Roasted Sugarplum Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1 small clamshell of sugarplum or cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
olive oil for the pan
salt and pepper

Method:
Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F.
On a baking sheet, toss the sliced tomatoes in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Bake for one hour, or until the skin is a bit rumpled but the interiors are still juicy.

Crustless Quiche with Bacon, Gruyere, Fat Whole Spears of Asparagus, and Leeks
Yield: one 9-inch quiche, about 4 to 6 generous servings

Ingredients:
Softened butter for the pie plate, about 2 t.
½ pound good bacon, diced
1 small leek, trimmed of its hairy and darker green fibrous ends, diced, and washed well
¼ pound Gruyere or Emmenthaler cheese, grated
1 medium bunch of fat asparagus spears, with their woody ends snapped off and washed
…
5 eggs
1 ½ c. heavy cream
a pinch of salt and pepper

Method:

• Increase your oven temperature to 400 degrees F, or heat a second oven to this temperature.

• Smear a little soft butter into the pie plate and up the sides.

• In a large skillet over medium heat, fry the bacon until it is tender crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to a piece of foil or a paper plate. Wipe the bacon fat from the pan with some paper toweling.

• Add the leek to the same pan and sauté briefly until tender.

• Grate the cheese into the bottom of the pie plate.

• Scatter the bacon and then the leeks over the top.

• In a small bowl, beat together the egg and cream. Season it with a bit of salt and pepper.

• Pour the cream and egg mixture over the top of the bacon, leeks, and cheese.

• Arrange the asparagus spears over the top and nestle them into the egg and cream.

• Bake for 30 minutes, or until slightly puffed and golden.

• Serve the quiche in wedges with a side of the roasted tomatoes.

Egg Dumpling Tips
This is a gosh-and-by-golly recipe and I have never measured the ingredients.  Begin with beaten eggs.  Sprinkle in a bit of flour and stir.  Add a bit more.  It will appear that it is going to be a hopelessly lumpy mess.  Add a bit more flour.  Adding a few tablespoons at a time and stirring just a bit to get a sense of whether or not you’re getting close, continue this process until the egg and flour begin to come together and have a little stretch.  You’ll feel it.  If the mixture is too loose, the dumplings will be too dense.  If you add too much flour, they become fairly tasteless puffballs.  You’re looking for cohesive batter with a little tug, a little stretch, as you mix it or lift the spoon.  As soon as you get there, stop adding flour.

This recipe also falls into the gosh-and-by-golly category in that you can add whatever you like.  In fact, when I have been quite ill, I have just brought some chicken stock to a simmer and made dumplings alone.  Add whatever you have.  A leek is nice, a bit of onion, carrots, celery or celery leaves, a little garlic, cubed roasted chicken, parsley.  If you have a bunch of dill, waving the bunch through the broth adds nice flavor, too.

You can make these dumplings any size.  We prefer to use a dinner teaspoon.  You can make tiny dumplings or large ones, too.  Just adjust your cooking time a bit.

The finished dumplings should be eggy and chewy.

Chicken Soup with Egg Dumplings
Yield:  about four servings

Ingredients:
4 c. chicken stock (preferably homemade)
some cubed roasted chicken, perhaps 1 c.
a small onion and/or a small leek, diced
a few carrots, peeled and cut into coins
a few stalks of celery and their leaves, diced
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
a handful of parsley, chopped

5 eggs
flour
salt and pepper

Method:

• Warm a soup pot over medium low heat.  When it is warm, drizzle in just a touch of olive oil and add the garlic.  Saute for one minute, or until fragrant.

• Pour in the stock, the chicken, onion, leek, carrots, and celery and bring it to a simmer.  Simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

• Meanwhile make the dumplings.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and season them with salt and pepper fairly generously.  Stir in flour bit by bit until the mixture comes together and there is a slight tug on the spoon.

• Remove the pot from the burner and wait for the simmering to cease.

• When the stock is still, using two teaspoons, scoop a mound of egg dumpling batter with one spoon and scrape it off and into the pot with the other spoon.  Continue making dumplings and placing them into the stock, placing them with a bit of room between them.  Allow them to rest in the hot broth for about two minutes or until they are beginning to set.

• Return the pot to the burner and bring the stock to a low simmer.  Simmer the dumplings for about three minutes, or until they are pale and beginning to rise.  Turn over the dumplings and simmer for another three minutes, or until they are cooked through.

• Scatter in the parsley.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.