Quiche

Sometimes I’m amazed at the baking adventures that I HAVEN’T written about. You would think that with my penchant for French-y type bakes, quiche would be at the top of my list.

I’ve made quiche a number of times and have enjoyed some delicious versions in various eateries both locally and on our European travels over the years. Let’s do it!

Some months ago I was tasked with making two quiches for my friend Kim down the road. I decided on a classic Lorraine type version with bacon and Gruyère and a broccoli/cheddar/caramelized onion number. The latter is what I’m highlighting here.

You know how I’m always going on about planning ahead for your baking projects. Well this is one great plan ahead-er. Blind bake your crust and hold it in the freezer for a day or two until you’re ready to fill and bake; make the custard base a day ahead and hold in the fridge; prep filling additions too, like blanching veggies, grating cheese, caramelizing onions. It makes it all so much smoother.

NOTE: I always blind bake the crust for quiche. Nothing is more disappointing than cutting into a piece of quiche and finding a soggy and nearly raw or barely baked bottom. Not cool!

Ready for assembly!

I prefer using my standard pâte brisée for the crust. If you’d like a refresher tutorial on that, check this post out. For savory applications like this, the crust is especially tasty when you sub in spelt and rye flours for some of the all purpose.

As many of you know, I’m a recipe comparer and often take tidbits from similar recipes to make my own version. The base custard filling is one of those, being an amalgam of a quiche recipe in the October, 2018 issue of Saveur and one from the book “Tartine” by Robertson and Prueitt. The one thing that makes it different is the addition of flour to the traditional milk/cream/egg in classic quiche recipes. It enhances the texture, making it more velvet-y.

Here’s my full recipe PDF for quiche Lorraine, including pâte brisée and steps for its preparation as well this broccoli/cheddar filling option + one more.

My blind baked crust is ready (using a deep fluted 9” tart pan as seen above). I blanched a cup of broccoli florets, grated 113 g / 4 ounces cheddar (I like Cabot’s seriously sharp cheddar) and caramelized a pound of sweet onions.

If you’ve made your custard ahead, just re-whisk it before pouring it in. It’s made with one cup whole milk, one cup heavy cream, 4 large eggs + one large yolk, 4 tablespoons all purpose flour, a teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, a tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme (or herbs of choice) and a few grates of fresh nutmeg.

Heat your oven to 375ºF. Place your already blind baked crust on a parchment lined sheet pan. Distribute your filling additions evenly over the bottom.

Start of assembly

Carefully pour your custard in, letting it settle into the crevices as you go. Fill to just below the rim. Keep any filling you might have left.

Carefully place the panned up quiche into your heated oven and bake 10-15 minutes. Now, if you have leftover filling, poke a hole in the center of the quiche with a paring knife and slowly pour in the remaining custard. Reduce oven temp to 325ºF and continue to bake an additional 35-40 minutes.

The center should feel firm - look for puffing, light browning and the filling set.

Just out of the oven

Let cool on a wire rack 20-30 minutes to allow the custard to set up before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Since I was making this for someone else, I decided to make a second one for Steve and myself - gotta test the product, don’t ya know.

We enjoyed a slice with a green salad and glass of red. Delicious!

Leftovers keep in the fridge over 2-3 days. Just warm up in a 325º oven for 15 minutes or so. Next day’s breakfast, brunch or lunch here we come!

A tasty light meal!

Create your own favorite combo of goodies for your next quiche and enjoy!

It’s February! What are you making for Valentine’s Day?? Have fun!

Apple pie tart

It’s a pie! No wait, it’s a tart! What?? Frankly, it kinda looks like some kind of coral reef creature.

For a recent supper at cousin Jen’s, I was in the mood to make something apple. Besides that, I had sprung for a bottle of boiled cider from King Arthur Flour and was so ready to try it out. It’s made in Springfield VT, a state which Steve and I called home for nearly 12 very enjoyable years.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve most likely realized by now that I LOVE reading baking and pastry books, comparing recipes and techniques and continuing to gain knowledge about this craft. They give me much pleasure and inspiration to boot! Some of my faves are FOOD 52’s “Genius Desserts” and anything by Rose Levy Beranbaum. They are chock full to overflowing with cool stuff.

As I approached this apple project I reviewed apple pie recipes (again!) from “Tartine”, “Art of the Pie”, “The Baking Bible” as well as “Genuis Desserts”. GD’s is essentially a review of RLB’s recipe for fruit pies, creating a filling with concentrated flavor by cooking down the juices. I’m IN!

In my fall 2018 post on a couple of apple/pear/berry tarts, I followed Tartine’s method of cooking the apples in butter and sugar first then draining off the liquid and cooking that down. They were deelish! The Genius Desserts/Rose LB approach is a bit different - macerating but not cooking the fruit, then reducing down the drained off liquid to a lovely caramel.

Here goes! This go-around I used a combo of Granny Smith and Jonagolds. Years ago I used to think peeling and coring apples was such a chore, but it’s amazing how one can get into a rhythm and actually make a bit of sport out of it, racing against the clock to see how fast you might finish. It’s so satisfying!

Once the 2.5 pounds of apples for a 9-inch tart are peeled and cored, slice them up into ~1/4 inch slices and toss them in a large bowl with 50 g light brown sugar (or dark if you prefer), 50 g granulated sugar, a tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, some freshly grated nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cover and allow to sit a room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to three hours to juice ‘em up.

In the meantime take your favorite pâte brisée, roll it out about 1/8” thick and line your chosen tart pan or pie plate. I chose an open 220 mm tart ring this time, and since I planned a lattice top I made sure I had a 2-crust quantity of dough on hand. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and hold in the fridge until ready to fill.

I rolled out the dough for my lattice as well, cut my strips and held them in the fridge until ready for final assembly. I thought I’d be creative and cut curvy pieces, but, when it came time to create my lattice, the strips didn’t really feel like staying very curvy until I coaxed them into submission. I made the best of it and it worked out just fine and dandy.

Ready to finish the filling! Transfer the apple mixture to a colander set over a bowl and let drain to release anywhere from 1/2 - 1 cup liquid. Sounding good already.

Pour the juice into a small saucepan along with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and bring to a boil. Cook until caramelized and reduced to about 1/3 cup. Then I added a tablespoon or so of boiled cider to intensify the apple flavor.

Transfer the drained apples back into the large bowl and mix them with 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.

Place a baking stone or empty sheet pan on the bottom rack of your oven and heat to to 425ºF.

In the meantime blend the reduced apple caramel liquid into the apples and transfer it all into the lined tart ring. Create the lattice, trim, tuck and crimp or flute the edges. Brush with milk and sprinkle with raw sugar. Hold in the freezer while the oven heats.

Bake approximately 50-55 minutes. If your crust edges are browning too quickly, place an aluminum foil ring over them. Watch for bubbling juices and tender fruit when poked with a small, sharp knife. My pie-tart baked about an hour before I was happy with the bubbles and texture. Looking pretty tasty!

One problem with this baby is that a small section of the crust bottom and edge seemed to collect a lot of juice and didn’t bake through. It was also an interesting challenge to get it out of the tart ring. I ended up cutting a cardboard round slightly smaller in diameter, slid it under the pie/tart and lifted it up and out of the ring. Whew. Maybe a solid pie plate or lovely fluted ceramic pie dish next time, eh?

No matter - it was delicious, the boiled cider adding just the right tang and deep apple flavor. A classic, particularly topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Always remember - there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

Now can’t you just imagine the hint of spring just around the corner? It won’t be long folks. Happy baking!