- Hey guys.
Spring is the season for brunches
so today, I wanted to arm you with a really easy,
fabulous recipe that looks impressive
but comes together in minutes.
It is my quiche cup with lemon-dill cream
topped with smoked salmon.
It may look like a mouthful but I'm telling you
they are the easiest things to put together
and the whole thing can be made the day before.
My kind of party food.
Let me show you how to make
a signature brunch item at our house, the quiche cup.
Because we are serving these as a main course,
I do like to use a jumbo muffin tin
because I find that you get a better portion that way
but you could also use a regular-sized muffin tin
and maybe serve everybody two.
For the base of our cups, we are going to be working
with phyllo dough.
If you've never worked with it before,
it is an interesting product.
It basically comes in sheets, typically 9x14.
You want to make sure that it's nice and thawed
before you work with it.
I like to just pop it in my fridge overnight
and then by the time the morning comes,
it's nice and thawed.
We're only gonna use about six to eight sheets,
then we are going to cut it in half
and then we're gonna take each half and cut that in half.
One of the things I love about this recipe
is there's no waste, you can use the whole sheet
so I designed it specifically for that.
Then we're gonna take some melted butter
and grease each of our muffin wells.
Then we're gonna take a stack of our phyllo dough
and we're going to place it in our muffin tin
going one way and then take the other stack
and have it going the other way.
Almost like making a little X,
and you'll see it'll create this really nice, sort of like,
tulip effect, almost like a little flower.
This recipe is designed to feed 12 people
because any time you're having a brunch,
you usually have a bit of a crowd
but you could easily cut this recipe in half.
Then you're just gonna brush your phyllo dough
with a little bit more melted butter
and then you can set that aside.
Then we're going to prepare our filling,
so in a large bowl, you're gonna crack in 12 eggs
and then to the eggs, you're gonna add
three-quarters cup of heavy cream.
You can go ahead and whisk that all up just beating the eggs
and making sure you have a nice, smooth mixture
and then we're gonna add some seasoning.
We're gonna add a teaspoon of salt
and some freshly cracked pepper.
In the base of our cups, we are going to add
a tablespoon of mozzarella cheese
and a teaspoon of freshly minced chives.
I like to add the cheese and the chives this way
because that assures that everybody gets a nice amount
of cheese and chives in their quiche cup.
If you added it all to the batter, sometimes some
gets overly poured with the cheese and the chives
and other cups get skimped
so this is the way to avoid that.
Then we're gonna take our egg batter
and you can pour it into a pitcher,
which is going to make this a lot easier to fill these cups.
Then we're gonna fill each one with the egg batter
about three-quarters of the way full.
Then you're gonna pop these in the oven
at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for just about 12 minutes.
You know that they're done when the edges start to turn
golden brown and you see the egg in the center
starts to puff up.
If you feel like your phyllo dough is getting too brown,
you can also just place some aluminum foil on top of it,
just to allow those eggs a chance to actually cook inside.
While it's in the oven, we can make our lemon dill cream
that's going to be used as a garnish on top of our cups.
In a small bowl, you're going to add 2/3 cup of sour cream.
I have heard a lot of you tell me that you can't get
sour cream in your country, so you could swap that out
with either creme fraiche or you could use plain,
non-fat Greek yogurt that's unflavored.
And then all we're gonna do is add a teaspoon
of freshly grated lemon zest
and tablespoon of freshly minced dill.
Just whisk that up and you can set that aside.
Once your quiche cups are fully baked,
you can take them out of the oven
and allow them to cool and at this stage,
if you were doing this the day before your party,
you could just place some aluminum foil gently on top
and pop it in the fridge.
Leave them in the muffin tins,
this is what makes this so easy.
Then the day of the party, preheat your over to 300 degrees,
take the foil off, pop them in the oven for 15 minutes
and they will reheat beautifully.
Don't be alarmed if the phyllo dough starts to become
more pliable, it will actually crisp back up in the oven
when you go to reheat it.
The way that I like to serve these is just place them all
on an elevated cake stand,
give a little dollop of the lemon cream on top.
I know this sounds like such a strange combination,
the egg and the sour cream and the salmon,
I'm telling you it is the most delicious combination,
you've gotta trust me on this.
In fact, my husband loves this so much,
I actually double the recipe for the lemon cream
to serve it on the side, it's that good.
Then you can take a little piece of smoked salmon,
just kind of roll it up
so that it looks pretty and presentable,
place that on top of the cream
and then the finishing touch is just to take
a little sprig of fresh dill and place it on top.
You will see, you will have one darling little quiche cup
that is so delicious.
I love the flavor combinations in this recipe
because you have that flakiness of the phyllo dough
mixed with that warm, velvety egg custard underneath,
topped with that lemon cream sauce and that smoked salmon,
really such a great recipe for a brunch.
I hope you guys give this one a try
and let me know what you think.
I certainly think it'll make a big impression
at your next brunch.
So, if it's up to you to host Mothers Day,
a bridal shower or a baby shower,
I hope you give this recipe a try.
I will see you back here next week
for another delicious recipe.
Until then, bye.
(folksy music)