Temphe and Leek Bake

For those of you wanting different ways to eat temphe, this is a great dish. If you like swiss cheese, leeks and potatoes, this is definently for you. Home country cooking veggie style! I chose a good swiss cheese from the cheese counter, which really made a difference. I have made this before with Kraft shredded swiss, and it was alright, even tastey, but it lacked a bit of flavor a good swiss can offer.

We had this with a side of peas for something green.

Remember, when using leeks, soak in water after cutting, then swirl around a bit to rinse any packed in dirt. Drain before using.

Temphe and Leek Bake

1 pound baby potatoes, cubed

olive oil

2 leeks, sliced

1 TBS garlic, mashed

1 pkg temphe, cubed and sprinkled with soy sauce

6 - 8 oz swiss cheese, shredded OR cubed

1 TBS Dijon mustard

1/4 cup parsley

Pre-heat oven to 425

1. Cook potatoes in boiling water until just tender - do NOT over cook

2. Saute leeks and garlic in olive oil until leeks begin to brown.

3. Add temphe and cook about 5 more minutes until it starts to brown.

4. Place into a baking dish.

5. Add 2 TBS of olive oil into the pan and cook potatoes until browned.

6. Mix into the temphe mixture, add mustard, cheese and parsley.

7. Cook 10 - 12 minutes.

Veggie tart

This is a wonderful dish that I modified for the first time a couple nights ago. I found the original recipe in a magazine many years ago and it was called "Fabulous Fritata". I made the recipe many times, loved it, but struggled to cook it through without burning the top or bottom. I had an idea this last time around and it worked! I turned it into more of a tart, cooked in a pie dish with a crust. Lovely, just delicious. Easier cleanup, easier prep.

3/4 pkg Morningstar sausage style crumbles

2 cups thinly sliced red potato

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 tsp dried rosemary

2 cups (or a bit more) fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

3 cloves garlic

4 large eggs, 8 egg whites

4 oz crumbled feta cheese

Pre-made rolled out pie crust

olive oil

1. Saute potato in a large non-stick skillet in olive oil for a couple minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, rosemary, crumbles, salt and pepper. Cook about 5 - 10 minutes until potatoes are just tender.

2. Stir in spinach and garlic, cook one more minute. Remove from heat.

3. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Pour into veggie mixture. Add cheese. Stir gently to combine.

4. Pour mixture into a pie dish covered with the pie crust. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes until cooked through and browned on the top.

*picture to come later!*

Parmesan "Ficken" and Rice Casserole

This is not the red sauce Chicken Parmesan you may be thinking of. Oh no. This is a wonderfully simple and delicious dish using Parmesan cheese and a bit of whipping cream to for a casserole. We had this on Monday night and I modified the dish a little bit from the original recipe found in Cooking Light. The obvious change is using fake chicken. The second modification is replacing boil-in bag brown rice (yuck) with real wild rice (yum!). This of course adds a bit of time to the preparation, but well worth it for the added flavor and nutrition.

Parmesan "Ficken" and Rice Casserole

1 cup chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup wild rice, uncooked

1 1/2 cups veggie broth

1/3 cup dry white wine OR white cooking wine

1 package veggie delight patties, cut into quarters

1/2 tsp dried thyme OR 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

3 TBS whipping cream

1/3 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Cook rice in veggie broth for 45 - 50 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Set aside.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Saute onion for about 3 minutes, then add garlic. Cook until onion begins to brown. Deglaze pan with the wine, cook about 3o seconds. Stir in rice. Remove from heat.

3. Spoon rice mixture into a 13 X 9 inch baking dish. Arrange veggie chicken on the top, sprinkling with thyme and salt. Pour cream evenly over the chicken and rice mixture.

4. Bake for 25 minutes at 425 degrees. Sprinkle with cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes.

This was great with Green Beans Tarragon as a side dish. Look back in my blog archive to find the recipe.

Wild Rice and Barley Salad

This makes a nice lunch salad and is a tasty way to eat barley. The raisins offer a slight sweet surprise. I made this as part of the food I brought in to work this last Saturday. People seemed to really like the flavor, and the salad was gone by the end of our workday.

I did not use toasted almonds - just got lazy and did not feel like adding the almonds this time around. I am sure they are quite tasty in the salad, but not required if you want to skip this ingredient.

Wild Rice and Barley Salad found in Cooking Light

1 3/4 cups veggie broth

1/2 cup uncooked wild rice

1/2 cup uncooked barley

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup sliced green onions

2 TBS white wine vinegar (red wine vinegar is fine too)

1 1/2 TBS olive oil

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 TBS chopped fresh basil

2 TBS slivered almonds, toasted

1. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat, simmer 45 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, let stand covered 5 minutes. Spoon into a medium bowl. Add chickpeas, raisins and green onion.

