quiche

The past weekend I played catch up with some cooking and recipe testing that I’ve wanted to do for the past few weeks. Somehow, I missed a week of posting for Cook The Book Fridays, but it was for a good reason. Last weekend we joined Jackie Gordon, aka The Diva That Ate New York, on a Wing Crawl of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was a beautiful day and we walked and ate wings (and chicken) at several different locations.

Starting at Blue Smoke, the group devoured some Smoked Alabama White Wings. These chicken wings, slathered in a white BBQ sauce, were juicy, tangy and all sorts of good! It was going to be hard to top these, but on our third or fourth stop, we had, what I thought were the best wings of all, the Hickory Smoked, Jerk Rubbed Wings with Lime from Duck’s Eatery. I ate mine and I ate Ari’s, and could have eaten several more. The spicy jerk rub with a squeeze of lime made them seriously, finger licking yum! Check out my Instagram to see photos of all the delicious wings we tried.

We only made it to six or seven of the fourteen stops that were planned along the way, but I now have a list of new places to try and I am determined to go and eat more wings and other things!

So, this week, I have two recipes that I made from David’s book. The first, Tart Salées Au Jambon, Au Bleu, et Aux Poires (Ham, Blue Cheese and Pear Quiche) is a rich, creamy quiche that’s made with cream cheese, bits of salty ham, tangy blue cheese and a pear. The crust is made with corn meal and lends a slightly sweet note to the dish. It’s best to use a fine ground corn meal so it doesn’t feel too gritty to the bite. The recipe only calls for one pear and it’s is barely noticeable but it does add another layer of texture. I probably would add a second pear because it pairs so well with these flavors!

The addition of cream cheese takes this quiche to another level of decadence. It’s incredibly rich so you really only have to eat a small slice to have your fill. David notes that you could also use bacon instead of the ham, and that would also give you a bit of a nice crunch. The eggy filling also goes really well with fresh, chopped herbs such as tarragon.

I realize that blue cheese is an acquired taste and while I am a big fan, not everyone in my house is. Therefore, I have frozen half of the quiche to take to work for lunches and I’ve been eating the other half all week long.

The quiche goes perfectly with the second recipe from David’s book, Fattoush.

Fattoush is nothing more than a mixed salad with herbs, toasted, day old flat bread or pita and a generous sprinkling of Sumac on top. The addition of mint to lettuces is one of my favorite salad surprises. It’s so fresh and bright. David’s recipe also includes an addictive lemon vinaigrette which will have you using any leftover pieces of bread to wipe your bowl clean. This salad has made me feel, at least, a little better about eating such an indulgent quiche!

This week’s recipes can be found on pages 155 and 116. For details on recreating this and other recipes, check out the CookTheBookFridays site and see others who are also cooking the book-

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Quiche is synonymous with Spring and Summer eating. This Quiche Maraîchère is actually the second quiche I’ve made in a week. The weather is finally turning warmer and thoughts of lighter fare with fresh vegetables and greens are quickly replacing the heavy sauces and meat and potato laden stews that were sustaining through this extremely long, cold winter.

I am looking forward to the delicate Spring asparagus and the crisp, sweet summer tomatoes to be in season. We are not quite there yet, but getting much closer. In the meantime, it’s great to try some new recipes in anticipation of those long summer days where you want to eat something a bit brighter and fresh.

This week’s French Friday’s with Dorie does just that. This delicious Quiche Maraîchère has a lot more vegetables than custard and is not too heavy at all. With celery, leeks, bell peppers and carrots, you certainly get your fill of fresh vegetables. I am sure you can even toss in some broccoli and/or asparagus and spinach and it would still have been quite good.

The only modification I made was that I ran out of Gruyère (Quelle horreur!)and used cheddar instead. (Side note: Did you know that when you vacuum pack shredded cheese that it turns back into a solid hunk of cheese? It does! I bought a huge bag of shredded cheese from Costco and knowing that we can’t possibly eat that much (we do eat a LOT but not that much at once) it was divided into a few bags that we vacuumed packed. Well, fast forward a few months- we go to open the shredded cheese and it’s a solid brick of cheese shreds! Who knew!?!)

It made for a few terrific lunches and even a quick dinner one night when I just didn’t have the will (or desire) to make anything at all.

For the crust, it was the standard Pate Brisee. It’s the crust that I live by. Perfect for sweet and savory. It’s no fuss and comes out perfect every single time. You can find it here with a more summery dish- and one of my favorites- Tomato Tart and Pate Brisee recipe.

I’ll definitely make this one again. But I think I may even add more vegetables next time.

If you want to make this yourself, you can find the recipe here. But you should buy the book (and cook along with us). It’s great fun! Every Friday we make a new recipe. For details and to see how others are recreating the dishes from this awesome book, check out the FFWD site.

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