Spinach, Bacon and Swiss Quiche – (Adapted from Paula Deen)

• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 2 cups baby spinach, chopped
• 1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 1 /2 cups Swiss cheese
• 1 (9in) pie crust

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Fit the pie crust into a pie pan or pie plate.  If you are using a pie crust that is in a disposable pan, it will be fine. Remember that if you use a dark colored pan or aluminum pan to check for doneness 10 minutes sooner.

Cook the bacon until crisp.

I find that if you slice the bacon before cooking it, you get a more even brown and altogether crispier pieces.

Cut the spinach into evenly sized pieces.

Layer the spinach, bacon and cheese into the pie crust.

I did two layers but feel free to do more.  You will find that it will float to the top of the quiche, but do your best.

In a blender combine the eggs, salt, pepper and cream.  Blend until thoroughly mixed.

Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust over the top of the bacon and spinach.

Place the quiche into the preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the egg mixture is set.

This will all depend on your oven, pie tin and thickness of your quiche.  I found that mine took almost an hour to set.

If you see that your quiche is starting to brown too much on top, feel free to cover it with foil after about 20 minutes in the oven.

This quiche was delicious.  The eggs were light and fluffy and the bacon made it sing.  It was one of the best quiches that I have ever made.

Pumpkin Pie – (From Paula Deen)

• 1 (8oz) Package Cream Cheese, room temperature
• 1 can pumpkin
• 1 egg, plus two yolks
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 pie dough, if you buy pre-made use a deep dish pie crust

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Prick the pie dough on the bottom and sides with a fork.

Then place in the oven to blind bake for 10-15 minutes.  Bake until the pie dough starts to brown.  Remove the crust and let it cool.

Turn the oven down to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer add the softened cream cheese.  Beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until light and fluffy.

Add the pumpkin and beat until combined.

Add the sugar and salt, beat again.  Then add the eggs, half-and-half, melted butter and beat again till combined.  Finally add the vanilla, cinnamon and ginger.  Beat one more time until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.  If you use a shallow dish you may have a little left over. It may not all fit.

Bake the pie in a 350 degree oven for 50-55 minutes, or until the center is set.

Remove the pie from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

When cooled, cut into slices and serve.

This pie was amazing!

The only condiment needed was a little whipped cream.

Individual Chicken Pot Pies

• 1 whole roasted chicken (store bought or done at home), de-boned and skinned, diced
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 tsp chicken base, or 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 8tbs unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 carrots, diced and then blanched for 2 minutes
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 cup frozen peas
• 2 tbs dried parsley or 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 2 pie crusts – Click here for an easy crust

Preheat oven to 425°.

Prep all of your veggies before starting.  This will make life easier on you.  Start with the carrots and then blanch them while you slice the onion and celery.

In a large saucepan or dutch oven melt the butter; add onion and cook over medium-low heat until tender.  When the onions are translucent (roughly 12-15 minutes), add the flour and cook stirring constantly for 2 minutes.  This will make a light roux.

Add the chicken stock and the chicken base or bouillon.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer while stirring constantly.  Once thickened (1-2 minutes), add the salt, pepper and heavy cream.

Stir and then add the chicken, carrots, peas and parsley.  Mix until incorporated and then set aside.

Roll out the pie dough to about 1/16 of an inch in thickness.  Then using a bowl or other round object as a die, cut the dough into rounds.   Cut as many as you can, then combine the dough and roll out again.  2 pie dough should make twelve 4inch diameter rounds.   Roll out six of the rounds to 8 inch in diameter.

Place the rolled out rounds in the muffin pan.  This will make the bottom crust.  Divide the mixture evenly between the pie shells.

Then top with the remaining  rounds.  Slice a few vents into the tops of the pies.  I found it was much easier to make the vents before topping the mini pies.  Seal the edges with the tines of a fork.

Place the baking dish on a baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until crust is browned and mixture is bubbly.

Gently flip the pies out onto a cutting board.  There is enough butter in the dough to make them slide right out.  If you do feel a little sticking, run a butter knife around the edges.

Flip them over onto serving plates and enjoy!

The muffin pan makes perfect portions.  Although, I ate two of the pies myself.

The pie was topped with a little lime zest for a little added lime flavor, plus it looked pretty cool.

What is a key lime?  A key lime is a smaller variety of lime that is more tart and bitter than the common variety of lime.  Plus, it takes a bunch of them to make enough juice for a pie.  I only used freshed squeezed juice for my testing, but you can find the juice in the store.  Since I did not try the juice, I have no idea if it has been sweetened or not.  Try at your own risk.

