Savory Quick Breads with 3 Variations

Photo credit: © Eatwell101.comHere’s an elegant, simple recipe that is just perfect as a party appetizer. These savory quick breads are the quintessence of easy snacking! Just like our olive, bacon and cheese bread, we start with a common base for the 3 quick breads, then we vary the ingredients to obtain 3 loaves with 3 distinctive flavors:

• Italian: with dried tomatoes, pine nuts and basil.
• Spanish: with red bell pepper, grilled turkey and thyme.
• French: with green olives and bacon.

Try these as soon as possible, and please everyone at home!

Yield: Serve 20
Preparation time: 25 minutes.
Cooking time: 1h + 35 minutes.

For the garnish:

Make it 1 hour ahead.

• 2 small tomatoes
• 1 handful of pine nuts
• Few basil leaves
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 turkey breast
• Fresh thyme
• 1 3/4 oz (50g) green olives
• 2 slices of bacon

Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 360°F (180°C).
2. Cut tomatoes in quarters and lay them on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Bake in the over for 1hour to dry them up and candy a bit.
3. Grill pine nuts in a skillet, without adding fat.
4. Cut turkey breast in small pieces. Saute in a hot skillet with a bit of olive oil.
5. Cut the remaining ingredients into small cubes

For the dough

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups (200g) all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 oz (100g) grated cheddar or Swiss cheese, or any other hard cheese
• 1/2 cup (10cl) olive oil
• 1/2 cup (10cl) milk
• 1 packet of baking powder = 1/2 oz (15g) or 1 1/3 tablespoon
• 1 pinch of salt, black pepper

Directions:

1. Whisk flour, baking powder and grated cheese.
2. Beat the eggs with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Pour liquid ingredient over dry ingredients, mix well. Add milk and olive oil.

For the 3 quick breads

1. Divide the batter in 3 equal parts.
2. Add dried tomatoes, pine nuts and basil into the first part of dough.
3. Add sauteed turkey breast, red pepper and thyme into the second.
4. Add olives nd bacon into the third.
5. Pour the batter into 3 small aluminium loaf pans and bake for 35 minutes at 360°F (180°C). Quick breads are done when you can prick with a knife and it comes out dry. Let chill to serve cold.

Note: you can freeze quick bread for 3 month long. Easy to re-heat, serve it with a salad and you’ll have a perfect dinner savior when you have no time to cook at home.

Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com

(Photos by Marion Deveaud)