Cooking: Idea for Using Leftover Ingredients from Recipe
When preparing eggplant parmesan for only two people (see recipe in another posting in Tioga Herald), I had leftovers I did not wish to toss in the garbage. The skins were boiled and simmered in water for about four hours. I strained the water to get rid of the skins and saved the liquid as a veggie broth to be refrigerated (perhaps frozen) and used later.
I also had leftover Cheez It cracker crumbs. How did I use these crumbs without tossing in the garbage? (1) I made cracker crumb dumplings with flour, water, and ricotta cheese. Need to look into an actual recipe for this because mine did not turn out well. Too dry.
I also used the Cheez It cracker crumbs to make a pie crust for quiche. This turned out a wonderful quiche. The crust had a neat cheese flavor which enhanced the flavor of the cheeses in the egg quiche filling.
The crust:
- 2 cups cheese cracker crumbs (I used Cheez It)
- 1 stick melted unsalted butter
- 1 egg
Mix the ingredients together and press the mixture into bottom and side of a pie dish. Fill with quiche filling. Back for one hour at 400 degrees F.
Quiche egg filling:
- 8 eggs
- dash water
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 tablespoons half and half
- 1/4 cup grated gruyerre cheese
- caramelized onions and peppers (I keep caramelized onions and peppers, including cubanelle peppers, in freezer)
- other ingredients, perhaps from leftovers (I had leftover spinach and fried mushrooms)
This recipe made two quiches, but I had cracker-crumb pie crust enough for one quiche. The second quiche was a crustless quiche.
Enjoy! Ooooooh so good!
Tioga Herald 