Notes:

• This Radicchio Orange Pecan Salad recipe is suitable for 4-6 people, served as a side dish – or for 2 people, served as a main. You can easily double or triple the quantities.
• If making this recipe for hosting, I recommend you separately prepare all the components in advance and then assemble and dress the salad with the vinaigrette just before serving.
• If you need instructions on how to supreme an orange, I recommend watching this video: How to Supreme on Orange.
• If you need instructions on how to toast pecans, I recommend watching this video: How to Toast Pecans. 
• Orange Supremes can be substituted with clementine slices.
• Goat cheese can be replaced with crumbled Feta cheese.

Radicchio Orange Pecan Salad

Print Recipe

Serves: 4 Cooking Time: 0 Minutes 0 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 3.7/5

( 3 voted )

Ingredients

1/2 radicchio head, leaves peeled and torn in large pieces
3 cups (90g) fresh baby spinach leaves
2 oranges, cut into supremes
60g/2oz unripened goat cheese, crumbled
handful of toasted pecans, roughly chopped
Salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the vinaigrette:
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 tbsp balsamic or Xeres vinegar
2 tbsp (30ml) extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Arrange radicchio and spinach leaves on a serving plate. Top off with orange supremes, crumbled goat cheese and chopped pecans. Season with salt and black pepper.

In a small bowl and with a fork, whisk together the honey, Dijon mustard, vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. If the vinaigrette is too thick for your liking, thin it out with a few drops of water.

Just before serving, drizzle the vinaigrette onto the salad. Enjoy immediately.

The post Radicchio Orange Pecan Salad appeared first on Pardon Your French.

This classic French savory custard-filled deep-dish French tart is made with a buttery crust, a silky filling of eggs and cream, a healthy amount of spinach and lots of melty Gruyère cheese. It’s an easy recipe that you can enjoy at brunch, lunch or dinner and it’s also perfect to make ahead. Extra points if you make the pie crust from scratch!

Cooking notes: 

• Although you can use a store-bought pie crust for convenience, I think making your pie crust from scratch will go a long way. This only requires about 15 minutes of extra time, and guarantees a crisp buttery crust. I also like to know all the ingredients that are in my pie crust (no additives, no insane amounts of salt, etc.). My pie crust recipe will make enough for a 9-inch pie crust, plus a little extra if you want to make an individual quiche on the side – or keep it in the freezer for another project (well-wrapped in plastic film).
• To make this quiche doable year-round, you can use frozen spinach (same quantity). Make sure the spinach is well thawed and drained. When cooking them in the pan, make sure most of the moisture evaporates.

• For the cheese, I strongly recommend you use Gruyère. This hard Swiss Cheese is a bit pricey but pairs perfectly with spinach. Gruyère Cheese will produce the best nutty taste and melty texture in this quiche. As a substitute, you can choose a hard mild-tasting cheese, such a Comté or a white aged Cheddar (more affordable option). Parmesan is too salty in taste for my liking in this recipe.
• For a lighter filling, you can substitute the heavy whipping cream (35% m.f.) with Half-and-Half (12% m.f.). Another option is to use 150 ml heavy whipping cream (35% m.f) and 150 ml milk (2% or whole milk).
• The amount of filling in this recipe is just right to fill a low-sided 9-inch tart pan. If you have one on-hand, I recommend you use a tart pan  with a removable bottom (like this one), which will support the crust when lifting your tart.

I hope you enjoy this Spinach and Cheese Quiche as much as I do!
Any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

You may also like:

• • The Quiche Lorraine 
  • Herby Spring Vegetable Jardiniere
  • Ham Cheese Olive Bread
  • Sweet Pea Hame Quiche

Spinach and Cheese Quiche

Print Recipe

Serves: 8-10 Prep Time: 40 Minutes Cooking Time: 45 Minutes 45 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.0/5

( 24 voted )

Ingredients

Pie Crust:
2 cups (260g) all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup (150g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
5 tbsp (75ml) cold water
Filling:
2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter
2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
350g fresh spinach leaves (or frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained)
1 garlic clove, peeled
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cup (300ml) heavy whipping cream (35%mf)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup (100g) grated Gruyère cheese

Instructions

Make sure your read the cooking notes before you start. 

