Priceless Paintings from W7

Real men don’t eat quiche. All right. Fine by me. I am a quiche-eater, guilty as charged. Not a real man, according to Bruce Feirstein, but I know how to make the finest and most rewarding quiche (and enjoy eating it).

A quiche is quick to make, and always scores with the womenfolk. What are you waiting for?

One roll of deep-frozen rolled-out shortcrust pastry, available in some shape or form in most supermarkets. Use puff pastry as your second choice. Defrost.

A deep baking dish to fit the pastry. I use a 280mm diameter round baking dish, about one 25mm deep. Line with baking parchment, then with the aforementioned pastry. Put aside.

Start the oven to 180C. Prefer top and bottom heat over circulated heat.

Prepare the filling.

Smoked Salmon Quiche:
300g smolked salmon, cut in finger sized strips, 150g roasted artichokes or peppers (or both), a small bunch of dill. Just toss everything into the dish in a seemingly random distribution.

Quiche Lorraine:
Cut two leeks into 10mm strips. Wash and rinse thoroughly. Fry up 250g of good quality dry-cure bacon or lardons. When done, add the leak, toss around for 30s, then spread the whole lot into the baking dish.

Others:
A million of varieties are up for your to make. Mushrooms, spinach and bacon always hits the spot, for example.

Now take 300ml double cream. Add three free-range eggs (four if tiny), a teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and 1/3 teaspoon of ground nutmeg. Stock granulates if you like it very savoury, a pinch of saffron otherwise. Allspice to taste. Mix well, and pour over the filling. Optionally, sprinkle one finely chopped fresh red chilly pepper over the top (a nice kick with the smoked salmon quiche).

Shake the baking tray gently to let trapped air escape, and pop into the pre-heated oven for 35 minutes. Start watch it after 25 minutes; it might need taking out sooner if it darkens too quickly.

Take out when done. Let cool down for 20 minutes, then remove quiche from tray (just lift it out by the baking parchment), then let cool down some more on a grid.

Transfer onto serving plate, cut into generous pieces, serve with a green salad and a crispy white wine. Scores every time.

Food and Drink cooking, food, recipe