Parmesan, Goat Cheese and Spinach Flan?

In keeping with the French theme, I made this for a nice weekend lunch. It would be perfect for a breakfast or brunch. Since I already had the goat cheese...and Maranda wanted me to make something "French" when I searched I made sure I could use it. Why not? I found a recipe at French Cooking for Dummies it confused me a little because it's called a flan. This is so similar to the Spinach Frittata recipe that I made for Martha Mondays awhile ago. That one confused me because it wasn't what I would call a frittata. It reminded me more of a souffle, except using the whole egg instead of egg whites. As always, I made some changes to the recipe and made it the way I liked it.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 cup fresh spinach leaves - washed and a coarse chop - 1 small shallot - minced - 1 teaspoon fresh chives - chopped - 3 oz goat cheese - diced - 2 oz Parmesan cheese - grated - 2 eggs 2 tablespoons heavy cream - salt and pepper - 1 tablespoon butter

Saute shallots in butter until soft, add spinach and cook until soft, let cool a bit (just so the heat won't scramble the eggs). Preheat oven to 350 degree F or 180 C. In a large bowl whisk eggs, add cream, Parmesan, and chives. Add goat cheese, and the spinach/shallot mix if cool enough. Salt and pepper to taste and whisk again. Pour into buttered ramekins and bake for 20 minutes. Serve right away while still warm.

Mmmm...tasty! This recipe made two ramekin size portions, I am sure you could double it and it would work just as well.

I really don't care what you call this it was fantastic! I loved the flavors and I don't know if it is a French flan, or Italian frittata! I glad I made this simple and elegant dish.( It would be perfect with a glass of champagne ) Ha! Then it must be French!! :D

It was a treat nice and creamy, and the spinach and tang of the goat cheese...

...good to the last bite.

I linked this toLet's Do Brunch

I noticed last week that a pineapple is staring on one of my pineapple plants. I have a hard time throwing away the top of a pineapple when I eat one, so I plant them. I have had a few now that have produced tiny pineapples, and it is still fun to see the process as it grows.

French Bread (bread machine)

Okay you know how I feel about baking, it's a lot of trial and error, and sometimes things turn out right. Since it was spring break and we had a week to play around with food, and try new things. I asked Maranda what cuisine I should try next. She chose French, and wanted French bread. I also will post another later on that is a little more French than just French bread. Of course I made the dough in the bread machine.

4 cups flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons yeast
Add ingredients the order the bread machine instructs you to do. Mine has you add the liquids first and end up with the yeast in a little well made in the flour. Set the bread machine in dough cycle. Remove the dough on a floured surface and form into two loaves. (I made one loaf, so it is bigger than baguettes would be) Let rise for 40 minutes in a warm place. On your stoneware or baking pan toss down some corn meal and carefully place the loaves on pan. Brush with egg wash (1 egg and 1 tablespoon water) slice down the center for baguette or several slits diagonally across for a loaf. Bake at 375F 30-35 minutes.

Guess what? It turned out! Wahoo! It was like what they call a crusty bread, the outside was nice and crisp and crusty and soft and tender inside. It was a nice size for sandwiches and to toast it you had to turn it around halfway through.

It worked great for us! I made this again since and formed two loaves instead of one. Next I'll form longer thinner baguette style, this is great. I let the loaves rise right on the the stoneware bar pan and then popped it right in the oven so I didn't have to transfer it after it had the last raise. Make some in time for the weekend!