Mississippi Mud Pie

I am posting a recipe after a very long break....went into a month long hangover....sobering up now (hopefully)

I strongly believe that a blogger should never apologize to his or her viewers for not posting for a long time....coz believe me........they won't notice that you are missing (I am excluding Shireen Sequeira :) 

 I felt it was the right time to post this recipe....I never thought I would ever say this ...well I am gonna say it anyways .....'IT'S VALENTINES DAY' (sorry I am not at all a valentine person...plz don't hate me)....well the real reason.....Its my daughters 3rd birthday....yes she is a valentine baby (I am not proud of it :) and yes I am dreading whats going to happen 15 years from now.

Recipe source:- Essential Chocolate - Love Food
Ingredients
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for Pastry

• 225g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 2tbsp cocoa powder
• 150g butter (cold)
• 2tbsp caster sugar
• 1 to 2 tbsp cold water

for filling

• 175g butter
• 350g brown sugar
• 4 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 4tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
• 150g plain chocolate
• 300ml cream

Method

1. For pastry- sift flour and cocoa powder into a bowl.Rub in cold butter till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, now add sugar and cold water and mix to form a soft dough. Wrap the dough and chill for 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven at 190 Degree C.
3. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and place into a loose bottom tart/pie tin (I used one 7 inch and two 5inch tins). Line the rolled out dough with baking paper and fill with beans. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the beans and baking paper and bake the pastry crust for 10 more minutes.
4. Make filling-Melt chocolate using a double boiler,let it cool. Meanwhile beat butter and sugar in a bowl. Now beat in eggs and cocoa powder.Add the melted chocolate and cream and beat the mixture till well combined.
5. Reduce the oven temperature to 160 degree C. Pour the filling into the baked pastry case and bake for 45 minutes or till the filling has set gently
6. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

This is from my friend / faaaar cousin / senior/ blah / blah / blah...........Gargi Shetty...a special person who can brighten anyone s mood (ohhh she is going to get me for this)

Gargi had a request ...she wanted me to put up some baked dish...and  ME who wasn't thinking straight gave her a choice......Cake, Muffin....or Quiche . Seriously hoping that would not choose quiche (coz I have never baked one).............But Gargi had to choose ......QUICHE.

I know Gargi wanted a healthy dish...but I am not sure this one is....lot of butter and cream.But this quiche was fabulous.Maybe next time I will try to put up a healthy frittata.

So Gargi this one is for you .........you better bake a quiche......seriously.

Ingredients
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Pie crust

• 1 1/4 cup Flour (155 grams)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter chilled and diced (115grams)
• 1/4 cup cold water (60ml)

For filling : recipe from here

• 300 grams Spinach
• 200 grams Mushroom(chopped)
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 4 eggs
• 400 ml Cream
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 2 tsp chilli flakes
• 250 grams cheese (grated)
• 2 tbsp butter

Method for filling:

1.Wash and cook spinach in 1/4 cup water for few minutes. Drain and squeeze out excess water and chop the spinach leaves. Keep this aside.
2. Place a pan on medium flame, melt 1 tbsp butter and fry onion till they turn golden brown and crisp ,add chopped garlic and fry for a minute. transfer to a small bowl.
3. In the same pan melt 1 tbsp butter and add the chopped mushroom and cook till the mushroom turns light golden brown. Add the chopped spinach, salt(add little salt )and chilli flakes and stir for few minutes till the moisture evaporates. Now add the fried onion and garlic. Take off the flame.Let it cool completely.
4. Now break in 4 eggs and pour in the cream and mix till well combined add little salt and pepper and mix. Now add 200 grams of grated cheese and combine. Keep aside till further use.

Method For Pie crust

1.In a bowl combine flour and salt. Add the diced butter and cut in with a fork or pinch with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, one tablespoon at a time until the mixture forms a ball(it should not be too sticky) .Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2.Roll out the dough ( watch video) to fit a 7 inch pie dish or loose bottom pie dish. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides and cut off the excess dough that's hanging out.
3. Preheat oven at 180 degree C.

4. Place a baking sheet on the pie crust and place any kind of dried beans on the baking paper to avoid the crust from puffing up. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

5. Now get the crust out of the oven, remove the dried beans and baking paper and prick the crust with a fork and bake again for 5 minutes or till the crust turns golden brown. This is called 'Baking Blind' --Baking the pie crust completely before pouring in the filling.

6. Pour the spinach-mushroom-cream-egg and cheese mixture into the baked pie crust . Sprinkle the remaining 50 grams grated cheese on top of the quiche and Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes(or more) at 180 degree C.

7. you will know the the quiche is done when its browned on the top and when  you press the quiche it will spring back slightly.

8. Remove from oven and place on wire rack and let the quiche cool for few minutes. Try to loosen the sides and remove the quiche from the tart pan or you serve it from the dish itself.
9. Serve the quiche when its warm.

Note:The pie crust recipe was for a 9 inch pie dish, so I had left over pie crust dough,which can be used again. I also had leftover quiche filling. I made mini quiche's using a muffin pan next day.