MetaChat - REAL MEN COOK QUICHE:

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19 February 2010

REAL MEN COOK QUICHE: More advnetures in leftovers, will be live-blogging the creation of a ham & cheese quiche using only leftovers!

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Well, not ONLY leftovers, cause people who make their own pie crusts have something to hide and should be shunned.

The major ingredients are the remains of an excellent Ham (How was it cooked you say? It was a Pork Buttette coated in delicious spices and then wrapped in tin foil and left on 250 for hours and hours and hours),
Some leftover Deli Cheese from a cheese and crackers snack, and tiny little pearl onions I bought on a whim and now have to use before they go bad.

I already cut up the onions, which are a pain cause they're so fucking small, set the eggs out to come to room temperature and put the frozen pie crusts (always have frozen pie crusts on hand, you'd be surprised how often you use them) out on the counter to defrost. In about 20 moin I'll start the whole eggs-cream-pie thing while my BF cuts the skin off the ham and removes anymore fat. I am using the Bittman "How To Cook Nearly Everything" recipe - modifed and will reprint soon.

Whew!

post by: The Whelk at: 19:11 | 16 comments

Also, tips for Quiche cookery would very appreciated.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 19:16

Okay oven is pre-heated to 350, BF is cutting up the ham and I've begun to brown the bastard onions in a little olive oil and garlic, which is great time to to empty the dishwater while you wait for them to cook and for the oven to come to temp.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 19:47

It is also a good time to grab a glass of wine and a smoke and clear your head in the outside air before you get to the business of spicing and flavoring.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 19:51

Some notes: Dinner Quiches are different than Breakfast ones. Breakfast quiche is almost like an omlette, you wanna keep it as light and airy and delicate as possible. With a Dinner quiche like this, served as the main meal, you (or rather, I) want a heavy, savory, spicy taste - so I'll be adding a lot of herbs and garlic and cooking it for a bit longer (to make it really firm and pie-like) and adding paprika and chives to the top. This is a dish that should bite back.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 20:01

also, the purpose of pre-cooking the pie crust (which I should have mentioned, I *just* put that in) is to get it a little further along so it really crisps up (I like it almost burnt) when you're cooking the filling. Also the puncture holes you make in it (with a fork, along the bottom and sides) is so the eggy filling leaks out *just enough* to adhere to the shell. Think of it like concrete.

Now we move on to the filling.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 20:03

OH and the reason I took out the cream and the milk before hand is so they're not super-cold from the fridge when they get mixed into the filling, so cooking takes less time.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 20:15

Minor accident averted, the mixture - which was 1 cup cream, 1 cup cheese, 3 eggs and salt and pepper and paprika was a bit much for one pie crust and we had spillage and had to be quick with the spoon in rearranging it. Oh well. A good tip with this is to set the pie crust on a oven tray you can move rather than trying to move a shaky, unstable pool of liquid dairy. BF wanted nutmeg on the top and said we should put it in halfway through the cooking, so I'll do that in about 25 min. Pie and filling are in the oven at 325 and will sit there for about an hour. Stupid TV time.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 20:28

the puncture holes also serve so that the pie crust doesn't puff up like the balloons you sometimes get on a pizza crust!

Sounds yummy...

posted by Stewriffic 19 February | 20:30

Check it, still liquidly in the middle, so I added on the nutmeg (very gingerly, nutmeg can be overpowering) to the top and a very light sprinkle of fines herbs (the paprika is in the filling and paprika PLUS Cayenne would be overkill) in it goes for another 15 min. Goshers it got lateish.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 21:02

I never saw a puffy crust before! but then again, I always made holes.

posted by The Whelk 19 February | 21:02

I like to put soft tofu in mine.

posted by gomichild 19 February | 22:59

people who make their own pie crusts have something to hide and should be shunned

This is absolute untruth, how dare you speak so coarsely about something as beautiful and tasty as homemade pie crust.

posted by rhapsodie 19 February | 23:44

Oh I missed that comment! You know they don't have frozen pie crusts in every country - and the best thing about making your own is you know exactly what has gone into them.

posted by gomichild 20 February | 00:18

Pie crust is so easy Whelk! I am not a baker, but pie crust is simple and a million times cheaper than buying pre-made. Bittman has a good recipe!

I also enjoy using yogurt in my quiche instead of milk because I am a hippy.

posted by serazin 20 February | 00:40

I'm gonna make some kind of pie today, I've decided. Hauling my (homemade!) pie crust out of the freezer now...

posted by Stewriffic 20 February | 07:58

people who make their own pie crusts have something to hide and should be shunned.

It's true: when I make pies, quiches, or tarts, I hide the mere fact that I've made my own crust... because if you knew I had a batch of this flaky, golden, ethereal foodstuff coming hot out of the oven and sighing out its scent like an fragrant angel that wants you to take a ginormous BITE from its heart, you would storm the doors and demand a share.

And my pie crust is only pretty good; my hands are too warm for perfect pastrymaking. Imagine what you could make if you wanted!

posted by Elsa 20 February | 11:02

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