2. Combine vinegar and next 4 ingredients through pepper in a measuring cup. Stir with a whisk and pour over barley mixture. Toss well. Cover and chill 2 hours. Stir in basil and almonds.

**I am not so good a reading instructions sometimes and ended up putting the basil in before chilling and it came out just fine!**

Breakfast Casserole

Yummy!!! I made this dish the first time for book club a few months ago, and the ladies loved it. I made this casserole the second time for work this past Saturday, and again, my co-workers ate with pleasure and complimented my cooking. It is easy to make and delicious. Any of you who may have taken a taste of this breakfast dish, feel free to leave a comment.

Breakfast Casserole

12 oz Morningstar breakfast style sausage

2 cups 2% milk

2 cups egg substitute

1 tsp dry mustard

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 large eggs

16 oz slices hearty white bread, crust removed

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/4 tsp paprika

1. Heat oil in  skillet over med-high heat. Cook sausage until browned. Remove from heat.

2. Combine milk and next 6 ingredients through egg in a large bowl. Stir with whisk.

3. Cube the bread and add sausage, cheddar, and paprika to the egg mixture. Let mixture sit for about 15 minutes before pouring into baking dish. 

4. Pour into a 13 X 9 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

** The original recipe says to let the mixture sit overnight in the fridge, but I missed this part the first time I made it, and it turned out fine. I did not refrigerate overnight the last time either and it seemed yummy as ever. **

Indian dinner 2 - Roasted Veggie couscous with chickpeas and onion pine nut topping

So, this is the other dish I served for Indian night. The spice mix the recipe calls for is a conglomeration of many individual spices. This may be a pain if you don't have them on had already... or a good reason to start a spice collection! This is straight from Cooking Light Feb 2009.

This is a long one, so get comfy.

Couscous:  

5 cups diced peeled sweet potato

2 cups diced peeled parsnips

1 1/2 TBS EVOO

1 tsp Ras el Hanout (spice mix found down the page)

3 carrots, peeled chopped

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup veggie broth

1 cup Israeli couscous (or normal couscous if you prefer)

1 (15 oz) chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Ras el Hanout

2 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground red pepper

1 tsp all spice

1 tsp saffron threads, crushed

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

combine all these spices and store in a container.

(I admit, I skipped out on the saffron and used my pepper medley for both red and black peppers)

Topping:

1 TBS olive oil

1 yellow onion, cut in half, then sliced

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cups raisins

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 TBS honey

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

2. Cook couscous according to package directions using broth rather than water.

3. Place potato mixture on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally.

3. When couscous is finished cooking, gently stir in chickpeas. Keep warm.

4. To prepare topping, heat 1 TBS olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion saute until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add pine nuts and raisins. Cook 2 minutes. Stir in cinnamon, cook 30 seconds. Then stir in honey, remove from heat.

5. Mound couscous in the middle of a serving dish. Place roasted veggies on couscous, then top with onion mixture.

Indian night - Moroccan "Ficken"

I've made this dish a few times now and each time people love it. The last time was for Indian night with my girlfriends earlier in the week, and again, it was a success. Serve with rice. This dish is the one in the fore front of the picture.

Moroccan Ficken

olive oil
2 cups sliced yellow onion
1 pkg veggie delight chicken patties, cubed
1 TBS minced fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups veggie broth
15 oz can chickpeas
7 oz dried apricots, coarsely chopped

1. Saute onion and ficken in olive oil until just browning
2. Add next 6 ingredients through garlic
3. Add broth and simmer about 10 minutes
4. Add apricots and chickpeas, heat 5 more minutes.

Mediteranian Orzo Salad

I found this recipe in Cooking Light many years ago and loved it at first bite! This was the other dish I made for Mediterranean night with my girlfriends this week. It makes alot, so there are always leftovers for lunch the next day.

Evidently people cooked alot of spinach for St. Patties day, because the store was sold out! I had to get creative and replaced the spinach the recipe calls for with my favorite green.....ARUGULA! Not a bad replacement really.

Marinated artichoke hearts can be a bit pricey, but I found Trader Joes sells them for under 3 dollars. I don't like the flavoring as well as those I bought at the grociery store, but for the price, they are a good buy and work well enough.

I took the leftovers into work yesterday and the salad received great reviews. A friend took a small container of the salad with her to eat on the plane rather than airplane food. Yay!

