A Father's Day Feast

This was my husband's sixth Father's Day, but his first as a father of two.  It has been more difficult lately with a baby, obviously, to make the same in-depth meals that he had been used to for the past couple of years, but he works damn hard to make sure I can stay home with our babies, so I wanted to make today special. 

My husband plays in a recreational hockey league and had two games back-to-back this morning, so we agreed on two rich meals plus dessert instead of the standard three.

Here's what we ate today.  It was all delicious!

Brunch: Quiche with ham, green onions, mushrooms, spinach, and Irish cheddar; toast; OJ.

Dinner: New York strip steak (on the grill, natch), baked potatoes, Caesar salad.

Dessert: New York-style cheesecake with my home-canned blueberry-lemon jam as topping.


I've eaten quiche numerous times, but have only made it once or twice before.  We came up with the filling combo ourselves, so I didn't have an exact recipe to consult, but I knew I had several good ones in my arsenal to provide guidance.  I used the basic formula from Martha Stewart's Asparagus, Leek, and Gruyere Quiche, substituting in ham, spinach, green onions, mushrooms, and Kerrygold aged Irish cheddar. 

I sauteed the ham and mushrooms before adding the spinach and allowing it to wilt.  I stirred in the green onions and removed the skillet from the heat before adding the mixture on top of shredded cheddar in the unbaked pie crust.

Aside from the changes to the add-ins, I would recommend a longer cooking time than the 50-60 minutes the original recipe suggests.  My version needed about an hour and 15 minutes to really be set up in the center.

I used my go-to pie crust recipe from Alton Brown.  I skip the food processor and spray bottle, and just use a pastry blender and ice water in a measuring cup.  This pie crust works for savory applications like quiche as well as fruit and pumpkin pies.  It's flaky and fantastic!

For several years I've used a cheesecake recipe from Tyler Florence, and it has served me well and garnered numerous compliments.  But my husband and I both prefer a drier, fluffier version than the creamy, custard-like version offered up by Tyler.  Enter America's Test Kitchen.  They never fail me.  ATK's methodically tested recipes are available by subscription only, so unfortunately I can't share it here, but rest assured it's worth the price of admission to their website.

This morning's supplies, a small number of which are healthy.

Homemade pie crust. Totally worth it.

A must for my life- Dunkin' Donuts brand coffee with extra creamer and sugar, in my husband's favorite mug.

Sauteing the ham and mushrooms for quiche.

My audience, enjoying a slice of fresh peach in her new mesh feeder.

My helper.  She crushed graham crackers and helped empty the dishwasher so I could refill it.

Quiche with whole wheat toast, topped with homemade peach butter (left) and homemade blueberry jam (right).

Caesar salad- Romaine lettuce, toasted pine nuts, some shaved parmesan, and Brianna's Caesar dressing.

Baked potato with homegrown chives and New York strip steak

Lovely cheesecake.  I halved the recipe and used a 6" spring form pan.

Oh my.  Blueberry jam on top really made it.