Getting reacquainted with a classic: quiche

My huckleberry friend Michael is coming over tomorrow to make chocolate truffles. I talked him out of taking a class, for which he was paying 150.00, to learn how to make these chocolates for Christmas.

Oi.

Chocolate truffles are so easy to make that I don't know why anyone needs a class to make them. So I got involved. That, and the fact that lately, as I'm in the midst of what I can only describe as a "sea change" in my life (which will come out bit by bit in these pieces), I have wanted, very badly, to want to SHOW people how to cook, rather than just write about it.

For those of us who work (all of us), having a get together to do something like truffles means evening. And that means dinner. So, with this in mind, I suggested to Michael that we have dinner together, and that I show him how to make quiche. Michael sounds excited about it. And so am I. Mostly because it's Michael, and it's teaching, but also, because it's quiche, and I just read the entry on quiche in "Cooking for Dummies."

Double Oi. In the 80s, before we all started reading Marcella Hazan, as she put it "Ah, pasta. What sins have been committed in your name. " As Marcella and other great cooks got to work, pasta was "rehabilitated." Quiche, which was all the rage in the 70s and the 80s, unfortunately, has never recovered, in my view. And the recipe in "Cooking for Dummies" confirms it.

If chocolate truffles are easy (and they are), quiche is not. Rather, GOOD quiche is not. It's not difficult, but it IS time consuming, and it requires an amount of skill that people take for granted. It is also a dish that, more than most, rises or falls on the quality of your ingredients. So, when I see a recipe that starts with "one store bought pie crust," I cringe. I absolutely cringe. I am going to set down the law on what is in a savory crust: flour, butter, salt, water. THAT IS ALL. Read a label on a "storebought pie crust." If it has anything other than that in it, move on. And make your own.

And I say that as someone who is NOT all that comfortable with pie crusts. I don't have the flair that the great pie bakers do. But I do ok. They taste good. They don't look great, but again, think of the fact that you're cooking for friends. They'll forgive.

Here's how you do piecrust. For a crust for one regular sized quiche, you need a cup of all purpose flour, a stick of cold, unsalted butter, cut into about 10 pieces, a bowl of ice water, and a pinch of salt. I use a food processor, because my fingers are a little too warm for doing it by hand, and they're a bit arthritic, but you can do it by hand. Start with the flour and the butter. Combine them in the bowl of your processor and pulse, until you have a mixture that is about the size of peas. You can do this by hand, rolling and squeezing the butter in the flour until you get the same consistency. Sprinkle the salt in. Now add water, and be careful about this. You'll need about three tablespoons, sprinkling it, or pulsing it into the flour. When the dough is such that, if you squeeze it together, it's done. Gather it into a ball, flatten it, and then wrap it in foil and refrigerate it, for about 20-30 minutes.

I said a "regular size" quiche. Check the volume of your pie pan. If it holds about two cups, it's a pan for a normal quiche. If it's bigger than that, multiply the ingredients by 1.5. And proceed.

Now, onto making the filling. The classic, wonderful quiche lorraine uses half and half, eggs, salt and cooked bacon. Notice what I left out: no vegetables, no cheese, nothing. It's a rich, filling dish that is served in small pieces. And it's good. It's REALLY good. But I'm going to describe my variation. I use milk. Whole milk. I imagine 2% can work, but lighter than that, I wouldn't use it. For a regular sized quiche, use one cup of milk and three, large eggs. Mix this in a large bowl, and break up the eggs with the milk. Don't beat in too much air. Add a little salt, and some grated nutmeg

Vegetables? Well, yes. I like an onion element. Like a sauteed leek, or a sauteed half an onion, chopped up. Or about six scallions, cut on the bias, and cooked gently. And I can enjoy a quiche that has just that in it. But cooked, very well drained spinach is really good too. So is chopped cooked broccoli. I really don't go much further than that, except an asparagus quiche once in a while, or a mushroom one . In every case, the vegetables are cooked already.

Cheese? Hmmmm. Yes, but not too much. Maybe, maybe 2/3 to 1 cup of cubed, gruyere cheese, or emmenthaler. But for heaven's sake, NO CHEDDAR. If I told you how many bad cheddar quiches I have eaten.

Bacon? Ham? Some other kind of meat? Yes, if I'm leaving out the cheese, no if I'm using it. It's a hard call. If I'm making it just for myself (don't think I haven't), I leave out the cheese and use the meat. It's a lot like having a custard omelet with bacon on the side.

Now, you're ready to get started. Take your crust out of the fridge, and flour a surface real well. Roll it out gently, turning the dough as you work (this is where I fail, most of the time. My touch is very, VERY heavy, and I'm not careful about keeping things dry). Rotate the dough as you roll it out, and every now and then, measure it against your pie pan, making sure you roll it out about two inches bigger than the pan itself.

Move the crust into the piepan, and here's where the really good cooks are REALLY good, and folks like me make do. Press it in the pan, carefully. If (read that as "when") you tear the dough, patch it with some of the overhang (no one is gonna see it ). Put the piepan on a baking sheet, prick it all over with a fork, and bake for 15 minutes at 400. This is called "baking blind," and you do it when your filling is a custard, so that the crust doesn't get too soggy.

Take the crust out, and here's where I differ with many. The standard rule is too let this crust cool until you go further. I have done that, and haven't seen much of a difference. If you're using both veggies and cheese, put the cheese in first, and then the veggies. Then, carefully pour the custard over this. Put the whole thing back in the oven, and bake for about thirty minutes. Shake the pan. If it jiggles slightly in the center, but seems solid the rest of the way, it's done. If it's more liquid than that, come back again in another fifteen minutes.

It's hard to tell how much time this will take. I have had my quiches finish in thirty minutes, and as long as an hour and a half. It depends on the size, the richness of your dairy and eggs, the mood your oven is that day, and so forth.

When you get that little jiggle in the center, take it out of the oven and let it cool for about fifteen m inutes on the baking sheet. The quiche will continue cooking, but it will stay nice and soft if you eat it fresh. Refrigeration will firm it up and it will still be fine, but there ain't nuthin as good as the first, fresh, soft, slice of this wonderful stuff.

This is a dish who's richness sneaks up on you. But read through the recipe: butter, eggs, milk, cheese if you choose. It's a cardiologist's worst nightmare, and his favorite dream as well. I'd tell you to eat a small portion, but let's face it: doesn't this fall right into the comfort foods that we all love? Custard, crisp crust, bacon if you use it, cheese if you use it. So EAT. Have a salad with it, maybe celery root remoulade if you feel like going all the way and really clogging your arteries, but green salad, or beet salad, or carrot salad, or grapefruit salad ala Christa all go well with this.

Okay, having read all of this, you may very well say "the hell with it, I don't like it THAT much, I'll buy one and defrost it." Please try it once. For what it's worth, you can make 2, 3, or even 4 crusts at a time and freeze them (that's what I do). And if I have some left over vegetables that I really don't want to throw out, out one comes, out comes the pie crust, and BAM (I can't believe I wrote that), we have quiche. After the first one, you may be hooked. I hope so.

Chocolate truffles? Oh yes, I started with those. For another day. I'm serious. They are so easy, you may never buy a box of Godiva again.