Lightly spray one side of a sheet of aluminum foil with nonstick spray. Place foil sprayed-side down on dough with excess foil folded loosely over crust’s edge. Place beans (or pie weights) on top of foil and smooth beans or weights into an even layer. This will prevent the bottom crust from bubbling during initial baking. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 17 minutes, or until dough no longer looks wet. Remove from oven and cautiously remove foil and weights. Return crust to oven and bake 5 to 6 minutes, until crust begins to brown.
4. Meanwhile, cook bacon until crisp in large skillet on medium heat; drain on paper towels. When cool enough to handle, coarsely chop bacon.
5. Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine eggs, half-and-half, salt, pepper and nutmeg; whisk until blended. Stir in 3/4 of the bacon and cheese. Pour into pie crust. Put strips of foil or pie ring on edge of crust to prevent over-browning. Bake 25 minutes, or until custard is set around edge.
6. Sprinkle remaining bacon over surface. Bake until center is just barely set, 5 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes before serving. A cooled quiche can be refrigerated in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap for up to 2 days (but it tastes the very best fresh from the oven, slightly cooled.
Jacques Pepin’s Easy ‘Soufflan’
In his cookbook dedicated to dishes that parents can cook with their children (or grandparents with their grandchildren), culinary guru Jacques Pepin explains that this easy-to-make egg dish is neither a classic flan nor a traditional souffle. In his “A Grandfather’s Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey” (Rux Martin, $30) he writes that it’s “a mixture of the two and could be called a “soufflan.”
Serve this dish right out of the oven and it will be puffy. Or, cool to lukewarm and it will deflate. It’s delicious either way and makes a welcome centerpiece for breakfast, brunch, or a simple dinner along with a mixed green salad tossed with an herbaceous vinaigrette.
Yield: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
One 16-ounce container cottage cheese
One 8-ounce container whipped cream cheese
4 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
DIRECTIONS
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place cottage cheese, cream cheese, eggs, salt and pepper in a food processor; process 10 to 15 seconds, or until smooth and well blended. Add chives and pulse once or twice to combine.
3. Rub a 4- to 5-cup gratin dish (oval baking dish) with olive oil. Add mixture from food processor. Place gratin dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until mixture is set. Serve immediately or allow to deflate and serve lukewarm.
Source: Adapted from “A Grandfather’s Lessons: In the Kitchen with Shorey” (Rux Martin, $30)
Ina Garten’s Breakfast Panna Cotta takes a dessert dish and adapts it for the start of the day by topping it with granola and fresh berries. (Photo by Cathy Thomas)
Ina’s Breakfast Panna Cotta
Yes, panna cotta is most often thought of as a dessert, it’s also a lovely breakfast treat when topped with granola and fresh berries. It’s an Italian pudding which translates from Italian as “cooked milk.” To pour the panna cotta mixture into glasses without drips down the sides, transfer the mixture into a glass measuring cup with a spout, then pour carefully into the center of each glass.
Yield: 8 servings
INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoons (1 packet) unflavored gelatin
3 cups heavy whipping cream, divided use
2 cups plain whole milk yogurt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
For serving: 2 cups good granola
3 cups mixed fresh berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, and sliced strawberries, see cook’s notes
Cook’s notes: I took the liberty of adding fresh blackberries to the mixture of fresh berries (they are a favorite of mine).
DIRECTIONS
1. In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin on 3 tablespoons cold water. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes to allow the gelatin to dissolve.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of cream, yogurt, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, and maple syrup.
3. Heat the remaining 1 1/2 cups of cream and the sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves (keep an eye on it). Off the heat, stir the softened gelatin into the hot cream and stir until dissolved. Pour the hot cream and gelatin mixture into the cream and yogurt mixture; stir to combine. Pour into 8 serving glasses and refrigerate uncovered until cold. When the panna cottas are thoroughly chilled, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
4. Before serving sprinkle 1/4 cup of granola and 1/3 cup of mixed berries on each serving and serve cold.
Source: Ina Garten “Be My Guest with Ina Garten” Food Network
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