If you have never heard of Orzo, it is a small pasta. Most grocery stores have it, so hopefully it will not be hard to find. I think I use a 1 : 1 1/2 ratio of orzo to water when cooking. I always add a bit of bullion for flavoring.

Mediterranean Orzo Salad

1 cup uncooked orzo
2 cups fresh spinach, washed and chopped (or more if you really like spinach)
1/2 cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
3 TBS chopped red onion (I only use 1 TBS at the most)
10 - 15 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 (6oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts, undrained
3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled (I just use however much I want to, which is probably more)

1. Cook orzo in boiling water/ broth until tender, about 8 - 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan. Drain and rinse under cold water.

2. Combine orzo, spinach and nest 5 ingredients through salt in a large bowl.

3. Drain artichoke hearts, reserving the marinade. Coarsely chop artichoke hearts, and add to the orzo mixture. Pour reserved marinade over the orzo and gently stir.

4. Add feta cheese to orzo tossing gently to combine.

This dish is good with falaful and pita bread to make it a full meal.

Lentil Soup

Last night was Mediterranean night with some girlfriends and we had all kinds of delicious food. I love ethnic flavors, especially Mediterranean. I tried a new recipe for lentil soup and it was a hit. I found this one on-line. I ended up altering it a bit and have posted the soup as I made it.

Lentil Soup
2 TBS olive oil
1 large baking potato, peeled and cubed
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 large parsnip, peeled and finely chopped
1 daikon, peeled and finely chopped (white, looks kind of like a parsnip or a white carrot)
1/2 large red onion, chopped
3 TBS white wine vinegar
6 cups veggie broth
3/4 cups brown lentils
2 bay leaves
salt/pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over med-high heat. Add potato, carrot, parsnip, daikon and onion. Saute until tender, about 5 - 7 minutes.

2. Add white wine vinegar, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits. Add broth, lentils and bay leaves and bring to a boil.

3. Reduce heat and simmer 30 - 40 minute4s until lentils are tender. Discard bay leaves.

4. Blend soup in batches until smooth. Add salt/pepper.

Rosemary - Mushroom Risotto

Risotto is a wonderful creamy dish made from Arborio rice that takes a little time to cook but is worth the effort. I love Risotto and enjoy the focus it demands while preparing, a cooking meditation! This is one found in a cookbook called "1,000 Vegetarian Recipes". After making it a few times over the years, I've learned to have a bit more broth on hand than it calls for.

Rosemary - Mushroom Risotto

2 cups mushroom broth (found at Whole Foods/ Weaver Street) or veggie broth
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 TBS olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped white mushrooms (I used 2 medium portobello mushrooms this time - yummy!)
2 TBS minced shallots (onion is fine if shallots are not available)
1 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste ( I never use this much!)
1/8 tsp pepper

1. In a 2-qt. saucepan, heat the broth, water, rosemary and thyme until simmering. Keep on low heat so that the broth stays warm throughout the cooking process.

2. While broth is heating, heat oil in a larger saucepan over medium-high heat and saute mushrooms until softened. Add shallots and cook until just browning. Add the rice, stirring until coated with oil.

3. Reduce heat to medium. Add the broth to the rice mixture 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly, until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Make the next addition of broth only when you can draw a clear path on the bottom of the pot as you scrape through the rice with a wooden spoon. This happens quickly at first, but slows as the cook.
*I taste the rice for doneness, and usually need more broth than the recipe calls for.

4. Add the parsley, salt and pepper when you add the last of the broth.

Extra yummy with Parmesan cheese stirred in!

Creamy Southwest Pumpkin Soup

A great memory of this soup is sliding it across a frozen parking lot to my friend when we lived in townhomes across from each other. It was obviously very cold outside, and the parking lot was a slippery sheet of ice. I wanted to share this soup, and we decided to try sliding it across like a hockey puck! It worked!

This is a great soup, low fat, weight watchers friendly and yummy!

Creamy Southwest Pumpkin Soup

2 TBS butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 cups veggie broth
1 large sweet potato, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
15 oz. can pumpkin
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 cups low fat milk
2 TBS lime juice

1. Melt butter in a large pot. Add onion, jalapeno and garlic. Saute 5 - 10 minutes.

2. Add broth, potato and seasonings. Cook, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Add pumpkin and cilantro. Let cool 10 minutes.

3. Blend in batches until smooth.

4. Return to pot, stir in milk and simmer another 10 minutes. Add lime juice and serve!

Sweet Potato Gratin

I love this dish because it allows sweet potatoes to be used in a savory way rather than sweet. Most people think only of sweet potatoes during the holidays, when they are served covered in sugar, butter and marshmallows. Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday version of sweet potatoes, but they offer more than a sweet side dish.

