Old man trying to stay young by playing hockey at least weekly. Especially early Sunday mornings with a great bunch a other older players. They all convinced me that they needed food after playing, donuts are great but some wanted more, so I've come up with imaginative hand held hot food that is usually in quiche form.
This is an attempt to be kind of healthy, but we just can’t resist keeping bacon in it. It is just a matter of moderation. We use the Spinach and Shiitake Mushrooms to tell ourselves that this one is healthy and good for us. We use the smaller than normal helping of Bacon to make it taste extra good. And unfortunately, this is one that didn’t make it’s photo shoot before it went to the rink and was consumed before a picture could be taken.
Either bake your bacon in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes (10 minutes per side) or in a skillet over medium high heat until just starting to get crispy. Remove and drain on a paper towel. When cooled chop up into 1/2 inch pieces and refrigerate until final assembly.
In a large skillet or pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Put in the chopped green onions and garlic. Cook while stirring until the green onions start to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the spinach and shiitake mushrooms and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften. This should take about 5 – 7 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate until final assembly.
Final Assembly and Cooking
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the two kinds of cheese. In another large mixing bowl, add the bacon chunks, vegetables, mushrooms and 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture together and mix thoroughly. When thoroughly mixed, half into the two pie crusts. Prepare the base quiche mix and pour over the ingredients in the pie crusts. Top this with the remaining cheese mixture and sprinkle with some extra salt and pepper to taste. The pies then go into the oven for 30 -40 minutes or until the cheese on top is a golden brown. Remove from the oven and either serve or transport to the rink.
Halloween Frittata with Zombie Chunks and Cheesy Maggots
Here is an early Halloween themed frittata. The ingredients include a whole bunch of Zombie Chunks, everything from random body parts to eyeballs. And somehow it’s been infected with a small colony of Cheesy Maggots. Just what you want to eat around Halloween. In spite of the way it looks and whats in it can be eaten. Only because its cooked enough to finally destroy all the Zombie and Maggot power.
Serves: 16 – 22 (2 frittatas)
Ingredients
1/2 lb Hamburger
1/2 lb spicy Italian Sausage
1/2 Yellow Onion, chopped
4 tsp Olive Oil
6 extra Eggs
3 Green Olives with Pimento
1/4 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup Orzo Pasta
1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 cup Gruyere Cheese, shredded
2 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Salt
2 pie pans
Preparation
In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix together the Hamburger, Sausage and chopped Onion Chill these in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. While these are cooling, hard boil the Eggs in boiling water for 8 – 10 minutes. While these are cooking, take the olives and cut them in half through the middle so that the pimento is in the center of each piece of olive. Remove the eggs from the bowl and place in cold water. When cooled enough to handle, peel them and halve them. Then carefully using a knife hollow out the end of each egg half to the diameter of each cut olive. Place the cut olives into the hollow of the eggs. These will look like eye balls sliced in half. Put these in the refrigerator until ready for final assembly.
Remove the Hamburger and Sausage mixture from the refrigerator and form into patties that shouldn’t be thicker than 3/4 inch or 3 inches in diameter. In a skillet over medium high heat, use 2 teaspoons of Olive Oil and allow it to get to full heat. When ready, cook the patties in the skillet until the each side is starting to char, about 5 minutes per side. Remove and place on paper towels to drain and cool. When cooled tear the patties up into random sized chucks. Chop up the Sun Dried Tomatoes and mix them in with the meat chunks. Put these away until ready for final assembly.
Prepare the Orzo Pasta as directed on the package and when done and drained, transfer to a container and add 2 teaspoons and mix thoroughly. Place in the refrigerator until ready for final assembly.
Final Assembly and Cooking
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil or butter the bottom of your pie pans. Them take the Egg eye balls and arrange them equally into each pie pan, Olive iris side up. Then equally arrange the meat and tomato mixture around them in the pans. Prepare the usual base quiche mix, and add to this the Pepper and Salt. For an extra flavor add 1 tablespoon of Truffle Oil. Whisk this up until fluffy. Pour this over the ingredients in the pans and sprinkle about half of the Orzo Pasta over the top. Then add on the mixture of the two cheeses. Then finish topping with the remaining pasta. Sprinkle a little more pepper over the top and pop them into the oven. Cook for 30 – 40 minutes or until the cheese is just starting to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven is either serve or pack up for the rink.
