Mer and I travel to spend time with family on the holidays, so its difficult to have traditions of our own. Our Yule/Christmas tradition (which sometimes happens on Yule, but almost never on Christmas) involves a screening of A Solstice Carol and anything we want for dinner. In past years, this has included cereal (I’m a huge fan of Marshmallow Mateys, and in fact prefer them to their brand-name counterpart), donuts, and bagels with lox and capers. This year, we were inspired by our local winter farmer’s market. The sweet potato came from Two Gander Farm in Oley, PA, the cheese was Alpine from Birchrun Hills, and the fresh eggs were from Turning Roots.

Holiday Quiche

Ingredients:

• Two unbaked pie crusts (pre-bought or use your favorite recipe)
• One large (2/3 lb) sweet potato
• 6 ounces prosciutto
• 6 ounces nutty cheese (Emmentaler or a strong Swiss will do nicely)
• 6 whole eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350° F. Place pie pans on a cookie sheet and line with pie crusts.

Peel the potato and grate it using the largest hole of a box grater. Sprinkle grated potato in the bottom of the pie shells, dividing evenly. Grate the cheese and sprinkle on top of the potato. Slice the prosciutto finely and add to pies. Beat eggs well and add milk, salt, and pepper. Carefully and slowly pour egg mixture into pies, pressing ingredients as needed to eliminate bubbles.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until quiche is just firm to the touch. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche.

One of my current vices is the new bacon-cheddar ciabatta breakfast melt from WaWa. I’m not a big “breakfast out” person (no people before coffee on the weekends), so this morning I set out to create my own. Fresh eggs and bacon, with a generous helping of butter, I’ll be sticking with this from here on out.

I learned the fluffed egg technique years ago from an ex – the wooden spoon (or other wide, flat utensil) is crucial here. Using a fork for this technique will produce ribbons rather than cloudy poufs.

Brown Butter Fluffed Egg Sandwiches

Ingredients (per sandwich):

• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon half and half
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 flat, crusty roll, sliced in half lengthwise (I used a Portuguese roll from my local bakery)
• 2 slices bacon, cooked as per your preference
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons ketchup*

Combine eggs, seasonings, and half and half; whisk to combine. Set aside. Heat one tablespoon butter in a medium pan over low heat. Add half the roll, cut side down, and increase heat to medium-high. Cook until edges are golden brown. Remove bread and repeat with another tablespoon of butter and the other bread half. Set aside.

Decrease heat to medium and add final tablespoon of butter. Add eggs and immediately begin stirring with a wooden spoon, making sure to get all areas of the pan. Stir constantly until eggs have come together and are fluffy but still wet. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Transfer to roll and top with ketchup and bacon. Serve immediately.

Serves 1.

*We (well, most of us) put ketchup on our eggs in this area of Pennsylvania. It’s awesome. If this is too weird for you, feel free to substitute your condiment of choice. Meredith suggests HP Sauce.

Image by Greynine

As a humble apology for missing yesterday’s post, I present you, my dear readers, with my favorite dessert recipe ever. It’s not quite a traditional tiramisu, but in my opinions, that’s what makes it so yummy. If you can’t find Margherites, you can use the traditional ladyfingers.

Tiramisu

Ingredients:

• 6 large eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons brandy
• 24 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 2 cups brewed espresso, cooled
• 1/4 cup kahlua
• 1 package Margherites
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Whisk eggs and sugar together in bain marie for about 10 minutes, or until custard forms ribbons and probe thermometer inserted in mixture reached 160 degrees. Set custard bowl over ice water and whisk another 10 minutes, or until mixture is room-temperature.

In a separate bowl, combine cheese and brandy; fold into custard.

Combine coffee and kahlua. Line the bottom of a 13 x 9″ baking dish with cookies and brush with coffee. Top layer with 1/2 of cheese/custard mixture. Repeat.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Garnish with a dusting of cocoa powder.

Serves 8-10.

Some of the best recipes out there are new twists on old foods. This takes the crustless quiche and stands it on its head with the added sweetness of ricotta cheese and orange juice. The result is a cream, fluffy dish that’s sure to be a hit at your next brunch.

Crustless Ricotta Quiche

Ingredients for quiche base:

• 1/4 pound butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Ingredients for ricotta filling:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 pound whole milk ricotta cheese
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

For quiche base: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13″x9″ pan and set aside. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well-blended. Slowly blend in sour cream and orange juice. Sift together flour and baking powder and stir into the batter. Set aside.

For filling: In a separate bowl, whip the cream and ricotta cheeses until well-combined. Stir in egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.

Pour half of the quiche base batter into the pre-greased pan. Drop tablespoons of filling mixure onto the batter, spacing them as evenly as possible. Top with remaining batter.

Bake 50-60 minutes, or until center of mixture is set.

Serves 6-8.