Brown Butter, Sage and Parmesan Quiche

Look at me, kicking my type A to the curb. Normally I post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. HA! It's a Tuesday! I just skipped right over Monday. Yesterday I was thinking "right, I gotta post that recipe from brunch with the ladies on Saturday." Then my inner, newly acquired Jiminy-Sloth-Cricket said "WHY? It's not like posting a day later is a big difference! It's not life or death if you post tomorrow. Take a break. Slow down on a Monday. Kick back, and post tomorrow."

He he. I love my little Jiminy Sloth Cricket. I mean seriously, are any of you gravely disappointed in me for posting a day later? Okay, some of you will feign anger to be funny. To that I say....... Thank you! You are my people! I love sarcasm! To anyone who is really truly angry...I think you might need to consider anger management, as you clearly are displacing your anger of another issue. Best of luck!

That extra sloth day has made a huge difference. I am actually feeling pretty perky....whereas yesterday you would have gotten my incredibly BITTER rant about DC traffic Saturday night. Today I'm kinda like yeah, peace, love, unicorns and puppies. Big difference! (Although, you DCists will understand, my traffic woes were due to rainbows and parades. Holy road closures, Batman!)

So here's the recipe you could have gotten yesterday, but didn't, and I'm not sorry. :) The idea for this recipe came from my having herbs coming out my ears. I've given away roughly 30 basil and 30 sage plants in the course of the last week. Every. Single. Person. that I gave a sage plant to automatically talked about loving brown butter and sage gnocchi. So, I turned that idea into a quiche of brown butter, parmesan and sage for brunch.

Love it. Happy Tuesday!

Brown Butter, Sage and Parmesan Quiche

1 and 3/4 cups flour

 ½ cup unsalted butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon cream

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

Put all the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.

Cut the butter in tiny cubes. Mix on medium speed using the whisk attachment until the dough looks like coarse sand grains.

Switch to using the paddle attachment and add the egg and cream. Mix until a dough forms.

Scoop out the dough into plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour before using.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Allow to warm slightly before rolling out. Roll out to about an eight of an inch thick and transfer to a 9 inch pie dish or smaller tart shells

Bake pie shell in preheated oven for 8 minutes.

Filling: 

8 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh sage

1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
4 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups half and half

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan

Cook butter in medium skillet over medium-high heat until butter begins to brown, about 4 minutes. Add sage and lemon peel. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and milk.

Spread 1 cup shredded cheese in the bottom of pie crust. Cover with egg mixture. Pour brown butter and sage across the top of the egg mixtures. Sprinkle top with remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until filling is puffed and golden brown. Serve warm.

Swiss Onion Sage Tart

Every once in a while you have a genius idea. Mine this weekend was brown butter pie crust. Now, the idea is genius. imagine a warm, buttery, nutty rich flavored pie crust that's so deeply savory you just can't imagine anything else. Well....

A picture is worth a thousand words right? That picture screams mmm yummy bbq, and ugh, worst execution ever in the same breath. The crust is flaky to the point of being crumbly, which for a bbq pie like the one you see above would be awesome....if you can get it out of the pan in one piece. Even if you can't, the broken pies still taste absolutely delicious. Next time I'll be using my mini cheesecake pans and popping my cup pies out from underneath. Problem solved!  

Brown butter pie crust works well in some ways, and worked horribly in others. For instance, it did not make good pop tarts, unlike the buttermilk crust for my Cider Five Spice Pop Tarts. It made wonderful tart crusts for my savory onion, sage, and swiss cheese tart pictured above, but not a decent empty tart shell. All I can say is this version of browned butter pie crust deffinately meant for specific uses. 

The idea for this tart came from Butchie's brunch choice at a little bistro in Bethesda, Maryland. The problem is, I made only one tart.....so my filling recipe is for one, and my dough recipe is for at least six. Thanks to the wonders of mathematics this shouldn't be much of a problem, but if you do end up with more or less filling than dough I'll beg your pardon now. 

Swiss Onion Sage Tart

3 white onions

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup milk

3 large egg yolks

6 tablespoons of swiss or gruyere cheese, separated

1 recipe brown butter pie crust

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onions and sugar in olive oil. Until clear and transparent. Add salt and balsamic vinegar and continue to cook until onions have turned a golden brown. Allow to cool slightly.

Roll pie crust out and fit to six small tart pans.

Stir sage, black pepper, egg yolks and milk into the onion mixture. Divide the mixture between the six tart pans. Top each tart with a tablespoon of shredded cheese.

Bake the tarts in the upper third of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before unmolding and serving.

Brown Butter Pie Crust

1 cup chilled unsalted butter, diced

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water

In a medium saucepan simmer and cook the butter until it turns brown and takes on a nutty scent.  Pour into suitable container and allow to solidify in the fridge for at least four hours.

Combine flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add butter. Cut in using hands or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water and stir with fork until moist clumps form.

Press together to form dough. Divide dough in half. Gather dough into balls; flatten into disks. Wrap separately and chill 1 hour.

