Omelette pie

  The myth says nothing about whether real men cook quiche or not, but it's definitely bollocks. I cook and eat them and so should you cos they're fab. The request for one for supper came in and, being a real man, I was happy to oblige. While there's plenty to do in their production, it's a number of small jobs so actually quite manageable.

​​​​​​​  I was reflecting on the ease of quiche making and as they can be a real treat, I hope to encourage you. First is the pastry. As a benchmark, pastry is two parts flour to one of butter but add a bit of extra butter and the pastry is slightly richer and meltier. (Are you making up words again? -Ed.). Once mixed and before you roll it out, let it rest in the fridge for about twenty minutes to let the gluten relax. If you don't, the pastry can shrink when you bake it. That's job one.

How butch is that?

  Next, roll out the pastry and line a pie tin. I like the ones with a push through bottom to make serving easier. I put the pastry lined pie tin back in the fridge while I warm the oven up. If you remember the post about baking blind, here's a chance to put it into practice. Line the pastry with tin foil, fill with bake blind, (rice, lentils, beans or anything else to weigh it down), bake for about fifteen minutes at about 175c, remove the foil and blind then put it back in the oven for a few minutes to let it dry out.

  The blind baking stage is important because you need to let the pastry cook and dry out, which is hard when it's full of wet filling, as you'll see in the next stage. Think of quiche as omelette pie so you are now going to fill the pie case with, well... whatever the fuck you like with some egg on top. For mine, I sweated some leek and mushrooms which I added to a mix of egg, mustard, oregano, salt and pepper. I poured this mix in and added smoked salmon and some tiny broccoli florets before putting the whole thing back in the oven.

​​​​​​​  This is cooked at about 150c because we're only setting the egg and the time really depends on the depth. Probably about fifteen minutes but give it a wobble and a prod in the middle to check it, remembering that the egg will continue to set with the residual heat after you take it out of the oven. That's it, you just need to make sure to invite some real men to share your quiche with.

Kirk out

Chefsebastian.com