To make the crust - Mix the flour, salt and butter with your fingers or pulse in a food processor, until you get a crumbly consistency and pea-size bits of butter are still visible. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and mix until the dough roughly comes together into a ball; do not over-mix. Add a few more splashes of water if you feel the dough is too crumbly/dry. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Grease and flour a 9-inch (23 cm) tart pan. Transfer the dough onto a floured working surface and roll it out to a 12-inch (31cm) circle. Transfer the crust to the pan. Cut any excess crust that hangs over the edge, and poke the bottom of the crust all over with a fork. Chill until ready to assemble the quiche.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F (180C) with a rack in the middle. 

To make the filling – In a large saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized. Set aside. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and the spinach leaves to the pan. Poke a fork into a whole garlic clove and use this to occasionally stir the spinach; cook until wilted. Set aside and let cool. Discard of the garlic. When the spinach is cool enough to handle, squeeze it between your hands to drain most of the moisture out over the sink.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne and grated cheese.

To assemble – Take the crust out of the fridge. Spread the cooked shallots evenly over the bottom. Spread the spinach evenly on top; try to break apart as many spinach clumps as possible with your fingers. Pour the filling on top; do not fill it to the rim: the filling will lightly puff up as it bakes.

Bake for 45 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is golden as well. Transfer onto a cooling rack and cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Did you make this recipe?

I’d love to know how it turned out! Please let me know by leaving a comment below, rate the recipe and/or share a photo on Instagram: tag @pardonyourfrench  and hashtag it #pardonyourfrench.  Bon Appétit! 

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The post Spinach and Cheese Quiche appeared first on Pardon Your French.

In fact, it has been happening to me a lot lately, as I’ve working on developing three different versions (1-day, 2-day and 3-day) of my Classic French Croissant recipes. So I have been left with dozens of croissants on the counter, and even though I am very much fond of them, going through 36 in a day became a bit too much. And you’ll probably agree that days-old croissants simply do not have the same oomph as freshly baked ones.

So I have been thinking of ways to use up my leftovers croissants, and making a savory croissant casserole is the first thing that came to my mind. I wanted a comforting dish to cut through the bitter Winter evenings. I imagined the textures and flavours I wanted, and worked backwards from there…

A great Winter dinner or crowd-pleasing brunch

The croissants paired with mushrooms provides the perfect mix of sweet and salty flavors. The bittery spinach cut nicely through the richness of the croissants. The tender baked eggs and cheese perfectly compliment the crisp edges of the croissants.

With leftover croissants on hand, it is a quick and easy dish to put together (less than 15 minutes), and makes for a great Winter dinner or crowd-pleasing brunch.

Cooking notes:

• Using fresh spinach is best for this dish (they render less water); but if you have to use frozen spinach, make sure your thaw and drain them very well, and cook them all the way through until no moisture is left in the pan.
• Gruyère cheese is great in this dish, but feel free to use any hard cheese of your liking. 1 cup (100g) is a fair amount of cheese – just enough to bring comfort and flavour, but not overkill (remember croissants are already rich to start with). Feel free to use more/less cheese, to suit your taste.

Savory Croissant Casserole with Mushroom, Spinach and Cheese

Print Recipe

Serves: 6 people Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cooking Time: 35 minutes 35 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.1/5

( 26 voted )

Ingredients

6 Classic French Croissants
2 tbsp (30g) unsalted butter + extra to grease the dish
1 bag [227g/8oz] fresh spinach
4 2/3 cup (350g) Cremini muchrooms, fresh, sliced
1 cup (100g) Gruyère Cheese, grated.
6 large eggs
2 cups (500ml) whole milk
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Step 1 – Over medium-low heat, in a large frying pan, melt 1 tablespoon (15g) of butter. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms are soft and tender. Set aside.

Add an other tablespoon (15g) of butter to the pan with the fresh spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes until the spinach is cooked.

Pre-heat your oven to 350°F (180°C)

Step 2 – Butter a 10.5x7 inch (26.7x17.8cm) dish. Slice the croissants in half vertically and split each half partially horizontally (do not cut them all the way through). Place the croissants halves vertically (sliced side up) in rows in the dish, nice and tight. Stuff the spinach equally into each croissant half and do the same with the mushrooms (you can stuff some mushrooms in-between the croissants too).

Step 3 – In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, and half of the grated cheese (1/2 cup/50g). Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the egg mixture over the croissants. Finally, sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese (1/2 cup/50g) evenly over the top. 

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an extra 10-15 minutes, until the egg mixture is set and golden and the grated cheese is all melted and crisp on the edges. Serve immediately. 

If you try this Savory Croissant Casserole with Mushroom, Spinach and Cheese recipe let me know!  Leave a comment or share a photo on Instagram tagging @pardonyourfrench or using #pardonyourfrench. 

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