Ham, Gruyere, Shallot, and Potato Tart/Quiche

This is a rich, delicious quiche that I've made many times, modifying it along the way into this version that we love.  It works well in a regular pie dish, but also works nicely in a tart pan - and makes it a bit flatter and fancier looking.  I love the buttermilk biscuit crust.  I've written the recipe so you can following and prepare it in order - it's best to prepare the fillings first, then the crust, and finally assemble the quiche before baking.  Enjoy!

A yummy ham, Gruyere, shallot and potato quiche, ready to eat! 

Ham, Gruyere, Shallot, and Potato Tart/Quiche

Inspired and partially based on a recipe from "The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook - the essential recipe collection for today's home cook" 


FIRST - Prepare fillings:

Finely grate 1 cup Gruyere cheese.  (You can use more, if you want it extra cheesy). Set cheese aside to use later.

In a medium pot, boil 1 russet potato, peeled and cut into large chunks.  Once boiled, dice into small, 1/2" pieces and let cool 10-15 minutes.

In a saucepan, saute the following until shallots are softened:
1 Tbsp butter
2 shallots, diced
1/2 tsp fresh thyme OR 1/4 tsp dried ground thyme

Add and stir in, cooking 1 minute:
diced potato, from above

Remove from heat and stir in:
3/4 cup diced ham (I prefer using a black forest ham)

Set aside the vegetables and ham.

In a separate bowl, whisk together:
1/2 cup cream 
2 eggs
pinch nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Set the eggs aside and prepare the base.


SECOND - Prepare buttermilk biscuit base:

In a measuring cup, combine to make buttermilk:
1 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup milk (just under, you want to have 1/2 cup buttermilk total)

In a large bowl, mix together:
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup cornstarch OR arrowroot starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

Add and chop in with a pastry cutter, until nice and crumbly (but make sure you can still see the chunks of butter):
5 Tbsp butter

Add and mix in with a spoon:
1/2 cup buttermilk, from above

Line a 10" tart pan or pie dish with the biscuit base, using plastic wrap to help press the dough in place if it's sticking to your fingers.


THIRD - Assemble your tart:

On top of your biscuit base, spread:
1/3 cup shredded gruyere cheese

Add the potatoes/ham mixture.    Pour the egg/cream mixture evenly over the potatoes/ham mixture.  Top with an additional 2/3 cup shredded gruyere cheese.

The assembled quiche, ready to bake.  This works nicely in a tart tin, too.  

Bake at 425 F for 10 minutes.  Without opening the oven, lower the temperature to 350 F and bake an additional 20-25 minutes.   Remove from the oven.  Let cool 5 minutes before serving.  If you made it in the tart pan, you can let cool a bit longer (~20 min.) before removing from the pan and placing on a serving platter.  Enjoy!

Fresh out of the oven! 

Ham, Gruyere, Shallot and Potato Tart/Quiche Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

Ham & Cheese-Filled Rolls

These are my latest favorite invention.  Gluten-free bread dough needs to be softer/runnier than non-GF bread dough if you want a light, soft bread at the end, so it tends to make working with it rather tricky.  As I've done in my bagel recipes, this recipe finds a work-around in piping the dough onto the pan in a swirl, adding fillings, then piping on the top!  This way, you end up with an easy-to-make and delicious stuffed sandwich!  These have gotten rave reviews from everyone who's tried them.  They freeze really well, too.   There are two options for flour in this recipe - one for a slightly denser more robust roll and another for a lighter, fluffier roll. Both have been delicious and happily eaten.  Enjoy!

A roll made with the lighter flour mix (described in the recipe below).

A roll made with Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix for a more robust roll. 

Ham & Cheese-Filled Rolls
Makes 6 large filled rolls

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.  Preheat oven to 350F.

In a mixer with paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients (you have 2 flour options, use Kristin's GF mix for a more robust, slightly denser roll, and the other flours for a lighter, fluffier roll - I tend to make the lighter, fluffier version):
2 tsp quick-rise yeast
1 tsp salt
and
3 cups Kristin's gluten-free flour mix + 1 tsp xanthan gum
OR
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
2 tsp xanthan gum

Add:
1 1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 Tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
4 Tbsp oil
3 eggs
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Beat 3-4 minutes at medium speed.

Place batter in a ziploc freezer bag (make sure you use a high-quality freezer bag or it will tear as you try to pipe out your dough).  Cut 1/2" off one corner.

