Butter

This quiche remake reduces the butter and cheese and eliminates the crust entirely. This dish can easily be prepared a day in advance. Reheat uncovered in a 350-degree oven.   Spinach and Mushroom Torte 10 to 12 servings 1 tablespoon mild olive oil 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 cup finely diced onion 12 ounces white mush- rooms, cleaned, stem- med, and thinly sliced Kosher salt Ground black pepper 8 large eggs, beaten 11/2 cups low-fat milk (2 percent)

If you've never tried scrambling eggs in the microwave, now is the time to try. Microwave-scrambled eggs can be the fluffiest imaginable. And here's another advantage: If you're dieting, you can eliminate some fat, because scrambled eggs don't stick to microwave "pans" the way they do to a stove-top skillet. The cooking times given here are for refrigerator-cold, large eggs. Obviously, warmer, smaller or larger eggs will microwave more quickly or slowly. For best results, follow our recipe explicitly and abide by these guidelines: Always use the container size recommended.

Germany, probably more than any other country on the planet, is hellbent on quality. This ranges from cars to cutlery to even the spartan yet satisfying sandwiches served at both breakfast and lunch. Take heavy, dark rye bread, some cold cuts and maybe a slice of cheese or a dab of mustard, and you've got the classic German sandwich. Don't even think about mayonnaise or butter, says Walter Rieker, co-owner of Rieker's Prime Meats, 7979 Oxford Ave. (215-745-3114) in Fox Chase, where nearly all the meat cold cuts and sausages are made and smoked on the premises.

WE KNOW better than to try to pin down the details on Anne Cappelletti's homemades. But a plate of Crabby Snacks sounds like the perfect accompaniment to Sunday's broadcast of the Academy Awards, which starts at 8:30 p.m. on ABC. The finger food - a/k/a Crab Bites, a/k/a Old English Crab Hors D'Oeuvres - is featured in Oscar-nominated, locally filmed "Silver Linings Playbook. " It's a tradition in the household of former Haddonfield teacher Matthew Quick, who wrote the novel. CRABBY SNACKS 7 oz. can crabmeat (well-drained)

Dinner at the Kensington home of John Vick and Amanda Jaffe is as simple as roast chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, and biscuits - and as complicated as farm-raised, sustainably grown, homemade, and locally sourced. Jaffe uses chicken from Griggstown Quail Farm outside Princeton, unaltered by hormones or antibiotics. Vick mashes the All Blue potatoes, a variety that produces colorful flesh as well as skin, from Tuscarora Organic Growers in Hustontown, Pa., adding butter from Hometown Provisions in Lancaster County and whole milk from Trickling Springs Creamery in Chambersburg, Pa. For his biscuits, Vick blends heirloom cornmeal from Rineer Family Farms in Lancaster and buttermilk from Maplehofe Dairy in Quarryville, Pa. The salad greens, baby arugula, and baby spinach were grown hydroponically at Woodland Produce in Fairton, N.J., by a farmer who recently got a grant from the USDA to install photovoltaic cells in order to run his greenhouses on solar energy.

2 cups celery stalks, cut crosswise in 1-inch lengths 2 1/2 cups white sauce, as described in the oyster bisque 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1/2 cup grated cheese, such as Gruyere or Parmigiano-Reggiano 4 tablespoons butter Salt   1. Boil the celery in salted water until tender. Drain, and mix with white sauce and grated cheese. 2. Butter a dish with half of the butter. Add the celery/sauce/cheese mixture, cover it with bread crumbs, and dot it with the other half of the butter.

Dear Polly: I have a biscuit recipe that calls for heavy cream instead of milk, and no shortening. I love the biscuits, but don't always have cream on hand. What will happen if I make the biscuits with milk instead? - Beryl Dear Beryl: If you simply substitute milk for the heavy cream, the biscuits are likely to be tough and unappetizing. That's because cream provides both liquid and fat. It's a substitute for both milk and shortening in ordinary biscuit recipes. You can still make the biscuits with milk, but you must also add some butter or other fat to compensate for the fat content of the cream, which is what makes the biscuits tender and flaky.

Percy Street Barbecue is known for ribs, brisket, and the like. Three years in at Ninth and South Streets, chef Erin O'Shea has added seafood and Southern dishes to her menu, channeling her Southern cooking roots. She gets grits from Byrd Mill in Ashland, Va. They cook all day in chicken stock with a touch of butter and salt before they're chilled overnight; the next day, cooks hit 'em with more stock, butter, and salt, and serve them with surry sausage, fried oysters, and pickled red onion ($8)

Even though I feared making crepes, this recipe looked like a good choice for a family dinner. I'm happy to report that these were easy and delicious, stuffed with a savory blend of goat cheese, herbs, and shallots.   Savory Goat-Cheese Crepes Makes 4 servings   1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the salt. Make a well in the center of the flour and break the eggs into it. Whisking in the center of the mixture, slowly draw the flour in until it is fully mixed.

Janet Simmons drops a pat of butter on the peas in meals for distribution at area shelters. Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park held a Mitzvah Day, or day of good deeds, yesterday.