Pastry
This will make enough for the 9" pan and some odds and ends so you can make half a dozen little tartlets for pudding.
6oz or 1&1/3 cups all-purpose flour
4oz or 1/2 cup vegetable shortening/butter/lard/Crisco or any combination (no liquid fats allowed). Must be chilled.
1/2 tsp salt
4-5 TBSP ice cold water
I use a food processor, but you can do it by hand. Add flour and salt, blend to mix together. Cut fat into chunks and add, pulse until a coarse meal texture is achieved. If you can still feel bits of fat the size of a split pea that is fine. Add 2 TBSP ice cold water while pulsing. Ensure that no layer of soggy dough forms on the bottom of the food processor's mixing bowl by adding it slowly and whilst it is running, not with it stopped. Add another TBSP the same way, then the fourth. Start on the fifth but stop adding water the instant the pastry dough turns into a large clump/ball in the mixing bowl. Four might do it, but you might need five, depending on humidity.
Empty the dough onto a length of cling film and pat into a ball, then flatten into a disk to increase surface area and thus speed cooling in the fridge. The disk of dough should be about 3/4 thick, and when it is, fold the cling film around it and place in fridge for 1/2 an hour.
After 1/2 an hour, take it out and roll it out on a floured surface. A silicon baking sheet helps a lot here, as does a well-floured cold rolling pin. Roll in one direction only, to minimise the physical working of the dough, and be sure to turn the dough 90º every time. I aim for pastry the thickness of a £1 coin (about 1/8"). Flour the pastry surface and roll it up around your rolling pin, making the transfer to the pie dish easy. Get the chilled dish out of the fridge and unroll the pastry onto it. Gently let the disk of pastry dough sink into the dish and be sure to press the dough into the angle between the side of the dish and its bottom. No air spaces allowed. Having done that, pinch up the pastry around the edge to raise the side wall just a little above the edge of the dish, and use a knife to cut off the excess pastry dough (this can be balled up and re-rolled to make those tarts!) Prick the bottom of the pastry in the dish with a fork so that steam can escape from under it when we bake it a little before adding the filling. Place it back in the fridge so the pastry dough can relax into place while we talk about what comes next (it will help the pastry stay where you want it when we come to the next stage.) At this point, we might as well discuss blind-baking - the baking of a blank or empty pie. If we don't bake the crust of a pie filled with very wet ingredients, the pastry may not bake on the bottom if single-baked with the filling in place. So do this (it's easy!) Line the pie with silver foil, leaving some spare sticking up at the sides. Fill the pie with something heavy that won't do any harm as it gets hot. You can use rice, dried beans, or do as I do, and use money! I have a tin of one cent coins (no longer valid currency in Canada), along with some US cents, some English new pennies and various bits of other foreign currencies. I don't believe it matters where they come from—even communist regimes will fail to sap your vital bodily fluids if you use their currency in this way!) Bake at 400º for 20 minutes. It's not fully cooked at this point, but it will get cooked some more when the filling goes in. Use the extra sticking up silver foil to lift the money out of the dish and off the pastry so it won't go soggy while you do the next bit. Leave it on the side to cool a little while you do the next stage, or jump straight in if your filling is ready. The coins will cool very quickly and can be re-used.
Filling
A classic quiche is an egg custard with cheese, vegetable and possibly meat added in some combination. My version goes like this, but is subject to change depending on what is available. You need to prepare each ingredient, then build the filling. Typically, I do something like this:
Chop one onion finely and sauté it, reserving it on a couple of layers of kitchen paper on a plate when done.
Cut up some fake veggie bacon and sauté it, placing it on another couple of layers of kitchen paper on top of the onion.
Add two large handfuls of fresh spinach to the frying pan and toss it while it wilts. Should be dark green and wet looking in 1 minute or so. Don't overdo it. Add to yet another layer of kitchen paper.
All this kitchen paper is to absorb the oil in which you sautéd the above. Use another couple of sheets to wipe out your pan (you don't want to wash that kind of seasoning from the pan!)
Crack four eggs into a bowl. whisk with a hand whisk of fork. Add some salt and black pepper—guess the amounts as I do.
Whisk in about one cup of half and half (Canada: 'Blend') cream.
Now build the filling. Half the onion spread on the pastry, then half the spinach, then half the bacon, then some grated cheddar cheese. Add the rest in another four layers of goodness. Pour on the egg and cream mixture evenly. Use the back of a spoon to press the solid ingredients down into the eggy custard. Grind a little more black pepper onto the surface. Place it back in the oven (still at 400º) for 30 minutes. Check for being done, as ovens vary—the surface should be springy and resistant to your finger just like the tip of your nose.
When it's done, let it cool a while before serving. Can be eaten warm, cold, or even frozen for later consumption. It should look like this:
This is going to be served with a green salad with an olive oil/lemon juice dressing. Here is the left over pastry made into tarts (lemon curd and mincemeat) that will make a nice pudding with some blueberries and yoghurt:
It's easy and fun, as well as proving a good distraction from the ridiculous amount of snow falling outside. The onion can be replaced with a leek, the spinach with broccoli (blanche it before adding), the cheddar with mozzarella.Yes, you can use real bacon! Play with it for variety. It's hard to go wrong.
Chris
PS Real Men™ make quiche as well as wolfing it down.