Pipe 6 swirls of dough onto parchment-lined or silicon-lined cookie sheet.  Try to use a little less than 1/2 the dough.

Fill each roll with the following, careful to leave a bit of space near the edge of the dough so it will seal properly when you pipe on the top: You can use more toppings than I have - I prefer less meat overall, but they'll work perfectly well with lots of ham piled on. I've made them both ways.
Slices of high-quality old cheddar cheese
Slices of ham
1-2 tsp ranch dressing on top of ham

Dough piped onto the pan, then topped with high quality cheddar cheese.

Top cheese with ham, you can use more/less as desired.  Then put a bit of ranch dressing on top of the ham.

Pipe swirls of dough on top, starting from the outside swirling inward, so you get the best seal.  You can always wet your fingers to smooth any areas if you are worried you left gaps.

You can smooth out any spots that aren't completely covered by the dough to close any gaps.

Place a cookie sheet upside-down on top of your cookie sheet to cover the rolls as they rise. (Put a bit of plastic wrap around the edges of the pans if they don't fit together well)  Let rise ~45 minutes in a warm location, until puffed up.  Bake at 350F for ~35 minutes, until nicely golden brown.  Cool on wire rack.  Enjoy!!!

Fresh from the oven and transferred to a cooling rack.  You can eat right away, let cool and then eat, or freeze for later. 

I like to make these, slice them in half and freeze them in ziploc bags for easy lunches!  They've quickly become a family favorite!  Enjoy!

Spinach, Ham & Cheese Brunch Casserole

We've really been enjoying the wonderful taste of the sourdough starter breads and rolls lately.  This recipe is a delicious use for the gluten-free sourdough brown bread I make. I was inspired by some suggestions for brunch casseroles in the Food Network Magazine, and tweaked things around to make a gluten-free version that had all the ingredients I love.  This version has been a hit with the whole family. So much so that I made it for our friends Julie and Jeremy who came for dinner, and they loved it as well.  I find it's a wonderful dish for any time of day, even thought I've called it a brunch casserole.  It reheats wonderfully, and it also nice chilled, like a quiche.  While I love quiche, this is a wonderful alternative - perfect for a chilly day! Enjoy!

Ready to eat! 

Spinach, Ham & Cheese Brunch Casserole
Serves 6-8
Prep ~20 minutes, Sitting time ~30 minutes, Baking/resting time ~1 hr.

Butter a 9x13 pan.

In a large frying pan, heat at medium heat:
2-3 Tbsp olive oil

Add and saute until tender:
2 large shallots, diced OR 2 small onions, diced

Add, stirring until wilted:
4-5 large handfuls of baby spinach
salt & pepper, optional

Remove from heat and set aside.

Chop up one loaf of gluten-free sourdough brown bread, ideally one day old (or bread of your choice, ideally 1 day old) into 1" cubes.  You should have 8-9 cups.  (I have a 9 cup tupperware that I put my 1" cubes into once chopped after baking/cooling my bread, then I'm ready to make this casserole the next day)

Place 1/2 your bread cubes into the bottom of the 9x13 pan.

Sprinkle over top of the bread:
2 cups grated flavored cheese (flavored gouda (I've used a nice mustard & pepper, and an italian-seasoned gouda), strong cheddar, or similar density cheese w/ flavor of your choice would work well)

One half bread cubes topped by 2 cups grated flavored Gouda

Spread over top of cheese:
Cooked spinach & onions
1 1/2 - 2 cups chopped ham (cubed ham or slices of ham, diced)

Top with remaining cubes of bread.

Mix together, and then pour evenly over pan:
10 eggs
1.5 cups cream (lactose free works great)
1.5 cups milk (2%) (lactose free works great)
1 - 1.5 tsp salt

Spinach mixture, then ham, then bread cubes, then egg and milk/cream mixture, prior to covering.

Cover pan with plastic wrap and let sit 30 minutes.  Remove plastic wrap.  Bake at 325F for 50 minutes, or until set in the center.  Let sit 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

This is great fresh and hot, but also wonderful as leftovers either cold or warm.  I find it's similar to a tasty quiche, but with the crust throughout.

Enjoy!!!

