Friday Night Recipe and Super Fun Recipe

Asparagus, Sweetcorn and Red Pepper Quiche
**This recipe is from "Cook's Companion" by Carole Clements

8 oz. fresh asparagus, woody stalks removed
1 oz. butter or margarine
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 oz. drained canned sweetcorn, or frozen sweetcorn, thawed
2 eggs
8 fl. oz single cream (I use half and half)
2 oz Cheddar cheese, grated
salt and pepper

Pastry -- *You can substitue a frozen pie crust, just pre-bake at 400 degrees for about 5-10 minutes*
6 1/2 oz plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz lard or vegetable fat (I use shortening and butter or both)
2-3 Tbsp iced water

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2) For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the fat until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Sprinkle in the water, 1 Tbls at a time, tossing lightly with your fingertips or a fork until the dough forms a ball.
3) On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough. Use it to line a 10" quiche dish or loose-bottomed tart tin (I use a pie dish), easing the pastry in and being careful not to stretch it. Trim off excess pastry.
4) Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and weigh it down with pastry weights or dried beans. Bake 10 minutes. Remove the paper and weights or beans and bake until the pastry is set and beige in colour, about 5 minutes longer. Let cool.
5) Trim the stem ends of 8 of the asparagus spears to make them 4 " in length. Set aside.
6) Finely chop the asparagus trimmings and any remaining spears. Place in the bottom of the case.
7) Melt the butter or margarine in a frying pan. Add the onion and red pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sweetcorn and cook 2 minutes longer.
8) Spoon the sweetcorn mixture over the chopped asparagus.
9) In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the cream. Stir in the cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Pour into the pastry case.
10) Arrange the reserved asparagus spears like the spokes of a wheel on top of the filling.
11) Bake until the filling is set, 25-30 minutes.

Super Fun Recipe!
Butternut Squash Soup and Rosemary Breadsticks
**The soup recipe is from www.wholefoodsmarket.com --their butternut squash soup is unbelievable! I just leave out the celery because my husband and I don't like celery!

Butternut squash soup is the perfect fall soup to warm you up, and pairing it with rosemary breadsticks only makes it better! I realize that being it's Halloween I should be putting up some special themed recipe but I've never really made any. The soup is orange though, so that's a little festive!

Soup
2 Tbls. olive oil
2/3 cup diced carrot (about 1 (8") large carrot)
1/2 cup diced celery (about 1 (11") large stalk)
2/3 cup diced onion (about 1 medium onion)
4 cups cubed butternut squash (about 1 medium squash)
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (I substituted 1/4 tsp dried)
4 to 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1) Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Add carrot, celery and onion. Cook until vegetables have begun to soften and onion turns translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add butternut squash and thyme. Stir to combine with vegetables. Stir in chicken broth and season with salt and pepper.
2) Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until squash is fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree soup. Alternatively, let the soup cool slightly and carefully puree in batches in a traditional blender.

Breadsticks
1/3 pizza dough recipe from Thursday night
2 Tbls chopped fresh rosemary
1 Tbls. coarse salt

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2) Set aside 1 teaspoon of the rosemary and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Knead the remaining rosemary and salt into the dough until it is thoroughly incorporated.
3) Lightly oil a baking sheet. Flour your hands and press the dough onto the oiled baking sheet, spreading the dough out as far as you can.
4) Bake for 15-25 minutes. Start checking at 15 minutes to make sure the bread doesn't burn. It should be golden brown on top and lightly crisp on the outside. Cut into 1" wide strips before serving.