Corned Beef with Spicy Roasted Corn Shiitake with Pepper Jack Quiche
Corned Beef is one of our favorite meats. If you can get a good cut from your store, it’s even better. Adding the Sun Dried Tomatoes and Spicy Corn to this dish, just makes it that much better. The Shiitakes are there for their health benefits and to add a little extra flavor. There isn’t much to say about this quiche except that it is supposedly in the top 10 of all of these recipes.
Serves 16 – 22 (2 quiches)
Ingredients
1 – 1/2 lb Sliced Corned Beef, roughly chopped
Spicy Corn
3 ears of Sweet Corn
3 Tbsp Peruvian Chile Lime Seasoning
2 Tbsp Pepper
2 Tbsp Salt
3 pats of Butter
Optionally you can skip the above by using 1 11 oz can of Green Giant Chipotle White Corn and 1 tsp of Lime Juice
The Rest
1/2 cup of sliced Shiitake Mushrooms
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup of Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped
1 Tbsp Peruvian Chile Lime Seasoning
1 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper
1/2 Tbsp Sea Salt
2 Pie Crusts
1 – 1/2 cup of Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded
Preparation
Preparing Corned Beef is very time consuming and you can usually buy it in most stores, so that’s what I do. But if you want to make your own, here is a good recipe. Simply chop up the sliced corned beef into 1/2 inch chunks. And set aside or refrigerate until ready for final assembly
Spicy Corn
Preparing the Spicy Corn can either take a little work, or almost not work, your choice. The working way is to take 3 ears of sweet corn with the husks at least covering 1/2 of the ears. Open them up by folding back the husks and removing the silk. Sprinkle the Salt, Pepper and Seasoning all over the corn and add a pat of Butter to the side where the husk is still attached. Fold the husk back over the ear and wrap in foil. Heat up your grill to at least 400 degrees. When ready, place the wrapped ears of corn on the grill for 15 – 20 minutes per side. When done, remove and allow to cool until you can easily handle them. Cut the kernels off and store them until ready for final assembly.
The easy way is to simply get the Chipotle White Corn can and drain. Then add in the Lime Juice and mix well. Store this in a container until ready for final assembly.
The Rest
To prepare the rest, the only thing that you need to properly prepare the Mushrooms. Assuming you’ve picked up these dried you’ll need to re-hydrate them. Put them in salted water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove and drain them. If you’ve got fresh ones, start with this next step. In a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, cook the mushrooms for 2 -3 minutes per side over medium high heat. Throwing a dash of salt on as your stirring them. When done, remove from heat and allow to cool enough to chop into 1/4 – 1/2 inch chunks and place into a container. In another container, place the loosely chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes. Refrigerate these until ready for final assembly.
Final Assembly and Cooking
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take the Corned Beef, Spicy Corn, Shiitakes and Sun Dried Tomatoes and thoroughly mix them together in a large mixing bowl. Taking care to fully mix all the ingredients together evenly, split these evenly into each of your pie crusts. Prepare the usual base quiche mix and add the Chile Lime Seasoning, Pepper and Salt into the egg mixture. When fully mixed pour over the ingredients in the pie crusts. Top with the shredded Pepper Jack Cheese and place in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes. When the cheese starts to get golden brown it’s ready to go. Remove from the oven and either serve or pack it up to take to the rink.
Georgian Sausage and Walnut Sauce Quiche
While in the country of Georgia, not the state, the country over just South of Russia, I got to experience a lot of different foods from around the region. The culture is very diverse and has a wide range of really good organically grown food. Additionally some of the best wine I’ve every had is grown and made there!
But back to breakfast. This dish is made with Georgian Sausage, or as best as I can get it with the limited access to Silk Road spices, and Georgian farm fresh ingredients. Topped with a little Sulguni Cheese, it’s quite tasty. And for those of you doubter out there, the one in the picture above is not burnt. The Megrelian ajika and the Walnut Sauce turned it this color. This is also best eaten as a frittata.
