One Local Summer, Week 4

OK, so this week’s farmer’s market score: blueberries, spring onions, corn, red potatoes, tomato, cucumber, yellow squash, Colby cheese with jalapeno, Cheddar cheese with horseradish, and- finally!- some local meat (chicken, frozen, so will have to save for next week’s meal). The chicken put me over budget a bit, the total was somewhere around 35 dollars.

Also, ta-da!, had to showcase the very very pretty bag of salad greens.

I have no idea what that flower is or how I am to eat it, but it is lovely. It reminds me of the Dr Seuss brugmansia I left behind at our old house.

A cute little yellow squash was hidden in the middle. Double prizes!

I made a quiche! And corn and potato salad on the side (the potato salad from last week was such a hit it was re-enacted for tonight’s dinner by special request).

The crust followed this recipe; why is it so hard to find recipes for pie crusts that don’t involve shortening? I just don’t do shortening. The butter kept melting in the heat but the crust was fine; not wonderfully flaky, maybe, but still crunchy and good.

I riffed from the Quiche Lorraine recipe from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook . Basically, I followed the ratios for eggs, milk, and cream, and then guerilla gourmet’d the rest. All ingredients local except the flour.

I used both of the cheeses from today’s market as well as two of the spring onions. I was worried the quiche was going to be overpowering because the jalapeno colby is seriously hot ( I am a heat wimp, by the way, or as I like to call it, a supertaster).

But, everything mellowed in the bake and it was supremely tasty. As in, if I happen across a quiche competition in the next 24 hours, I will submit a slice of my delicious quiche. And I will win. And I will accept my quiche trophy with humble gratitude and quirky charm.

I am loving this cooking with fresh ingredients, it’s like I suddenly became a better cook! But truly, I owe it all to Eve’s Cheese.

I also like the Iron Chef aspect of the thing: what can I cook, with the ingredients available to me, that will please the judges? And not break the budget?

Hey, help a girl out! I would love to know some good pie crust recipes and tried-and-true tips and tricks for flaky goodness! (That don’t use shortening!)