This use of sweet potatoes makes a hearty side dish to any dinner. Mine came out a bit stickier than usual, so be cautious of the flour mix. I have made this many times, and it was only the last time that it was a bit sticky.

I also used locally grown Garnet colored sweet potatoes in addition to a tradition orange one. I found these gems at Whole Foods and needed to try them. Check out the color!

We had temphe and Lima beans with the sweet potatoes for our complete meal. Yummy!

Sweet Potato Gratin

3 - 5 TBS butter
1 large onion chopped
1 TBS fresh Rosemary, chopped
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled, finely chopped
2 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 slice whole wheat bread, crumbled

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat a 9 in. square baking dish with oil.

2. In a large skillet, heat butter over med heat and saute onion for a few minutes. Add sweet potatoes and cook about 5 more minutes.

3. While potatoes cook, combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk. Pour into a small sauce pan, heat over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add salt, pepper and rosemary. Remove from heat after it bubbles and thickens slightly.

4. Add to potato mix, stirring in a bit of the cheese. Transfer to the baking dish, sprinkle with remaining cheese and bread crumbs.

5. Bake 30 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Sauteed Chicken with Sherry Cream Mushroom Sauce

This is a yummy creamy sauce that goes well over egg noodles or rice. I prefer egg noodles myself. I used veggie chicken patties - either quorn or veggie delight work well.

Sauteed Chicken with Sherry Cream Mushroom Sauce

1 pkg veggie delight chicken patties

1 pkg. mushrooms, sliced

2 shallots, minced (onion would work fine in it's place)

olive oil

1/3 cup cooking sherry

1/2 cup veggie broth

8 oz cream

1 TBS flour

2 TBS minced fresh parsley

salt/pepper

1. Saute chicken until golden brown, set aside ( you can do this while the sauce is cooking)

2. Saute mushrooms until softened, then add shallots. Cook until mushrooms begin to brown.

3. Add sherry, simmer until liquid is evaporated.

(**add the flour to a little bit of the cold cream or veggie stock, and stir well with a whisk. This will help thicken the sauce. Add the rue after adding the rest of the stock and cream)

4. Add stock and cream, bring back to a simmer and cook about 10 minutes until slightly thickened and reduced a bit. Add salt/ pepper to taste.

5. Add chicken and serve over noodles or rice.

Yummy! We had lima beans and dinner rolls too. 

Braised Kale, potatoes and mushrooms

The theme of last nights dinner was "purple!". This was not an intentional choice, but as the ingredients came together, I noticed the color selection was very coordinated. You don't have to use as much purple as I did to make this dish delicious. 

As I was shopping for the ingredients I saw deep blue potatoes and chose those over the Yukon gold usually used for this recipe. As I shopped for the kale, again, the purple veined kale was available and pretty, so I chose that. That would have been the end of my purple craze, but I ended up using the left over Forbidden rice from Sunday's dinner as a side dish, giving yet another splash of wild purple color. Oh, shallots have a lavender coloring to them too!

For our protein source we had breaded Quorn patties. They were alright, but the kale dish was really the star!

Braised Kale, Potatoes, and Mushrooms

1 TBS olive oil

2 cups chopped potatoes

2 -3 small portobello mushrooms, chopped

2 shallots, minced

2 cloves garlic, mashed

1 lb kale, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup veggie broth

salt/pepper

1. Cook potatoes until tender, drain (do not over cook, they will turn to mush when added to the kale!)

2. Saute mushrooms and shallots in a large skillet until tender and browning. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook about 1 minute longer.

3. Add kale, potatoes and veggie broth. Stir gently, cover and cook over low heat 5 more minutes. 

Grilled trout dinner

We decided to christen the new kitchen counters and welcome this warm spring weather with a delicious dinner of grilled trout. The dinner consisted of grilled trout, green beans tarragon and forbidden rice. 

Jason is in charge of grilling the fish, but I did help prepare some of the ingredients which are very simple - lemon, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper and butter. Other than the ingredient list, I can't offer alot on the how-to for fish cooking. I think it was grilled for 8 - 10 minutes on foil.

What I can help with are the rest of the dinner ingredients. First, green beans tarragon. I love this dish which allows the beans to stay crisp and full of flavor. 

Green beans Tarragon

2 TBS olive 

1 lb green beans 

2 cloves garlic, mashed

 2 tsp fresh tarragon chopped (or 1 tsp dried tarragon)

3 TBS dry white wine

1. Heat oil over med-high heat in a large skillet.

2. Add beans, saute 5 minutes until crisp tender.

3. Add salt, pepper, garlic, wine and tarragon, cook about 2 more minutes. 

Rice comes in many textures and colors beyond white. Forget minute rice all together. If you have to use white rice, try Jasmine or Basmati. They both cook in 15 minutes and have a wonderful aroma and flavor. 

