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Ham and potato quiche can be an elegant appetizer or an everday meal. Quiche is good served hot, at room temperature or cold.Quench your Quiche craving
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 7:31 AM PST
By Los Angeles Times
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E-mail this articleThe custard is deep and luxurious, ivory colored and liberally studded with bits of filling -- pale leeks, tawny mushrooms or bright green spinach. Maybe a curling ribbon of ham. The top is a mottled mixture of gold and brown. The crust is crisp and a little flaky, just sturdy enough to contain it all. You cut it with a fork and the custard quivers, seemingly on the verge of returning to cream. The crust shatters against the plate.
I'd forgotten how memorable a great quiche could be. But I've been working hard at getting reacquainted. Over the last several weeks, there has always been at least one in my refrigerator.
Quiches make elegant appetizers for a dinner party, and they're perfect for everyday eating. They are good hot, at room temperature or cold.
If I bake a quiche on Sunday, I've got a couple of the week's meals lined up -- a satisfying dinner (with a green salad and a glass of Riesling), a sack lunch my daughter can pack to work, and a great snack for me to nibble straight from the fridge.
For something that seems so fragile, a quiche is surprisingly durable. Once it's baked, it can be stored in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped, for up to a week. Whack off a piece, plop it on a cookie sheet and bake it until it's heated through -- 10 or 15 minutes. You'd never guess it wasn't freshly made.
I have Thomas Keller to thank for my reintroduction. While looking through his new "Bouchon" cookbook, I noticed that there was an entire section devoted to the dish. America's greatest chef in love with the quiche? Who'da thunk it?
Keller, who serves quiche regularly at his Bouchon bistros in Yountville, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev., lights up when he talks about the dish. "I still remember the first time I had a real quiche. It was one of those moments of sheer pleasure."
Keller is far from alone in his affection for the dish. In Southern California, Josie LeBalch has attracted a cult following for the mushroom quiche she serves as a complimentary appetizer at her Santa Monica restaurant Josie. What began as an emergency fill-in has now turned into an 80-pie-a-week habit.
"At first we were planning on serving it just until we got caught up with everything, but then the quiche caught on and now we can't take it off the menu," LeBalch says.
In addition to the sliver of mushroom quiche that goes out to every diner in the restaurant, LeBalch also offers others as occasional specials.
One of her favorites is another twist on the traditional Lorraine, this one made with diced potatoes and ham, pinched into a ruffled little bow so that the browned ends poke through the puffed brown cheese on top.
The most basic quiche is the original from the French-German province of Lorraine. In its simplest form, it is merely a savory custard baked in a pastry crust with thin slices of blanched bacon and Gruyere cheese.
Today, there are all manner of quiches containing different kinds and combinations of vegetables and even seafood. In "Bouchon," Keller includes fillings made with spinach, leeks and Roquefort, mushrooms, and ham and long-cooked onions.
Keller insists that a quiche has to be two inches deep before you get the true custard texture that is his favorite part of the dish. He uses a ring mold; a removable bottom tart pan works well.
Be forewarned that the pastry recipe is a little tricky; it tends to leak if you don't follow the instructions carefully. Be sure to leave the pastry thicker than you normally might. The dough handles so easily and is such a pleasure to roll out that you might be tempted to just keep going past the thickness Keller calls for (precisely three-sixteenths of an inch, though one-quarter inch is just fine).
Rolling too thin is a mistake that will result in a thoroughly leaky crust, I learned to my dismay, as I watched my golden lab-pit bull mutt lap delightedly at the floor below the oven after my first try.
Add the custard batter and the filling ingredients to the pie crust while all of them are still hot. This lets the custard thicken quickly, helping to avoid leakage.
The custard filling must be blended until it is quite light and foamy -- it's those bubbles that will suspend the cooked ingredients throughout the custard instead of allowing them to settle down to the bottom. If your blender is small, divide the custard in half in order to get the texture as frothy as possible. Adding the custard and filling in two portions helps get a better distribution of ingredients too.
BASIC QUICHE SHELL
2 cups flour, divided, plus a little more for rolling
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/4 cup ice water
2 tablespoons canola oil
Place 1 cup of the flour and the salt in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the butter a small handful at a time.
When all the butter has been added, increase the speed to medium and mix until the butter is completely blended with the flour. Reduce the speed, add the remaining flour and mix just to combine.
Add the water a little at a time and mix until the dough gathers around the paddle and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. It should feel smooth, not sticky.
Remove the dough from the mixer and check to be certain that there are no visible pieces of butter remaining; if necessary, return the dough to the mixer and mix briefly again. Pat the dough into a 7- to 8-inch disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to a day. (If the dough does not rest, it will shrink as it bakes.)
Lightly brush the inside of a 9-by-2-inch removable-bottom tart pan with canola oil and place it on a jelly roll pan. Place the dough on a floured work surface and rub on all sides with flour. Flatten it into a larger circle using a rolling pin or the heel of your hand. Roll the rolling pin back and forth across the dough a few times, then turn it 90 degrees and roll again. Continue to turn and roll until the dough is one-fourth inch thick and about 14 inches in diameter. (If the kitchen is hot and the dough has become very soft, move it to a baking sheet and refrigerate for a few minutes.)
