tres bien

My picnic was pretty awesome. Lying by the river, feeling the nice breeze and listening to the waves and watching the sailboats and soaking up the sun. Ahhh. I’m probably even more sunburnt now, despite the sunblock, but I figure I’m getting Vitamin D along with, in all likelihood, future melanoma.

I took some pics from the esplanade, if anyone wants to see Boston in the springtime. It really is the most lovely time of year here. It lasts for about three days. Miserable and cold from September to late April, three days of Spring, and muggy til the next September. Repeat!

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Also, here’s the food related one: my afternoon snacksie, posing by the water

A large iced skim sugar free hazelnut latte. I have to say it was meh (the barista was new, and it was just really bitter) which is too bad, because it was my free one! I had my tenth stamp at Espresso Royale! That being said, Espresso Royale still makes really really good coffee.

Onto dinner!

I was wanting to be in Paris (well obviously, I am always wanting to be in Paris because it is one of the greatest places on Earth, but I was especially wanting to be this evening). When I think French food, I think crusty bread and dark leafy greens. The greens I had, and I made them in a mustard vinaigrette, a la the Parisian cafe (just olive oil, dijon mustard, and lemon juice). The crusty bread I bought at the student union (the checkout lady looked horrified that that was all I was buying- I assured her it was just to supplement my dinner).

Now for protein. I have eggs. My brain went eggs+french= OOH QUICHE! But making quiche for one is just a stupid, ridiculous undertaking. So I thought, “how bout baked eggs? I bet it’d work in my muffin tin! A little internet perusal led to this, which I used for the technique, and a (delicious!) recipe was born.

Baked Mini-Quiches with Tomato and Caramelized Onions

2 eggs

a bit of butter

thinly sliced onion (1/6 of an onion or so?)

a few tomato slices

a splash of milk

a bit of cheese (I used like 1/2 tbsp of shredded cheese- only because I’m running low. More cheese would probably mean more flavor. I didn’t taste it much in this application)

salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roast your tomatoes.

  

In the meantime, melt your bit of butter on medium low heat, and caramelize your onions. This took me about 10 minutes. If I were less impatient, I would’ve done even lower heat and cooked them even longer, but I was actually REALLY hungry for dinner, so I was impatient.

Also, beat up your eggs with the cheese, salt, and pepper.

Once the tomatoes and onions are to your liking, layer them in greased muffin cups (put water in the muffin cups you aren’t using so they don’t scorch).

First the tomatoes

Then the onions

 

Last the egg mixture.

Bake at 400 for about 12 minutes, or until golden to your liking.

Here is my finished product:

  

These were absolutely WONDERFUL! Caramelized onions are MAGIC! They are so sweet and delicious! The tomato also got very sweet when roasted, and the eggs and cheese gave the dish a nice richness. It was very very light and summery, perfect for a day where the heat exceeded 90 degrees (!), but left me feeling full and satisfied.

They’re also kind of genius for when you don’t have any food in the house, because I personally almost always have eggs and onions. Plus, more or less any vegetable goes with eggs- this would’ve been super tasty with spinach, mushrooms, peppers… kind of the sky is the limit. Plus, of course, bacon or ham or any of the traditional quiche meats.

Accompanied by the aforementioned green salad and crusty bread.

 

The zing of the mustard and lemon in the dressing and the slight bitterness of the greens complemented the sweet, rich eggs quite nicely. And the chewy bread pulled everything together nicely, flavor-wise and nutritionally!

My only complaint about this dish was that it was a ROYAL PAIN to clean the muffin tins, and they were NONSTICK and OILED WITH COOKING SPRAY! I guess next time I’ll just slather them in butter :D