Key Lime Pie

• Crust
  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick butter) melted
• Filling
  • 2 (14-ounce) cans condensed milk
  • 1 cup key lime juice
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
• Topping
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 lime for zesting

The Crust

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter with your hands. Press the mixture firmly into a 9-inch pie pan, and bake until brown, about 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before filling.

Or you can use a store bought graham cracker crust.  I will not tell anyone.

Filling

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Juice roughly 2 lbs of key limes for 1 cup of juice.  It is a lot of work, but totally worth it.  If you are having trouble finding key limes, they are usually in the exotic fruit section of the produce department.  They usually come in bags of 15-20 limes.  This should be enough for 1 cup of juice.  The juicing took a long time, but luckily Dana’s friend Kristy dropped by and was excited to do some juicing.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the 2 cans of condensed milk, lime juice, and eggs.

Place the ingredients into the cooled pie shell.  Ok, I used a store bought one for this picture.  I made a lot of pies and quite honestly, it was easier.  When pouring the filling, it will come right up to the top.  We are making a huge pie, so this is just fine.  If there is just a tad too much filling, just fill the pie up to the edge of the shell.  This varies based on the size of the eggs.  Sometimes it is perfect, sometimes it is just a tad bit too much.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack till room temperature.  Roughly 45 minutes.  Then allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Topping

Whip cream until almost stiff.  Slowly add the sugar and vanilla.  Beat until the cream has medium/stiff peaks.

Spread the topping over the chilled pie.  Start by piling the whipped cream in the center of the pie and moving it towards the edges.

Zest the peel of 1 lime over the top of the pie.

Serve immediately.  You can prepare the pie without the topping up to a day in advance.  Then top with the cream right before serving.

Thanks for the email Linda.  Hopefully you enjoy this pie as much as I did.  Remember, if you have any questions about food or a recipe, drop me an email using the Ask Rex link above.

The large muffin pan made perfectly sized pot pies.

Tuna Pot Pies

• 2 tbs butter
• 1 small chopped onion
• 3 tbs all-purpose flour
• 1/2  tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic
• 1/8 tsp paprika
• dash dried parsley
• dash dried thyme
• 1 cup milk
• 1 can tuna, drained and flaked,  (5 to 6 ounce) can
• 1 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed (carrots, peas, Lima beans etc…)
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 pie crust – Click here for an easy crust
  

Suggested Equipment

• Large Muffin Pan

Preheat oven to 425°.

In a medium saucepan melt butter; add onion and cook over medium-low heat until tender. Blend in flour to make a light roux.   Once the flour is fully incorporated add 1/2 teaspoon salt, the pepper, garlic, paprika, and thyme. Mix well.

Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbling and thickened. Roughly 2-3 minutes.  Once the mixture is thickened, fold in the tuna, vegetables, Worcestershire sauce, and cheese. Season to taste.

Roll out the pie dough to about 1/16 of an inch in thickness.  Then using a bowl as a die, cut the dough into rounds.   Cut as many as you can, then combine the dough and roll out again.  1 pie dough should make six 4inch diameter rounds.   Roll out three of the rounds to 8 inch in diameter.  Place the rolled out rounds in the muffin pan.

Divide the mixture evenly between the three pie shells.  Then top with the remaining 3 rounds.  Slice a few vents into the tops of the pies.

Place the baking dish on a baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until crust is browned and mixture is bubbly. Serves 2-3.

Gently flip the pies out onto a cutting board.  There is enough butter in these to make them slide right out.  If you do feel a little sticking, run a butter knife around the edges.

Eat and enjoy!!

The muffin pan makes perfect portions.  Although, I ate two of the pies myself.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Recipe after the break

Lemon Meringue Pie – From Paula Deen

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• Pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter
• One 9 inch prebaked pie shell
• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the pie filling, stir together 1 cup sugar, salt, anc cornstarch in a 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in water until smooth and lump free. Add the egg yolks, stirring constantly.

Stir until smooth

Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 1 minute, make sure that the filling thickens to custard consistency before removing it from the heat. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter, and set aside to cool. Once cooled scoop the filling in the pie crust.

Zest of 1 lemon, and the juice of two lemons.

For the meringue, in a small bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Beat until stiff peaks form.

Spread some meringue around the edge of the fillinf first, touching the crust all around. Then fill the center with meringue. Using the end of the spatula, make peaks on the top of the pie.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the meringue is lightly browned. Cool the pie at room temperature.  Then place in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat.

Nicely Browned Meringue

Pasty

I used a standard pie crust recipe for my pasty and it was perfect.