To lift the dough into the tart pan, place the rolling pin across the dough about one-quarter of the way up from the bottom edge, fold the bottom edge of the dough up and over the pin, and roll the dough up on the rolling pin. Lift the dough on the pin and hold it over the pan, centering it. Carefully lower the dough into the pan, pressing it gently against the sides and into the bottom. Trim any dough that extends more than an inch over the sides of the pan and reserve the scraps. Fold the excess dough over against the outside of the ring. (Preparing the quiche shell this way will prevent it from shrinking down the sides as it bakes. The excess dough will be removed after the quiche is baked.) Carefully check for any cracks or holes in the dough, and patch with the reserved dough as necessary. Place in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 20 minutes to resolidify the butter. Reserve the remaining dough scraps.
Place a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the quiche shell with a 15-inch round of parchment paper. Fill the shell with pie weights or dried beans, gently guiding the weights into the corners of the shell and filling the shell completely. Bake the shell until the edges of the dough are lightly browned but the bottom is still light in color, 35 to 45 minutes.
Carefully remove the parchment and weights. Check the dough for any new cracks or holes and patch with thin pieces of the reserved dough if necessary. Return the shell to the oven until the bottom is a rich golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the shell to cool completely on the jellyroll pan. Once again, check the dough for any cracks or holes, and patch if necessary before filling with the quiche batter.
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes plus at least 1 hour, 20 minutes chilling time.
Servings: Makes 1 (9-inch) tart shell or a (9-inch) deep-dish pie pan.
BASIC QUICHE BATTER
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
6 eggs
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
6 gratings fresh nutmeg
Combine the milk and cream in a large saucepan and heat over medium heat until scalded (meaning a skin begins to form on the surface). Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly, 10 to 15 minutes.
Put the eggs, the milk mixture, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a blender and blend on low speed about 5 seconds to mix thoroughly, then increase the speed to high and blend until the batter is light and foamy, about 30 seconds. Immediately pour into the hot quiche shell and bake.
(Depending on the size of your blender, you may need to divide this into two batches.)
Total time: 25 minutes
Servings: 8 to 10
ROQUEFORT AND LEEK QUICHE
3 pounds leeks (about 5)
6 ounces Roquefort cheese, crumbled (about 1 1/3 cups)
Basic quiche shell
Basic quiche batter
Cut off the dark green leaves from the leeks and discard. Cut off and discard the root end and bottom 1 inch of each leek. Cut the leeks lengthwise in half and wash well under cold running water. Place cut side down on a cutting board and slice crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. (You should have 4 to 5 cups packed leeks.)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the leeks and cook for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Drain the leeks and spread them on a baking sheet to cool. Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325 degrees.
Squeeze the cooled leeks to remove excess water and dry on paper towels. Scatter half the chopped leeks and half the Roquefort evenly into the hot quiche shell (still on the jelly roll pan).
Blend the quiche batter again to aerate it, then pour in enough of the batter to cover the ingredients and fill the quiche shell approximately halfway. Top the batter with the remaining leeks and cheese. Blend the remaining batter once more and fill the quiche shell all the way to the top (if you don't have a very steady hand, you might spill some of the batter on the way to the oven; fill the shell most of the way, then pour the final amount of batter on top once the quiche is on the oven rack). You may have some batter left over. Bake for 5 minutes. The filling level will drop. Pour in the remaining batter to fill to the top; there may be a little left over.
Bake for 1 hour, 15 minutes, until the top of the quiche is browned and the custard is set when the pan is jiggled. Remove the quiche from the oven and let stand 15 minutes before serving, or cool, then refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 day, or up to 3 days.
Once the quiche is thoroughly chilled, using a metal bench scraper or a sharp knife, scrape away the excess crust from the top edge. Place a large bowl upside down on a work surface and place the quiche pan on top of that. Gently remove the outside ring, working it free in spots with a small knife if necessary. Return to the refrigerator until ready to serve.
To serve, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with lightly oiled parchment paper. Using a long serrated knife, and supporting the sides of the crust with your opposite hand, carefully cut through the edge of the crust in a sawing motion. Switch to a long slicing knife and cut through the custard and bottom crust. Repeat, cutting the quiche into 8 to 10 pieces. Place the pieces on the baking sheet and reheat for 15 minutes or until hot throughout. To check, insert a metal skewer into the quiche for several seconds and then touch the skewer to your lip to test the temperature of the quiche.
You will need a 9-inch removable-bottom 2-inch deep tart pan or a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.
Total time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, plus at least 1 day chilling.
Servings: 8 to 10.
Each serving: 614 calories; 14 grams protein; 32 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 49 grams fat; 28 grams saturated fat; 260 milligrams cholesterol; 862 milligrams sodium.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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