Gluten-Free Ham & Cheese Roll-Ups

These are a fun and delicious lunch or dinner idea.  They're like savory cinnamon rolls - a light biscuity tasting dough (I have two variations included that you can use for your dough) filled with onions, ham and cheese.  Though I've never had a gluten-filled version of these, they're based on a recipe from one of my parents neighbors, Aundrea Esplin.  I thought the idea was so fun and could easily be converted into tasty gluten-free treats!  My family and friends have really enjoyed these.  I plan on future experimentation with alternate fillings, they're so delicious!  I find they're best warm, making them melt in your mouth! Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Ham & Cheese Roll-Ups
Makes 18 individual roll-up buns

Grease 18 muffin tins OR 9x13 pan (or make some in muffin tins, and some in a pan like cinnamon rolls) You can always fit most of them into a 9x13 pan and then put any extras in another small baking pan, since this recipe tends to make a bit more than comfortably fit into a 9x13 pan.

In a bowl, put 2 eggs (still in shells) in hot water - just to warm them up. Or just have your eggs ready at room temperature.

Mix and set aside to rest 5 minutes:
3/4 cup warm water (OR 1 cup warm water for fluffier* roll-ups)
3 tsp rapid rise yeast (OR 5 tsp rapid rise yeast for fluffier* roll-ups)
1 Tbsp sugar

*Fluffier rolls: I found the dough to be a bit more difficult to work with, but you do end up with a puffier end result.  Either way is great, it just depends on your personal taste.  The softer/fluffier the end result in GF cooking, the stickier your dough will be while you're working with it. 

Mix together in a small bowl:
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

In a large bowl, mix together:
3 1/2 cups Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix (This is a bit more than one batch of my flour mix)
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Add to the dry ingredients:
yeast mixture
butter mixture
2 eggs, room temperature

Mix thoroughly with a large spoon, using the back of the spoon to help create a nice, smooth dough.

Line two large sheets of plastic wrap side by side on the counter, overlapping a bit.

Spoon out large scoops of the dough and place along the middle of the plastic wrap.

Pull out another two large sheets of slightly overlapping plastic wrap to cover the dough.You’ll then flatten out the dough between the sheets until you have – more or less – a piece of dough that is flattened to somewhere near 12"x20". Try to make it nice and even.You have to slightly adjust the plastic wrap as you’re doing this, since it sometimes gets caught underneath the dough.But, you’ll find the dough doesn’t stick at all to the cling wrap, which is fantastic!  Pull off the top layer of plastic wrap.

You can definitely flatten the dough with a rolling pin on top of the plastic wrap and it'll look a bit neater than this, but I tend to have little kids helping, and they like to help flatten things out.

Spread the dough with the following - the amount of filling is up to you, but the following will serve as guidelines, you may like more/less:

Ranch Dressing, a thin layer

1/4 - 1/2 onion, finely diced

ham, diced (I used 7-10 slices of ham, diced into small pieces)

3/4 - 1 cup grated cheddar cheese (A cheddar cheese blend works nicely)

Carefully roll up the dough, so you have one 20" long roll of dough.Pulling up the plastic wrap can help you get the dough to roll over.  Cut the dough, using a serated knife, into 18 equal pieces. (like you would for cinnamon rolls)

If you make the fluffier version, it won't cut as neatly during this part.

Place each section into a greased muffin tin OR 9x13 pan.   Set uncovered to rise in a warm location 30-45 minutes, until they appear that they have gotten a bit puffier.  (They won't double, but they will look a bit swollen).

The rolls on the left are the less fluffy version of the recipe, those on the right are the fluffier version. I used extra filling in the fluffier version, making them a bit messier during the roll-up.

Brush the top of each roll with:

1 egg, beaten + 1 Tbsp water

Sprinkle the tops with:

Grated parmesan OR romano cheese

Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes for muffin cups, 30-35 minutes for 9x13 pan, until golden brown and cooked through. 

Store leftovers in the refrigerator.  Or, you can freeze individually so you have ready-packed roll-ups for lunches!  Best served warm.

Enjoy!

Ham & Cheese Risotto

This is a delicious and easy meal for lunch or dinner.  Risotto rice thickens as it cooks, so you'll end up with a gooey and cheesy meal at the end.  I'll be adding my modifications for pumpkin risotto soon!  In the meantime, enjoy this delicious and easy meal.

Ham & Cheese Risotto

 

Place in pot:

1 ½ cups Arborio risotto rice

4 cups chicken stock

 

Bring to boil, then cover and simmer 18-20 minutes.

 

Remove from heat and immediately add:

½ cup fresh mozzarella cheese, chopped

2-4 Tbsp parmesan cheese

2-3 slices deli ham, chopped (I like the nitrate-free kind)

½ tsp dried parsley or 1 tsp fresh, diced very small

 

Add salt and pepper to taste

 

Enjoy!