Soul Food: Crust-less Bacon and Leek Quiche. Sielskos: Korslose Prei en Spek Souttert

Food is one of my biggest passions... as I think was made clear in my previous post on soul food. Now, with the country being obsessed with the Banting-based Tim Noakes diet, it seems that everyone feels guilty about eating. Yes, I have also tried to cut back on carbs, but I think food is to be celebrated, not regretted. Heck, if you celebrate food by overloading on fat and protein, that's great too.

Bacon & Leek Quiche/Prei & Spek Souttert*

Who ever thought something with as fancy a name as "quiche" could be so simple to make? I follow the principle of throwing ingredients together until it kind of resembles what I'm trying to make, with a recipe as a starting off point. Do you also find it easier to remember made-up recipes than book recipes? I certainly do!

I'm taking liberties in posting this recipe on my blog, as pretty much everything was store-bought. Since I don't live on a farm it's pretty much impossible to make my own cheese and such, but one main ingredient came straight from my backyard vegetable patch. You guessed it; leeks!

Leeks being sautéed in butter/Preie word gesautée in botter

Quiche Recipe (serves 6):

500g chopped leeks/gekapte preie
500g sliced bacon/repies spek
200g cheddar cheese/kaas
8 eggs/eiers
150ml slightly whipped cream/liggeklopte room
2 tbsp butter/botter
1 tsp thyme/tiemie
salt and ground pepper to taste/sout en peper na smaak

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Sauté leeks in the butter
Add bacon to leeks and lightly fry
Mix the cheese, eggs and cream together and whip lightly
Add all the ingredients to a large glass pan
Bake for approximately 35mins

The recipe is easily adaptable. Simply add more bacon for a meatier taste or more cheese and leeks (instead of the bacon) for a vegetarian twist. 

Have you ever tried to make a quiche?

*As this quiche is crust-less, it is Tim Noakes friendly

Winter Soup. Wintersop

Since the winter solstice is just a few days behind us here in the southern hemisphere I thought a post on soup would be appropriate. A colleague and I always joke about the link between overcast/rainy weather and soup. Yes, the fare in my household is quite predictable. Soup would be a safe bet on a rainy winter's day. It is not the rule, but nevertheless a common occurrence. 

One of my favourite soups (both to eat and to make) is what I call Sweet Potato and Chicken Soup, or simply Winter Soup. It is hearty, delicious and packed with anti-oxidants. The last few sweet potatoes from my haul in April went into preparing the latest batch. Yes, the sweet potatoes I harvested between the conifers and fruit trees.

Let me share the recipe with you. It serves 6-8 people, depending on the size of the pot ;-)
 

Veggies, chopped up and ready to go into the pot/Groente, opgesny en gereed om pot toe te gaan

Winter Soup Recipe:

4x medium sweet potatoes/medium patats
4x pieces of chicken/hoender
1x large onion/groot ui
3x medium turnips/medium rape
6x leeks/preie
3x parsnips/parsnepe
8x carrots/wortels
bunch of parsley/bondeltjie pietersielie
chicken spice, salt and pepper/hoenderspeserye, sout en peper

Sauté onions and leeks lightly
Brown chicken and spices together
Add water to cover chicken and onion mix and bring to the boil
Roughly chop all vegetables and add to pot
Fill the pot with water and bring to boil
Turn heat down to simmer for 2-3 hours
Add parsley 15mins before serving

The recipe isn't an exact science, but your tastebuds should guide you. If the soup tastes bitter, add another sweet potato etc.

Winter Soup - ready to be served with fresh bread/Wintersop - gereed om met vars brood geniet te word

Which soup warms your heart in winter-time?