Brown Butter Buttercream on Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake

 The nutty undertones the olive oil and rosemary bring to the lemon cake are a perfect combo for the warm nutty flavor of the brown butter frosting! 

Stephen and I are off having TONS of fun in Arizona. In fact, at the moment I am scheduling this to post (because really, I am on vacation. I’m not posting on vacation!) we should be riding waverunners at the lake! Since he and I are on an “in person date” (finally) I just figured I'd throw up a post for while I’m gone about long distance dates and the recipes that came out of our last one!

Doing the whole long distance thing has not been the most fun for us. It's very taxing and disconnecting. In short: I hate it. Long distance is completely lame. 

Over the last few months though, we have started holding a weekly "Long Distance Date Night." We take turns planning and try to hold a night where we'll spend six or seven hours on the phone, doing the same activities, eating the same foods, etc. and try to make it like a real date if we can. My roommate mocks me because I'll even dress up. It just makes me feel more like it's a date, and not a crazy girl talking on the phone all night and watching movies alone. 

One week I sent him a package with cookies, gumballs, and the movie Bedtime Stories. I wrote instructions on the outside of the package telling him to put on his pajamas, get a glass of milk, and then call me. We watched the movie together -a.k.a. the same time- ate cookies in our pajamas and he hasn't stopped saying "for freeeeeeeeee" since. 

Another week didn't go as well. He wanted me to go to a dollar store. The idea was to buy cheap gifts for each other and mail them...........turns out the closest dollar store to me is in a VERY questionable part of DC. I decided to brave it, but while in the store, I turned a corner and walked into an aisle that was covered in graffiti...floor, items, shelves, all tagged with spray paint..........so I bolted for the door, and didn't look back. 

This last week was a lot of fun. Stephen wanted us to cook together because he knows (all too well) how much I love cooking. His idea was for us to make dinner, a dessert and play games online. He's so cute! We were talking about what to make and he wanted to make cookies...........but owned none of the ingredients.........he's cute. We ended up on that classic little birthday treat I remember from elementary school  of baking a cupcake inside an ice cream cone (which is perfect because it coincides with one of our sickeningly cute inside jokes!). We both made boxed cake mixes, pasta dinners and had fun sending each other photos the entire night. 

Here are his pictures! He even sent me flowers for our date. Yep, we are corny. 

He REALLY tried. I mean look at that nice little piping on that cupcake! Not too shabby! 

I had to make mine a little more playful since a box cake mix isn't in my nature. I hope you enjoy two fun ideas! 

Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake (from a mix) 

1 lemon cake mix

Eggs and Water as the package directs

Replace the vegetable oil with olive oil 

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

Mix and bake according to the package directions. 

Brown Butter Buttercream 

1/2 cup butter

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

Place the butter in a 10” skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes. 

Whip (with a paddle attachment, not wisk!) butter till creamy. Then whip in powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Adjust the powdered sugar to taste. 

Brown Butter Baked Alaska

Nutty, warm and creamy Brown Butter Ice Cream and Brown Butter Pound Cake covered in light meringue and toasted!  Worth it BUT a devil to make. 

I loved this challenge! Daring Bakers has just been such a fun addition to my life and to my blog! Baked Alaska is just one of those things that kinda scares me a little. No. A LOT. I'm glad that I got pushed into this one though. I'm very excited about trying this one out again. And brown butter? Yes please! Add that to everything! 

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”. 

I went with the Baked Alaska. I have made plenty of petit fours in my life, so it just seemed like a bit of a waste to do them one more time when I had a new opportunity in front of me. Since brown butter in baking was new to me too (I recommend brown butter on ricotta gnocchi) I decided to go for making a brown butter ice cream too. A total experiment that I LOVE the outcome of.  I went for the cupcake sizes and loved every minutes of it! Hope you do too! 

Brown Butter Baked Alaska 

Brown Butter Ice Cream 

1 cup butter
2 egg
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 cup cream

Place the butter in a 10” skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.

In a stand mixer combine the eggs and sugar. Beat for one minute until light and fluffy.

Add in brown butter and continue to whip.

Gently mix in the cream, milk.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Proceed to make the brown butter pound cake.

Brown Butter Pound Cake

19 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325°F and put a rack in the center. Line cupcake tins.

Place the butter in a 10” skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.

Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.

Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.

Pipe the batter (or spoon) into the lined cupcake tin. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 12 minutes.

Remove from pan and allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Meringue

6 egg whites
1 1/2 cup plus 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Put egg whites in a stand mixer. Mix until they hold soft peaks. While the mixer is still running on a medium speed, add in the sugar one tablespoon at a time. Add in the cornstarch. Beat until the meringue holds very stiff peaks.

Assembly

Place each cupcake onto its serving plate (use a plate that can withstand heat). Have your blow torch handy. DO NOT attempt to make a baked alaska that is this small in the oven. It will only melt, as it will not have enough frozen ice cream at the core to preserve it. . 

Scoop one scoop of ice cream onto each cupcake. QUICKLY cover with meringue and grab out your blow torch. 

Torch it, and serve! 

Enjoy!