Dinner with the Family

My boyfriend's parents have not seen me for eight years and last night not only was I invited to dinner, but I was making dinner. His mother is in Portugal, but I really wanted to impress his father. So I found a few easy recipes that make a big splash. For dinner I made fresh strawberry jam along with the Jordan Pond's House famous popovers. They were served alongside a quiche made with farm fresh eggs. My boyfriend's father has a few chickens and too many eggs. I left the house with a dozen eggs in hand. There will be many egg dishes this week.

I followed this with a dessert of pot de creme and some fresh poached fruits (apples and pears). We worked a lot with things that were just in the cabinets. My one comment was "and I thought my cabinets were minimal."

The fruit was poached in water with cinnamon and a splash of vanilla extract. I feel that I should have gone downstairs and taken some of his father's fresh wine, but it was delicious.

The pot de creme was so simple; heavy cream, whole milk, eggs, and chocolate. The point of tonight was to use as many eggs as possible. We used nearly a dozen. I took a dozen. He had five-dozen left with another dozen coming tomorrow. We didn’t make a dent, but we did make a lot of good food.

Strawberry Jam

1 pound hulled strawberries chopped
2 cups sugar
1 large lemon juiced

Popovers

1 cup of flour
1 cup whole milk 
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda (I feel it didn’t get enough rise. I would either use 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda or double acting baking powder)

Quiche

6 Eggs
1 cup Whole Milk
1 cup Heavy Cream
Spinach and seasoning to taste

The Quiche had a bit to much liquid involved. I would cut it by a quarter.

Pot De Creme

1/2 cup Heavy Cream
Slightly less half cup of whole milk
6 oz of white chocolate
3 egg yolks

The pot de creme went off without a hitch as expected from any recipe from food network. I did need a candy thermometer for this recipe though. For this recipe as well as the jam the temperatures are very specific. I can't afford a digital thermometer although that would be ideal. I found a candy thermometer for four dollars at walmart (as well as the five pound bag of high quality bread flour for under 5 dollars, but that's for another post.)

Poached fruit

3 cups water
Generous sprinkling of cinnamon
Splash of vanilla extract
4 pears quartered
2 apples quartered

I got the basic concept for poached fruit from here. I just wish I had a few more spices available. All of the recipes came out beautifully. Now I need to check on my drying egg noodles, until tomorrow guys.