Gluten Free Quiche

We made quiche this past week, using the Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse pie crusts. These crusts were really tasty -- in fact, two times I went back to the freezer to double check the bag to make sure that they were really gluten free and that I hadn't picked up regular crusts by mistake! We used the following recipe, which is modified from the quiche recipe in the original Moosewood Cookbook -- ingredient amounts are somewhat approximate.

GF Broccoli quiche 1. Defrost pie crust (it can continue defrosting while you make the innards) -- we used Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse crusts. 2. Preheat the oven to 375. 3. Saute vegetable of your choice in butter or oil (can saute with onion too if you like it) -- I used broccoli this time, although I also make this with asparagus. I think that I used about half or 3/4 of a cup of vege this time -- you want the total amount to cover the bottom of the pie crust nicely. Add salt, pepper and whatever other seasonings you like. 4. For the custard, whisk 4 eggs, 1.5 cups milk, 3 tbls gf flour, and salt together. (Note -- if you are using more vegetables or a smaller pie crust, use one less egg and only a little more than 1 cup of milk or there will be too much custard. This time, I originally started with the 3 eggs mixture, but there wasn't enough custard so I added the extra egg and milk at the end. Also, the particular gf flour blend that you use doesn't matter much in this recipe, because there isn't that much of it -- I use the Annalise Roberts brown rice flour/ tapioca starch/ potato starch, but use whatever you have on hand) 5. I put the pie crust into a round Corning pie dish before filling and baking -- I find that otherwise the filling can spill out during the baking process and make a mess of the oven. You could also put the pie crust on a cookie sheet if you have a strong one that doesn't "bend" during the baking process. 6. Sprinkle about 1.5 cups of grated cheese on the bottom of the defrosted pie crust -- I used cheddar this time. Place the sauteed vegetables on top of the cheese. Pour the filling on top of the vegetables and cheese. 7. Bake at 375 for 40 -45 minutes, until the middle is set. Enjoy!

Calzones!

Tonight we tried something new -- making calzones using Chebe pizza mix. Chebe is a company from Vermont, with the tag line "Slightly unusual. Unusually good." They have a line of frozen dough products, including little rolls and breadsticks, that were among the first gluten-free products that we tried, and we still bake them regularly. We like the flavor and texture -- the rolls and breadsticks are slightly chewy.

Chebe also make dry mixes, including a "pizza" mix -- the basic manioc (tapioca) flour mix, with Italian spices incorporated into the mix. Tonight, we made calzones using the basic recipe from the back of the packet. It was quite straightforward -- combine the mix with eggs, cheese, water, and mix/ knead until the dough is smooth. Divide the dough into four portions, roll each out into a thin circle, and spoon some filling on one half of each round (we used a combination of ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, olives, and tomato sauce for the filling). Fold the other half of the dough over the filling, seal the edges, brush with oil and bake. It was a pretty easy recipe, except for the tedium of rolling the dough out.

The Chebe web site (www.chebe.com) lists a lot of other ways to use the dough, including a recipe for "pigs in the blanket" (little hot dogs wrapped in dough) -- this one is near the top of Emily's "we should try that" list. I've even heard of people using Chebe dough to make ravioli -- an easy to prepare gluten-free substitute for frozen ravioli or tortellini is still something that we are on the lookout for! If anyone finds one, please let us know.