Tag: keto

Quiche au Saumon sans Croûte

Yes, that’s French for “Crustless Salmon Egg Pie”. I figure if we’re going to use French for the egg pie bit, well, in for a penny, in for a pound. We had received several cans of salmon from the food bank. We usually turned these into salmon croquettes. They are not particularly ketogenic, however. Bethann did make some keto modified ones for me the last time she made croquettes, by substituting riced cauliflower for bread crumbs in the recipe. They were tasty enough, but they didn’t hold together so well. That’s what she was going to do last evening, but she was too tired to cook, when she came home from sewing club at church. So, the salmon was my puzzle to solve.

I entered “crustless salmon quiche” into DuckDuckGo in my browser. The second hit was this simple recipe from down under called Crustless Salmon Quiche (imagine that!) that I enjoyed reading, including all of the questions and replies. Then I winged it. We didn’t have most of those ingredients on hand and Bethann can’t stand dill. It turned out great! Here’s my ‘recipe’:

Ingredients:

  • 9 Medium Eggs
  • 4 – 7 ounce cans Wild Alaska Pink Salmon
  • 8 ounces 4% milkfat Cottage Cheese
  • 1 cup Whole Milk
  • ~1/4 cup chopped Scallions
  • ~1 teaspoon Tarragon Flakes
  • 4 twists Black Pepper from mill on medium
  • a couple good shakes of ‘Lite Salt’
Quiche au Saumon sans Croûte

Directions:

Lay a sheet of parchment paper in the bottom of a greased 9″x13″ baking dish. I sprayed it with olive oil. (We obtained a plastic, pump bottle of olive oil spray a couple of years ago. I keep refilling it. It’s much cheaper and better for the environment than the aerosol cooking sprays.) Lightly spray the top of the parchment paper, as well. Preheat the oven to 350º.
Whisk the Eggs and Milk together in a bowl. Add the Tarragon, Salt, Pepper, Cottage Cheese, and Scallions and stir together.
Pour this into the baking dish. Squeeze the excess liquid out of the cans of Salmon (into your cats’ bowl, preferably). Break it up and distribute it evenly throughout the dish. Put it into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes. Make sure it’s done.
Cut. Serve and eat.

It makes about 8 meal sized portions. It could be cut into smaller portions to be part of a buffet or snack tray. Unused portions may be safely frozen for use later.

Faux Mashed Potatoes?

I read an article in the Reader’s Digest about a better approach to nutrition and weight management about a new book by Gary Taubes, Why We Get Fat – And What to Do About It. He advocates a modified Atkins style diet which limits carbohydrates, but does not limit fiber, protein and fat. It is an especially good approach to managing diabetes and, as it turns out, reduces blood pressure and improves cardiovascular health. In one of the sidebars, was an example of a day’s possible food intake. One of the items on his dinner menu was “faux mashed potatoes” made from cauliflower, sour cream and bacon. Well I have been looking for more recipes that are diabetic friendly, so I bought two heads of cauliflower at Produce Junction. Then I Googled “faux mashed potatoes.” Several recipes came up. I chose one, then looked at the ingredients that we had and used it as a very loose guide. I think I am discovering how my mom, B.J., really cooked. She would always deflect when she got raves on her cooking, with “If you can read, you can cook.” But anyone who followed the same recipe she said she had used would not come up with anything quite like she had made. She collected cookbooks like crazy. I think she would mine them for ideas, then get creative with the ingredients she had available. I’m discovering that good cooking is less like science and more like jazz.

The advantages of substituting cauliflower for potatoes are that you end up with a much lower carb intake and you raise your intake of dietary fiber and cruciferous vegetables. Of course, it’s hard to eat healthy if it isn’t tasty. All of us loved this. Hilary even told me that I could make that again! So here is my recipe for mashed cauliflower. You can follow it or read it, then improvise.

Ingredients:

2 small heads of cauliflower (~6-1/2″ across)
~ 1/2 cup celery root diced to 1/4″ cubes
4 Tablespoon butter
~ 1/2 cup sour cream
~ 1/2 cup milk (more or less depending on how wet you like your mashies)
1/4 teaspoon Vegesal (or your preferred seasoning)

Directions:

Cut up the cauliflower into ~ 1″ pieces including the stems, but not any green leaves. Dice the celery root. Boil the cauliflower and celery root for about 20 minutes (until fork tender). Drain them in a colander, pressing down with a small plate or bowl to extract more of the water. Throw it all into a food processor along with the butter, sour cream and Vegesal. Process it until it is fairly smooth. Leaving the processor on, add some of the milk. Test it for consistency and flavor. Add more milk and/or seasoning and chop it in until it meets your desired consistency and flavor. Serve.

Enjoy! It will serve six to eight. The leftovers microwave nicely.