Quiche with Smoked Salmon and Leeks

Quiche is one of those things that get's "ooh's" and "aah's" for no good reason. People see them as an advanced dish that are hard to make, but in reality they are surprisingly simple to put together and actually should be a go-to for quick-cook brunches. 

This quiche features smoked salmon and leeks. What it doesn't feature is Gouda or goat cheese or any other fancy cheese. We use Mozzarella. Why? There is no point in spending money one cheese who's flavor is going to be overpowered by smoked salmon anyway. A good, melty cheese like Mozzarella will do just fine.

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ingredients

SERVES 8

• Pie Crust 
  • 2 cups of dried beans to pre-bake crust
• 1 1/2 cups of half and half
• 6 large eggs
• 1  1/2 cup of grated Mozzarella
• two leeks sliced in half length-wise and chopped in 1/2 inch strips
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
• 4 oz chopped smoked salmon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of cracked ground pepper

COOK TIME

1 Hour

• 15 minutes preparation time
• 45 minutes bake time 

Hardware

• large bowl
• whisk
• cutting board / knife
• sautee pan
• pie or tart dish
• wax paper

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Method

1. Line pie crust with parchment paper and fill with beans. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees
2. Saute leeks in butter and olive oil for 5 minutes over medium heat
   • Season to taste with salt and pepper. It's important to season at every step.
   • Putting a little olive oil in the butter helps to keep it from burning. 
3. Add eggs to bowl and whisk. Add half and half to bowl and whisk. Stir in leeks, cheese, salt and pepper. 
4. Pour into pie crust and bake for 45 minutes. 
5. Impress the heck out of your friends and family.

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Best biscuits ever

We will throw the word "best" around here a lot for se purposes, but you have to trust me when I tell you that this is the best biscuit you can ever make. Seriously. 

They're buttery. They're flaky. I made a chicken biscuit with our fried chicken recipe, our biscuit recipe and a drizzle of honey, and I felt feelings that would be inappropriate to detail on a food blog.

Run, don't walk, to your nearest oven to make these biscuits

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INGREDIENTS

MAKES 12 BISCUITS

• 1/2 cup quality chilled butter
• 2 1/4 cups of soft self-rising flower
• 1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons of melted butter
• Flour for working dough

Cook time

TOTAL TIME: 25-35 minutes

• 10-20 minutes preparation
• 15 minutes baking

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Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut chilled butter into 1/4 inch thick slices. Toss with flour in a large bowl. Cut butter into flower with a pastry blender (or a fork if you don't have one like us). Do this until mixture begins to become crumbly. 
   • For extra flaky biscuits, you can cover the mixture and put it in the freezer for 5 minutes, which helps the butter remain cold which, in turn, helps your biscuits become flakier. Biscuit layers form when thin sheets of butter melts between within the flour during the baking process. Warmer butter during the preparation process mixes into the flour more which makes for less defined layers. For flaky-enough biscuits and quicker prep, continue straight to the next step. 
3. Add buttermilk to the flour and butter mix and stir until ingredients are just combined.
4. Flour your hands and and your kneading surface. Scoop biscuit dough out onto  floured surface and fold dough over onto itself 2 or four times. Flatten the dough out somewhat and sprinkle another 2-3 tablespoons of flour on the it before folding the dough on itself another 3 times. Repeat this process 2 more times.
5. Pad the dough out into a 1/2 inch sheet. Cut out biscuits with a 2 inch biscuit cutter (or a glass if you don't have one like us). Place biscuits either in a greased dish or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 
6. Bake for 13-15 minutes until biscuits start to turn golden. After removing biscuits from oven, brush with melted butter. 

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