Whitefish and Asparagus Quiche

Maybe I've never told you this, but quiche is, hands down, my favorite food.  I love it with meat or vegetables, for breakfast or dinner, hot or cold. 

My gut always told me that it would be impossible to make a "light" version of quiche that still tasted just as good, and as it turns out, my gut was right.  Not that this option was bad, but if you love quiche for its buttery richness, it might fall short.  What it loses in richness it makes up for in uniqueness of savory flavor.

The ingredients are inspired by one of my favorite quiches from one of those infamous yuppie-flooded brunch joints in Chicago, Jam.  Their quiche has trout, capers, and pickled red onions...along with an extremely buttery crust.  Lacking trout and red onions to quickly pickle, I opted for tilapia, onion, and asparagus.

The crust you'll get here cuts back significantly on the butter (and also includes a bonus butter trick!), so the texture is much thinner, denser, and crispier.  The egg base only calls for a touch of half and half and greek yogurt rather than tons of cream, which makes it....eggier as opposed to a custard.  Despite the modifications on behalf of your health, the end result is still definitely quiche.

Coffee Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Blueberry Balsamic Reduction

COFFEE rubbed PORK TENDERLOIN // BLUEBERRY BALSAMIC reduction

You might imagine, if you aren't a teacher, that having summers "off" is a pretty great perk of the job.  Well, it is.  

Teachers, like all professionals, need time to plan, rest, and rejuvenate before they perform.  I think every profession includes this mix of planning and performance (i.e. a big presentation in front of potential clients or a lawyer's time in trial), its just that teachers spend the entire school year performing daily and this leaves little time for planning...and almost none for rest and rejuvenation.  So that's what summer is all about - the really creative and innovative curriculum design that we come back excited to use with our students.

Part of that feeling of rejuvenation comes from the freedom to work, or not work and sleep, or not work and read a book, WHENEVER I WANT.  Deadlines are extremely frequent and rigid in the teaching world, including the "stop sleeping at 4:30am" deadline and the "last cup of coffee at 2pm" deadline, so this is a welcome change.  And ultimately that takes me to my favorite part of summer: I CAN DRINK COFFEE WHENEVER I WANT.    I CAN PUT COFFEE IN MY FOOD AND EAT IT FOR DINNER IF I WANT.  

So, I did.

The result was a meal I would definitely make again for a special occasion dinner.  Rubbing pork with coffee grounds and cayenne pepper produced a really rich and smoky crust.  It was delicious, and I would highly recommend saving some for a cold sandwich the next day.  But really, what sort of stole the show for this post was the blueberry balsamic reduction.  It is like WHAT.  I'm still eating it by the spoonful long after the pork was eaten up (but smear some on that sandwich before you do).  Now go have yourself a nice after dinner digestif or espresso!

citrus cilantro salmon with mango salsa

CITRUS CILANTRO SALMON 
EN PAPILLOTE 
W/ MANGO SALSA

Teaching in a high school with an enrollment of over 4,000 can sometimes mean that I rarely bump into former students once they leave my classroom for the summer.  This was the case with a student I ran into last week, and I was very happy to get to chat with a young man who is a model of both academic and emotional intelligence (off to Princeton next fall...a real dummy).  Anyways, its always nice to bump into these now-seniors because its a totally different conversational dynamic - I mean, he really earnestly asked how I was doing and what was new in my life.  We had become two adults talking.  So I told him: "Oh, I started a food blog." He responded approvingly, "That's so city.  I mean, its urban-y." 

I just got a real kick out of that response.  I don't tell my students much at all, if anything, about my personal life, but many know that I've been blogging about something.  They've taught me a great deal about how to be a better blogger, and blogging has taught me a great deal about how to be a better teacher.

Since I've started blogging, I have been able to make more meaningful connections with a whole demographic of students who know much more than me about coding and social media.  By troubleshooting my tech dilemmas before class, that role reversal between teacher and student has been important for re-shaping the whole classroom dynamic.   Even when we have to switch back to talking history, I think the atmosphere is much more collaborative having had some real authentic learning exchanges where students are the experts.  When I learn something with my students, I feel more comfortable being transparent about my learning and stumbling with tech tools I hope will help them out.  They really appreciate that they aren't alone in the stumbling process, in general.   So when I totally fail with some technology adaptation I know they aren't judging me as a person, just as when they struggle learning to think and write historically they know I'm not judging them as as people.  We're just learning together and sharing our expertise.
I guess that's really what this social media revolution is all about - everyone being transparent in hopes that their knowledge helps someone else, or someone else will help build up their expertise.  Seems like folks in the foodie world really got that down.  Like many foodies,  I'm super sensitive to design - especially how people interact with objects and spaces, including web space - so I believe educators need to get a lot more savvy with the web and social media if we're ever going to re-market ourselves as relevant, important, professionals.  Given that a restaurant's website will really influence my experience in person, I get that my classroom needs an online presence that argues for an experience students will have in person.  Blogging has really helped me figure all this out.

