Comfort Foods and Indulgences

I'm calling this a pie. Yes, it resembles a quiche, but I prefer to call it a pie. It seems more manly that way. Plus I wanted a more rustic looking version that does not require rolling anything out or having to make actual dough.

The crust here is cheese based, you just press it in the pan and it's ready to go...no skills required. While quiche is often served for just breakfast or brunch, this is definitely perfect for dinner too.

It's not eggy or flavorless. In fact it's bursting with all kinds of tastes and works great for leftovers. Enjoy this one over the weekend!

It's time to pull out the grill! The official start of grilling season is this Memorial weekend. The weather is finally warm, making it the perfect occasion for a large celebratory gathering. And what would a backyard barbecue be without the ubiquitous burger? After all burgers are part of the American tradition. They're easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and easily please a crowd of family and friends.

Everyone knows beef burgers, but what about lamb burgers? OK, they're not the most traditional for Memorial Day, but they're really good. And who said we can't try something new? I can't forget the famous lamb burger at The Breslin, April Bloomfield's British-style pub. The burger I had there was perfectly cooked and juicy, thick and full of flavor. This burger is my attempt at recreating it at home.

This recipe has a bit of a Mediterranean feel, almost Greek. The lamb burgers are topped with salty feta and tangy pickled red onions. The feta complements the burgers very well, adding a tangy, salty flavor. The onions cut right through the rich flavor of the lamb. I like to serve all my burgers on toasted brioche buns, which absorbs the meat's juices. This is the way to enjoy a burger, pure and simple.

As I have been known to confess on these very pages, when it comes to sweets, I am an unabashed purveyor of the pedestrian. Most people who have been to a Ralph’s Supermarket have probably noticed the bakery section with its apple turnovers, banana muffins, red-velvet cupcakes, entire cakes and even half cakes—presumably to add variety for the discriminating tastes waiting at home. Whatever glutenous confection you have a hankering for you can pretty much find in this section of the store, right in front of you, the minute you walk in. Since I am stuck with the kind of willpower that needs constant reviving and have been unable to resist many of these offerings in the past, I try to enter the store at the other end, where the fruit is colorfully, bountifully ensconced. But to no avail.

Unfortunately, one item in that dreaded bakery always summons me: chocolate donuts. Clamshells with a twelve-count sit stacked on the bakery tables, neat rows of the taunting chocolate visible through the plastic. Only $4.99 for the Ralph’s Club member. How can one resist? Don’t they contain all the food groups, milk, eggs, flour, and cocoa (yes, I count cocoa as a food group)?

One of these perfectly round donuts and a glass of milk means instant transport to childhood. The chocolate coating cracks a bit as your teeth sink into it, and the edges of the fresh golden cake beneath break away first. Then you’re left with a thick knot of cake and chocolate at the center, one perfect bite.

Silly words that came from car-time with my grandchildren resulted in a new cookie called Shoogie Dadders. The cookie dough is loaded with oatmeal, sweet-tart grated Haralson apple woven through and little chunks of Sugar Babies that turn to taffy in the oven. The baked cookies are sweet and chewy. They got a thumbs-up from my granddaughter who rolled the funny words “shoogie dadder” off her tongue and out of her giggling mouth.

After turning some of the third batch of dough into cookies, I got tired of baking. I covered the bowl of remaining dough and stuck it into the refrigerator. A few days later, as I was thinking of Thanksgiving, I thought about baking pumpkin-pie filling in a Shoogie Dadder crust.

I patted some of the cookie dough into a 9- x 13-inch pan, covered it with broken, toasted pecans and baked it for about 10 minutes before pouring the pumpkin filling over the top. Once baked, the filling was creamy and the crust was soft and easy to cut.