mini quiches in pancetta cups

The storms rolled through all night long and left us with damp and chill. I hear frost may descend into my garden yet this week. It is time to gather, dry and store all those wonderful herbs that have filled much of this summers menu.... basil, chives, rosemary, marjoram, tarragon, oregano and sage.

My neighbor, from across the street, quite an avid and accomplished gardener, brought tall bunches of dried lavender. I am looking forward to sewing sachets for my clothes closet. What a wonderful aroma they give off just moving through the air into the house.

Todays dinner is fairly light, as I had a more substantial lunch with my folks.

Ingredients..

4 slices of pancetta

3 eggs

1/4 cup finely shredded cheese ( I used a Kraft 5 cheese Italian blend of mozzarella, provolone, romano, asiago and parmesan) and a couple additional spoonfuls for the top of each quiche.

1/4 c half and half

pinch of kosher salt

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons each of finely diced red pepper, red onion, scallion, and a chiffonade of swiss chard leaves.

preheat oven to 350

Line a muffin tin with the slices of pancetta.

In a bowl, beat the eggs, salt, nutmeg and cheeses.

Spoon into the pancetta lined tins.

Divide the veggies and add to each quiche as desired.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve with a small salad of swiss chard. I took a spoonful of olive oil and grated nutmeg into it. This made a nice topping for the quiches and a dressing for the chard.

This serves two nicely each with a slice of multigrain bread and butter.

Cost.... The pancetta cost $2.50 for 1/4 lb, so $1.25 per serving. The eggs were $1 a dozen so the three were a whole quarter. The cheese was $2.50 per 8 oz bag. The red pepper was sliced from last nights pepper and the cost for one thin slice of onion and one scallion is too small to count. Spinach could be substituted for the chard if you prefer. There actually were baby spinach leaves in the salad mix I bought for last nights dinner. I have loads of rainbow chard in the garden and wanted to use that. I used half and half in the egg mixture, cause that's what I had...milk would do just fine. All in all each plate is nicely under $3.00 per serving.

And I must say very tasty. I took the second plate to my next door neighbor, who was busy putting a roof on their emerging front porch. He gave it a two thumbs up.

grilled chicken tenders and garden vegetables

2 chicken tenders or one boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 red pepper cut into two pieces

1 small eggplant sliced lengthwise

1 zucchini sliced lengthwise

olive oil

baby greens

4 tablespoons mayo

2 tablespoons homemade pesto

I use a cast iron grill pan and heat it on a medium heat, coating it with oil.

i also coat the vegetables with oil and grill until tender...several minutes per side each.

I grill the chicken last, after coating it with oil and dust it with garlic salt on each side.

I serve it by stacking the vegetables, chicken and salad greens on a plate and top it with the mayo/pesto mixture.

Cost for this meal ...the chicken came in a pack for $6 and I used about 1/4 of it and froze the remainder. I happened to pick the vegetables from my garden, but at the farmers market, the peppers were $.50 each and the zucchini and eggplant were $1 a pound. The salad greens were priced at $2.50 a pound.

For the mayo I use Helmans and the pesto was homemade using only basil, garlic, oil and kosher salt.

It was most delicious, very economical and under 400 calories per serving too. I had a glass of wine to top it off.

Making the pictures of food I was about to eat was quite a different issue. I wasn't as prepared to tackle that as I thought I was. Being the food photographer, the stylist and the patron all at once was a complex experience. Tomorrow I will set up a better photo space off of the kitchen and make test images of stand in food.

All in all, not bad for a first day.

Table for One

Good morning!

This blog is all about food! Food for one!! Food that tastes fabulous and costs very little!!Excellent food because each one of us is worth it!!!

So this is about food that is, designed per serving, low cost, seasonal, local or home grown, healthy, fresh, lower in calories, simple to make, helps reduce planet impact, and has trerrific flavor.

And about stocking a pantry that can reduce the cost of each meal and protect against the ups and downs of our lives.