One of our favorite and most colorful kinds of rice is called Forbidden rice. This rice is not cheap, but it is amazingly tasty. It is black before cooked, but turns into a fabulous deep purple after cooking. It has a hearty texture similar to wild rice, but a unique flavor. I highly recommend it. I find it at Whole Foods in the pre-packaged rice section. It is not sold in bulk. Cook with just water or add veggie broth for more flavor. The cooking instructions are on the package. 

Update

Sorry for the delay in posting, but the kitchen project is in full swing. No good food going on to post about. 

The countertops are in, new lights have been installed and Jason should have the sink connected to running water tonight. We are well on our way to cooking again. In fact, I can not wait to cook up some tasty food in our new kitchen! 

I went to the store this evening and have wonderful produce to use - locally grown purple sweet potatoes, Florida grown green beans, and NC raised trout. Just a sneak peak at what is on the menu this week. I am looking forward to some home cooked food after a few nights of eating out. 

Seitan Stroganoff

Seitan can be found in the refrigerated section with tofu, temphe and veggie cheese at Whole Foods kind of markets. It is a fake meat style product that serves well as an imitation steak. We have used it for grilling on kabobs too. If you don't like seitan, or can not find it, you can make this dish using temphe, which is what we did this time around. Jason was the chef on Thursday, and did a fabulous job of making this dinner. We had frozen green peas as a veggie. 

If you decided to use temphe, cube it, then drizzle with soy sauce before cooking. This adds flavor to the otherwise bland temphe.

Seitan Stroganoff

1 lb seitan, sliced OR 1 pkg temphe cubed

3 cups white mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 - 1/4 cup white wine

1 onion, chopped

3 TBS butter, divided

2 TBS flour

1 cup veggie broth

1/4 cup sherry

small container sour cream (8oz I think)

4 cups cooked egg noodles (about 8 - 10 oz uncooked)

1 TBS minced parsley

1. Heat small amount of olive oil in skillet. Saute seitan (or temphe) and garlic. Add white wine, salt and pepper, allowing brown bits to loosen. Cook a couple minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Add about 2 TBS butter to skillet, add mushrooms and onions. Cook until onions soften and mushrooms are tender. Add to seitan mixture.

3. Add 1 TBS butter to pan over medium heat. Add flour, stirring with a whisk for one minute. Slowly add broth, stirring constantly until bubbly. 

4. Add seitan mixture and sherry. Reduce heat and simmer about 3 - 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and parsley.

Artichoke and Cheese Tart

Hmmm, time to play catch up, again. Does this seem to be a recurrent theme here? I'll try to be better about posting once the kitchen is completed. With the kitchen fresh in your minds, I should also note that we will be tearing out the old counter tops on Thursday, getting the new ones installed Friday, and hopefully having a functional kitchen by Sunday. No cooking in our kitchen after Wednesday evening - Yikes!!!!

I believe we had burgers on Tuesday night, then this delicious tart Wednesday. This was a new recipe for us, and it was very good. I thought it came out a bit soft, but Jason liked the texture. The flavor was wonderful!

I used the pre-made, refrigerated pie crust for this dish. If you are feeling spunky and domestic, make your own, but I found the convenience of the refrigerated, pre-rolled crust to be exactly what I needed to try this recipe.

Artichoke and Cheese Tart

2 TBS olive oil

1 red onion, chopped

1 1/2 cans artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, halved (about 10 - 12 hearts)

1 - 2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

2 eggs, beaten

1 TBS fresh chopped rosemary OR 1 tsp dried

2/3 cups milk

1. Heat skillet over med-high heat and saute onions about 3 minutes. Add artichoke hearts and cook another couple minutes. (if using DRIED rosemary, add at the same time as artichoke hearts)

2. Mix the cheeses with the beaten egg and milk. (if using FRESH rosemary, add now)

3. Stir in the artichoke mixture and season with salt/pepper to taste. Be sure to omit any cooking liquid to prevent soggy tart. I think this is were I messed up.

4. Spoon the artichoke and cheese mix into the pie dish with awaiting crust. Sprinkle with more cheese (about 1/2 cup). Bake at 400 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes. 

If you don't care for blue cheese, I am sure this would be tasty with swiss or feta in it's place. The Gorgonzola added a zing.

I served this with a side of quorn patties cooked with salt/pepper/rosemary/olive oil. Simple but good.