I have the utmost respect and admiration for people living with food intolerance so my post is not directed at them. Those who have trouble with food should be recognised for the effort they put into eating well. I know two people who suffer great pain if they eat gluten and I’d do anything I could to ensure they left my home with full bellies feeling terrific.
The folks I want to talk about are the ones who come across as preachy and holier than thou when discussing food. You know the ones I’m talking about, they’re the thin ones who’d never agree to eat with Julia Child whereas I’d fight for the chance.
I’ve always been a believer that everything in moderation gives our body all the nutrients it needs. It just doesn’t make sense to me to eliminate anything I want to eat because someone else has a problem with it.
“You’re a heart attack waiting to happen, Maureen,” was in an email I received last week. She put a smiley face in the email but I saw right through it. It came from another food blogger I don’t know very well. She wrote to tell me that she’d rewritten my recipe for leftovers in phyllo dough and suggested that maybe I should post it under my “very unhealthy” recipe so that my readers would have a better choice.
Uhhh… no
As some of you know, I try hard to produce a good blog, photograph decent pictures and promote my fellow food bloggers. I don’t tell anyone that they should eat this or shouldn’t eat that – it’s none of my business. I share the food that I create at home or eat when I’m out. It’s as simple as that.
When I read the mail that implied (“food bloggers like you”) that I was responsible for the obesity epidemic facing the entire world, I got a bit narky. It happens. Usually I’m in a good mood, it’s how I’ve been my entire life. I choose to be in a good mood.
On the other hand (and there is always another hand) when someone who doesn’t know me very well implies (or comes right out and says) that I’m doing the wrong thing, then my dander gets up.
Let me be clear. My orgasmic recipes shouldn’t be eaten at every meal. I use a lot of eggs, butter, cream, chocolate and other things that if eaten to excess can cause weight gain which can cause health issues. Seriously, did I need to say that?
Anyone who eats food knows this already.
Do you ever get email from anyone that makes you feel like you’ve been stabbed with a muddy pointed stick? Do you simply ignore it? I probably should have. Instead I asked her if she bullied everyone who posted a recipe with butter in it.
And without further ado, here’s a quiche I made with my friend Angie when she came over to visit the other day laden down with lemons from her new-found cousin-in-law. She came to make lemon butter but we needed lunch first. I was determined to make something from what I had in the house and this quiche was terrific. Warning: butter, cream and eggs ahead.
The pie crust I use takes about 2 minutes to make and there’s no chilling before rolling out. It never sticks and is always flakey. Add sugar for a sweet pie and no sugar for a savory one.
I bought a jar of Caroline’s Caramelised Onions at the Noosa Food and Wine Festival. Caroline is wife to Bill of Bill’s Beetroot Marmalade fame. They own the Tasmanian Gourmet Kitchen.
This quiche would be fine if you had leftover vegetables too like butternut. I didn’t add any cheese to this quiche and it didn’t need any but you could add some goats cheese or other cheese because caramelized onions go well with cheese.
- 1 recipe of pie crust (Seriously easy pie crust - flakey and no chilling.)
- 1 sweet potato peeled and chopped into chunks and precooked in boiling water or roasted
- ½ cup caramelized onions (I used prepared from a jar) but you can make your own by following this recipe for caramelized onions)
- 3 eggs
- 225 ml cream
- pinch nutmeg
- salt & pepper to taste
- Follow Kenji's recipe (link above) for easy peasy pastry or use your own or store-bought crust.
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F
- Prepare sweet potato (or use leftovers if you have them)
- Place sweet potato in the bottom of the crust and sprinkle over the caramelized onions
- Whisk egg and cream, add nutmeg, salt and pepper and pour over onions and potato.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until filling rises and is set.