Serves: 16 -22 (2 frittatas)
Ingredients
Georgian Sausage
1 – 1/2 lbs Ground Pork
1 large Onion, finely chopped
1 – 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp freshly Ground Black Pepper
2 cloves of Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh Dill, or 1 tbsp of dried Dill
1 Tbsp ground Coriander
1 tsp dried Red Chile Flakes
4 oz Pomegranate Juice
1 tsp Cooking Oil
Megrelian Ajika
2 – 4 Hot Red Chile Peppers
1 – 2 Sweet Red Peppers
1/2 cup chopped Parsley
1/4 cup chopped Celery Leaves
1/4 cup of chopped Basil
1/2 cup of Garlic (about 6 cloves)
1 1/2 Tbsp Fenugreek
1 1/2 Tbsp Coriander
1 1/2 Tbsp Marigold
1 Tbsp Dill
1 tsp Salt
Walnut Sauce
1/2 cup finely ground Walnuts
1 tsp Coriander
1 tsp Fenugreek
1 tsp of Marigold
1/2 tsp of Cinnamon
2 crushed Garlic cloves
2 tsp White Wine Vinegar
The Rest
1 cup shredded Smoked Sulguni or Smoked Mozzarella Cheese (or plain Mozzarella if you can’t find it smoked)
1/2 White Onion, chopped
1 tsp Cooking Oil
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (optional)
Preparation
Georgian Sausage
In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add the Pomegranate Juice in last but make sure everything is thoroughly mixed. The traditional method would have this mixture in casings but since this all gets chopped up anyway why bother. Make into 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick patties (should make about 8 – 10) and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm them up. Prepare a skillet on medium high with with a dash of cooking oil (I use olive oil) and when ready, place in and cook all of the patties that you’ve prepared for about 5 – 6 minutes per side. They should be just a little charred on the outside. Remove from the skillet and allow to drain onto some paper towels until cool. When cooled chop them up into 1/2 inch pieces and refrigerate until ready for final assembly.
Megrelian Ajika
This will make a little over 1 1/2 cups of this seasoning. Remove the tops of all the peppers and remove all the seeds and stems and discard them. Quarter cut the peppers so they’ll fit into a food processor. Fine chop the parsley, celery leaves, basil and garlic. Put each of previous ingredients into a food processor and pulse until you have a finely chopped mush and everything is fully mixed. Add into the processor the fenugreek, coriander, marigold, dill and salt. Continue to mix by pulsing the processor until everything is fully mixed. Remove from the processor and store in a container until ready to use in the final preparation.
Walnut Sauce
This will make a little over 1/2 a cup of this key ingredient. Using a food processor finely chop walnuts until you have at least 1/2 cup of finely chopped or ground walnuts. Then add in the other ingredients, except for the White Wine Vinegar and thoroughly mix in the processor. This powder should be easily removed for the processor and placed in a bowl. Add the White Wine Vinegar in and mix well. Then you should simply add a little bit of water and mix until the mixture is a thick paste. When you get the right consistency, put it away until final preparation.
The Rest
Shred your cheese and chop your 1/2 onion. In a pan, put a little cooking oil and when hot, add the chopped onions and cook over medium high heat until they turn translucent. Remove from heat and put both away in separate containers until ready for final preparation.
Final Assembly and Cooking
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line your pie pans with a little oil or butter to help the frittata release. Take the chopped sausage and chopped onions you’ve prepared and roughly mix them together and place equal parts into your two pie pans. Prepare the base quiche mix, but reduce the amount of half and half to 1/4 cup. Add into this mixture the Ajika and Walnut Sauce and mix well. Pour this over the sausages and onions in the pie pans. Top this with the shredded cheese and cook in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes, or when the cheese is starting to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and either serve or pack them up for transport to the rink. Also, if you want to add a pleasant surprise, drop on some pomegranates on top of each pie after about 20 minutes of cooking.
