[Smashy the Hammer] [An Aspiring Luddite]
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[Jeff Berry]
Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Quiche
25 April 2013
[Quiche]

Quiche, like a gratin, is a dish that provides great scope for variation. Essentially eggs, cheese and some dairy products, it can be classic (like a bacon and onion quiche Lorraine), vegetarian (although not vegan), simple with only a few ingredients, or complex with many fillings and seasonings.

Really, everything is up in the air, from fillings to cheese selection to dairy choice. Usually the cheese is a firmish one, something that can be grated or shredded, but not so dry as a parmesan. Swiss types are common (and good), but so are cheddars or blends. You could even use soft cheeses if you like, I've had success with Brie - although if you go that route, I recommend running it and all the eggs and dairy through a food processor. That recipe, or something quite like it, is quite old as these things go. A recipe from "Forme of Cury" (in the invaluable Curye on Inglysch) called Tart de Bry is recognizably quiche-like, although it calls for egg yolks rather than whole eggs. And it's quite tasty.

What follows here is a very basic version, an almost blank canvas on which to paint a flavor palette of your choice. The proportions given make for a light and somewhat eggy quiche. If you prefer a heavier and cheesier quiche, as I often do, add more cheese and tweak the egg and dairy down just a hair. And add whatever takes your fancy to the base. [Lots of pictures]

Quiche

If you like a crisp crust on your quiche, you probably ought to precook your pie shells at least partway. I like the crust to be all chewy and soaked with eggy goodness, so I don't do that.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

If I've got onions, some inevitably go into the quiche. So cook them in a bit of butter to get some color on them. If you are going to use meat, especially something fatty like bacon or sausage, precooking it a bit is a good idea.

Beat your eggs. No need to go crazy, but get them pretty well mixed. Add your dairy. I used a mixture of cream and half-and-half, plus a couple of tablespoons of crème frâiche that wasn't getting any younger. Mix that up as well with some pepper and any other herbs or spices that sound good. I used nothing but black pepper this time. If you are using a soft cheese, like a Brie, just throw the cheese and dairy in the food processor and give it a few pulses. (Some recipes say to avoid the rind, but I think that's silly. What I do is cut it off and arrange it on top of the quiche before it goes in the oven.)

Grate or shred your cheese. I used a nice horseradish jack this outing, but usually fall back to Swiss or cheddar or a mix of the two. Put your fillings into your pie crusts. If you'd like you can mix them all together with the cheese, or just layer it up. I tend to layer it up, myself. Top with the egg-and-dairy mix, leaving a little headroom since it will puff up a bit.

Pop it into the oven for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 325F and let it go another half an hour. Check it with a knife or skewer, and if doesn't come out clean, give it another few minutes. I recommend putting the pie plates on a cookie sheet, by the way, since if you did overfill them a bit, the drippings won't go all over the oven.

Quiche is good hot or room temperature, but I don't recommend eating it cold from the fridge. Add a little salad, and you're good to go.


© 2013 Jeff Berry
The Aspiring Luddite