For our post-post New Year's hangover meal (or recovery meal as my roommate John calls it), we made a rib-sticking red pepper-chicken-curry-thyme quiche this morning, this morning being 3pm.... For the post New Year's hangover meal yesterday, my roommate Pierre made a delicious potato-tomato-lardon (thick bacon)-herb fritatta which when served looked like a plate o' hurl so I decided to pass on the picture. It's OK, even he said it looked pretty bad but we all agreed it tasted fabulous. If there were an In-N-Out Burger here, I'd have been the first in line, but I digress... Back to the quiche...
This quiche is the coolest, quickest recipe on the planet. I was so excited when Pierre finally shared his secret recipe. I was also in awe on my first trip to a French supermarket (hypermarché) over the enormous shelves of yogurt, cheeses as far as you could see (and none of them fat-free bright orange slices!), the eggs and milk sitting out unrefridgerated, and... the pre-made rolls of pie-pan shaped puff pastry (pâte feuilletée ~ pat foi-TAY) and tart dough (pâte brisée ~ pat bree-ZAY). I prefer the puff pastry dough for quiches as it is much lighter than the regular tart dough and I prefer the taste and texture with a quiche.
In the true French method, puff pastry dough can take up to 2 days to make so imagine my delight upon this discovery! The wonderful thing about quiches is that you can put ANYTHING in it!!! Once you have the base mixture of eggs and crème fraîche, the rest is up to you. It's a bit like Jacques Pépin's "Fridge Soup" (from his new TV show & book, Fast Food My Way) where you put whatever is left over in the fridge into the soup pot. Let your imagination run wild, be creative, and most importantly... HAVE FUN!
Pierre's Parisian Quiche
a.k.a. the red pepper-chicken-curry-thyme quiche
1 roll of puff pastry dough (pâte feuilletée)
4 eggs
3 heaping tablespoons crème fraîche (the thicker the better, read: more fat!)
2 handfulls grated cheese (ementhal, comté, swiss).
3 red peppers, cut into 1" squares and sautéed
2 chicken breasts 1" squares and lightly sautéed but not thoroughly cooked
salt & pepper
thyme
1. turn on oven to 350ºF/175ºC/5.
2. unroll dough and set directly onto pie plate, parchment paper side down. trim any paper more than 1" beyond the dough. this is necessary according to Pierre who once set the oven on fire from a stray piece of parchment! prick the dough all over with a fork (also called docking in bake-speak) and bake in oven until light brown. pay attention as this cooks quickly so it's very easy to burn. take out and set aside.
3. while the crust is baking, cut up peppers, salt & pepper, and sauté to your desired texture. i prefer mine with a bit of a crunch. Pierre thoroughly cooks them until they are very soft. set aside.
4. cut up chicken, add salt, pepper & thyme, and sauté but don't cook thoroughly. set aside. remember, it will cook again in the oven so if you cook it all the way thru now, it will be overcooked and dry.
5. put the chicken and peppers into the pre-baked (blind-baked in bake-speak) tart and spread around evenly.
6. mix the eggs, crème fraîche & 1/2 the grated cheese in a bowl with a whisk and pour into tart, distributing it evenly over the peppers & chicken.
7. top with remaining grated cheese.
8. bake until done.... start checking it after 20 minutes. If the edges of the crust are getting too dark, cover the edges with a long thin piece of aluminum foil wrapped around the edges to prevent burning.
I made this a few weeks ago for a family in London and they loved it. I omitted the chicken and just as I was about to put it in the oven I decided to add a bunch of ripped up basil leaves and topped it with the extra cheese. As Jaime Oliver, that darling British and very Naked Chef, would say... Pukka nosh, mate!
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