For some reason, I became fascinated with South African style cooking for a while. I reached out to some friends from Joburg, and they suggested this for the first try. And why not, this South African BBQ, or “Braai”, even includes Monkey Gland Sauce! Everyone liked it and it’s been a repeat offender in the locker room. Even the Monkey Gland Sauce! Oh, and it’s not really a gland from a monkey. It’s just a BBQ sauce. Sorry for including a Spanish cheese, but I like combining the Monkey Gland with a Winey Goat.
Ingredients
Braai or BBQ
1 – 2 lbs. Rump or Sirloin cut Beef (should be 4 pieces no thicker than 1/2 inch)
1 – 6 oz. can of Pineapple Juice
6 oz. of Balsamic Vinegar
1 tspn. Salt
2 tspn. Ground Black Pepper
1 tspn. Coriander
4 tspn. Brown Sugar
4 tspn. Olive Oil
Monkey Gland Sauce
1/2 large Onion, finely chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, chopped and crushed
1 tspn Fresh Ginger, grated
1 – 3 tblspn Cooking Oil
4 tblspn Chutney
4 tblspn Tomato Paste
1 tspn Soy Sauce
1 tblspn mild English Mustard
1 tblspn Worcestershire sauce
3 tspn Ketchup
4 tblspn Red Wine
1/4 cup Chicken Stock
1/2 tspn Salt
1/2 tspn Pepper
The Rest
1/2 cup chopped Tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped Red Bell Peppers
1/2 cup chopped White Onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh Chives
2 regular pie crusts
1 cup shredded Winey Goat Cheese
Preparation
Braai or BBQ
Set up your grill with two areas, one that hot (400 deg) and another that is a little cooler (300 deg). In a shallow bowl or a deep plate, lay out the steaks and poke holes in them with a fork. Then dribble 6 to 10 drops of the Pineapple Juice over each steaks and poke again with a fork to work the Pineapple Juice in. Let that sit undisturbed for about 15 minutes. Then flip the steak over and repeat the whole process on the other side. Once the pineapple juice has set for 15 minutes, repeat the whole process using the Balsamic Vinegar. When the Balsamic Vinegar is finished setting, sprinkle on the remaining spices evenly on both sides. If you want you should also rub these in a little bit. Check to see that your grill is ready and if so, sprinkle about 6 to 10 drops of Olive Oil on the side of the steak that is going on the grill. Flip the steaks onto the hot part of the grill being careful as there may be a flare up of flames. Wait about a minute and sprinkle some more Olive Oil on the top side of the steaks. Let that cook for about 4 – 5 minutes, then flip once and repeat staying on the hotter side of your grill. After another 4 – 5 minutes, flip the steaks again, but put them on the cooler part of the grill. Keep an eye on them for another 5 – 7 minutes and flip once more. They should be done to a medium or medium well at the end of another 5 – 7 minutes. Remove from the grill and allow them to sit around and cool down for at least 30 minutes. When that step is done, cube the steaks into 1/2 inch or so cubes and refrigerate until final assembly.
Monkey Gland Sauce
In a sauce pan, add the oil and heat over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add in the Onion, Garlic and Ginger and cook until the onion becomes translucent. Then add in all the rest of the ingredients and continue cooking while stirring frequently for another 8 – 10 minutes. This should make about 1/2 cup of sauce. Allow to cool and refrigerate until ready for final assembly.
The Rest
The rest is pretty simply, just chop up these and either store them for until your ready to fill the pies. Or if you want some more flavor, roast the chopped tomatoes, peppers and onion in a little aluminum foil tray on the grill for about 20 minutes, with a light coating of olive oil. Put these away until your ready for final assembly.
Final Assembly and Cooking
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Gather up all the meat, tomato, peppers and onion and mix well together and place evenly in the bottom of each pie crust. Prepare the usual base quiche mix, but only use 1/4 cup of half and half. Add to the base quiche mix the Monkey Gland Sauce and continue to mix for a couple more minutes. Pour evenly over the other ingredients in the pie crusts and top equally with the Winey Goat Cheese, then sprinkle on the chopped Chives. The oven should be ready, so in the pies go for 30 – 40 minutes or until the cheese is turning a golden brown. Remove and your quiche is ready to serve or pack up for the rink.