So in the spirit of learning and transparency, I share with you one of my favorite meals to make when the sun is shining: citrus cilantro salmon en papillote with mango salsa.  Comment and tell me what you think!

vegetable wheatberry salad

Well today was Easter and the last day of spring break.  It was nice to spend a sunny morning with family and good food before real life starts again tomorrow - in full gear.  The next few weeks are the final push to AP testing, the rush to finish (erm, start and finish) my term paper for grad school,  and the last weekends I'll spend in Chicago before dotting around the planet for various travels.  That means lots of late nights at school for review sessions, hours past bedtime reading and writing, and even more cups of coffee. 

Stop freaking.   I cooked up a storm in the past week and have enough recipes and photography to hold you over until life calms down for a second in mid-May.  Not only was there holiday cooking for Passover, Holi, and Easter in the last week, but it was also Garrett's birthday so expect a breakfast post coming up (who doesn't get pancakes made for them on their birthday?). 

So before I work myself into an ANXIETY ATTACK, let me dwell on what a nice brunch my mom hosted today.  She is a consumate host who pulls out all the stops for these events.  We (my siblings, and I) always bring a dish or two (or three) but regardless of what we bring, my mom always cooks enough for an army.  There will be two kinds of eggs, three styles of potatoes, various forms of bacon and sausage, quiche (my favorite food, gets its own category outside of "eggs"), and coffee cakes in addition to regular cakes.  My sister also brought some awesome ombre cupcakes that my nephew just loved.  

Easter Brunch, 2013

Maybe it goes without saying, but in the Easter spirit of rebirth I left brunch today with a strong commitment to further burdening myself over the next ten weeks with a new health kick.  Luckily, some of the leftover veggie and wheatberry salad I made is a fantastic way to start tomorrow on the right foot.

Korean Tofu Rice Bowl

After fighting the cold I've been on the brink of coming down with for about two weeks, my body finally surrendered.  I wanted something spicy enough to instantly drain my sinuses and pores while slapping my brain out of a bacterial haze.

For a long time these jars of commercialized kimchi arranged between the tofu and rice papers wrappers at the grocery have been eyeing my shopping cart.  I never responded to these advances since I figured my stockpile of East Asian chili paste would make that pick up a bit redundant.  But let's admit that kimchi brings something to the table that other chili pastes do not - a fermented, vinegary tang and crunchy bite that just might be the medicine I'm looking for.

Besides some medical advice, let me all take a moment to instruct you on what too many have been missing out on for years: Korean Cuisine.  For some odd reason, it is commercially overshadowed in the U.S. by Chinese, Thai, and Japanese.  Well, it took me a trip to Korea to learn that Korean food is just, if not more, satisfying as these other East Asian culinary competitors.  I stumbled upon this place because I figured after a two-week trip to Japan I might as well make a stop in Korea on the way home.  I mean, its right there.

Korea, Summer 2010

Turns out, if I were to redo my Japan/Korea trip I would have spent much more than four days in Busan and Seoul.  Not only did the food blow me away, but Koreans are such wonderful hosts to foreigners.  They're smiling, inquisitive, and outgoing...in some ways, dramatically different from the Japanese.  I loved Japan, and I'll save the details for a future post, but Korea should not be missed.

This recipe may not be particularly Korean in a traditional sense, but gets at that hearty meal-in-a-rice-bowl thing they've really got down.  Of course, kimchi.  Looking back on it now, topping this with a fried egg would have added some richness to round out the elements and tie it all together.

Pan-Seared Tilapia

PAN-SEARED TILAPIA 

W/ LEMON, GARLIC, & CAPERS

 

Garrett and I love tilapia.  We used to eat it once a week, but the grocer runs out by Sunday night -  when we usually do our shopping after an evening soccer game.  Well, thanks to Superbowl Sunday there was no soccer game scheduled tonight, and I could grocery shop peacefully.  Yes, while the world watched a sport that I can't understand (Why do they keep stopping?!) I grocery shopped and worked on a paper comparing Aristotle and Sartre's literary theories.   

If that wasn't winning enough, I scored some tilapia and prepared it according to our usual method - marinating it in lemon juice, garlic, capers, and seasoning before pan searing it with white wine.  Choose any light vegetable to pair with fish.  I went with asparagus.  This meal actually stores really well for next-day eating.  This is also a very fast meal to make, so I commonly prepare it Sunday nights so I can tote it with me the next day for dinner before grad school.  Now, if only my paper would get written this quickly.

Creamy Asparagus Soup

ASPARAGUS SOUP

You've wondered what to do when finding yourself knee-deep in asparagus.  Well, here's the answer.

I found myself right in that depth of asparagus last night.  Not quite sure how it came to be, but three bunches accumulated on the produce shelf.  Strange, since I would never buy more than one bunch at a time.  How did that slip through the cracks two weeks in a row?  How is it that all the asparagus is still crisp?  Its a mysterious vegetable.  

Its one of my favorite vegetables, which might be genetic.  As are other effects of consuming asparagus, I hear.  Case in point: I told my mom about a year ago that Garrett and I had purchased a flight to Paris in late March.  Her response:

"It'll be asparagus season!"  I get many of my food tendencies from my mother.

To really enjoy this soup, asparagus has to be one of your favorite vegetables, as well.  It's a very clean flavor, and you can taste every ingredient (including cauliflower and fennel) in addition to the overall essence of asparagus.  If you want something a little less vegetable-y and more robust/full-bodied, start with butter and replace the onions with leeks or shallots.  Of course, you could add more cream.