Pasty

• 6 pie crusts – Homemade or Store Bought
  
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 2-3 medium potatoes
• 1 rutabaga
• 4 large carrots
• 1 large onion
• 2 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Dice up the vegetables into a small dice.

Dice up the vegetables

In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients.  Using your hands is the easiest way to accomplish this task.

Try to get the vegetables mixed throughout the meat

Next roll out the pie doughs into 9-10 inch rounds.

Place 1 1/2 to 2 cups of the meat mixture into the center of the dough.

It looks like a lot, and it is....

Next use some water to line the edge of the dough and then fold the dough over the meat mixture, forming half moon shaped pies.  Then using a fork or your finger crimp the edge so that the meat mixtures is secured within the dough.

Crimp the edge

Cut a few vent holes in the top of each pie.  Then place a small square of butter in each vent hole.

Butter the vents

Place the pies in the oven and bake for 1 hour.  If after an hour the dough is not browned, place back in the oven until browned.

Perfectly Cooked

Remove from the oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Serve them plain or with brown gravy or ketchup.  I prefer ketchup.

These are hearty meat pies that the coal miners used to take with them for lunch.  They are best served warm, but can be eaten cold.  Refrigerate any leftovers or make a few extra pies and freeze them before baking them.  Then pop them in the oven frozen and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Perfect Peach Pie

As you can see it has a flaky crust and is packed with fresh local peaches.

Pie Crust – (from the Joy of Cooking)

• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks really cold unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening
• 1/3 plus 1tbs ice water

Peach Pie – (from Joy of Cooking)

• 2 1/2 pounds of peaches – Roughly 5-6 peaches
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
• 3-3 1/2 tbs cornstarch
• 3 tbs lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbs milk
• 2 tsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

To make the pie dough place all of the dry ingredients in the food processor and mix for 10 seconds.  This will sift the ingredients and incorporate them.

Sift the Dry Ingredients

Next add the butter and the shortening to the food processor.  Make sure the butter and shortening are cold, frozen if you desire.  Cut the butter and shortening into smaller pieces before adding to the food processor.  I am using a bit of shortening as I want the crust to taste like butter, but I also want it to be flaky.  The little bit of shortening will help that out.

Add the fat, both the butter and shortening

Pulse in 2-3 second intervals until the butter and shortening are the size of BB’s.  Don’t let it run for too long at a time or it will heat up and melt the butter and shortening.

The butter and shortening are now bb sized.

Once the butter and shortening are incorporated.  Add 1/3 cup plus 1 tbs of ice cold water to the food processor.  Once again pulse in 2-3 second intervals.  If the dough presses together and holds, you are all set.  If it crumbles then you need to add 1tsp more water, pulse.  Test again, if it crumbles again add more water and pulse again.

The dough is holding together

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.  You can refrigerate it for up to 2 days.

It looks like a mess, just press it together in the plastic wrap and refrigerate.

While the crust is chillin in the refrigerator, it is time to prepare the peaches.  Peel, Pit and Slice all of the peaches into 1/4 in. thick slices. Make sure to take a bite of one of the peaches.  You need to determine how sweet they are.  This will affect the amount of sugar that you use in the pie.  My peaches were tart so I used 3/4 cup of sugar.  If yours are sweet, then use 1/2 cup.

Slice the Peaches

Next combine the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and salt with the peaches.  Mix well.  Let sit for 15-20 minutes.  Make sure to stir them a couple of times.

By letting the peaches sit for 15 minutes it allows some of the juices to come out.

Next remove the dough from the refrigerator.  Split it into two halves.  Roll out the first half into a 13 in. round circle.  Place it into a 9 in. pie pan and trim the edges.

Roll out the dough

Now add the peach mixture to the pan.  Dot the top of the mixture with 2-3 tbs of butter cut into pieces.

Add the peaches and dot with butter

Next brush the overhanging edge of the pie crust with water.  This will help the top crust adhere to the bottom crust.  Now roll out the top crust the same way as the bottom crust.   The easiest way to transfer the dough to the pie is by rolling it around a rolling pin.  Then unrolling it over the top of the pie.

Next cut a few vent holes in the top of the crust.  Then brush the top of the pie lightly with milk and then sprinkle 2 tsp of sugar on top.

Top, cut vents, and brush with milk and sugar

Bake the pie for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.  Then slip a baking sheet underneath the pie.  Cover the edges with aluminum foil to prevent the edges from burning.  And then reduce the heat to 350 degrees.  Continue to bake for 30-35 minutes more.  When the juices bubble through the vents, the pie is done.

Peach Pie

Cool completely on a rack before slicing.  It can be stored at room temperature for a day.