Bête comme Quiche

C'est un classique familial. Chez nous, on l'appelle "quiche Catherine", souvenir d'une Catherine depuis longtemps perdue de vue, qui est je suppose à l'origine de la recette. C'est la plat parfait pour une entrée ou un plat unique quand on est à la bourre, en panne d'imagination, ou avec de petits restes.

This recipe is a family classic. We use to call it "quiche Catherine", after a Catherine we've long lost contact with. It's a really simple, really basic dish, it can be either an entrée or a main course, it's perfect for a tired weekday evening as well as for using up those small leftovers in the fridge.

Quiche Catherine

5 oeufs - 5 eggs

3 petits verres de lait d'avoine - 3 cups oat milk

3 grosses cuillères à soupe de farine - 3 (large) tblsp all-purpose flour

1 paquet de lardons - a few bacon slices

1 poivron vert - 1 green bell pepper

1 poivron rouge - 1 red bell pepper

1 oignon - 1 onion

Préchauffez votre four à 180°C.
Dans une poêle,  faites revenir les lardons. Ajoutez très rapidement les oignons émincés et les poivrons coupés en petits cubes. Laissez dorer les lardons et fondre l'oignon.
Pendant ce temps, battez dans une jatte les oeufs avec la farine. Ajoutez doucement (sinon ça va faire des grumeaux) le lait d'avoine.
Graissez un poule à tarte, étalez dedans la garniture, puis versez la pâte par-dessus.
Enfourner 30 à 40 minutes, jusqu'à ce que le dessus commence à dorer.

Preheat your oven at 360°F.
Cut the bacon slices in smallish bits, put them in a hot pan, adding the minced onion and diced peppers as soon as there's a little grease in the pan. Cook until the bacon is golden and the onion soft.
In a mixing bowl beat the whole eggs with the flour, slowly add the oat milk.
Grease your mold (the flatter the mold, the better), transfer the bacon and vegetables into it. Pour the batter over them.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes - until the top gets slightly golden.

Ce qu'il y a de merveilleux avec les quiches, c'est qu'on peut les faire à tout. Un reste de courgettes sautées ? Du saumon fumé ? Des épinards ? Un bout de fromage un peu trop "caractériel" ? Ca y va !
Ce qu'il y a de merveilleux avec ce plat, c'est qu'on n'a même pas besoin de faire de pâte (mais riend ne vous empêche d'en faire une, ou de prendre un pâte feuilletée du commerce, c'est bon aussi), du coup, c'est vraiment très, très rapide à préparer.

Now the great thing aoubt quiche is that you can just put about anything into it. Leftover sautéed zucchinis ? smoked salmon ? Spinach ? Goat cheese ? It all goes in !
And the other great thing about this one it you don't even have to make a proper pie crust - of course, you can make one, it you really want to, or use a ready-made puff pastry dough, it works really well, too.

Winter greens

Granted, the winter is fleeing the country at full speed today, but we still haven't seen many spring vegetables yet. So what do we eat right now ? I recently bought a salad sprouter, and we've been eating tons of winter salads with sprouted seeds. Mustard seeds are my current favorite, I love the bite they add to my salads.

I'm sorry I don’t have any pictures today, I didn't have time to photograph it before it was eaten up. I hope this won't happen too often around here, but well... sometimes it does.

Winter salad (with some not so winter-y imported stuff, yeah, I know, I know...)

1 apple

1 handful corn salad

1 handful baby lettuce

1 red bell pepper

1/2 Belgian endive

1/2 handful sprouted mustard seeds

1 handful gizzards (you can substitute some bacon strips)

Wash and cut the salad leaves in small pieces, put them in a large salad bowl. Wash and cut the pepper and endive into small bits, add them to the salad. Do the same with the sprouted seeds.

Dice the gizzards (or bacon, or any small salty meat bits you fancy), grill them in a pan with a dash of oil until they turn lightly golden. Let them cool and add them to the salad.

Serve with salad dressing (don't add the dressing directly to the salad bowl, it "cooks" the salad leaves and any leftovers you would have would look pretty terrible on the next day).

WhileI'm at it, I can add a simple basic...

Salad dressing (a list of possible ingredients)

Strong mustard

Red wine vinegar / Tamari / Honey

Olive oil

Sunflower oil

Salt

Pepper

My recipe tends to change every time I make it, but the theory mostly stays the same. Take a small bowl. Start by thoroughly mixing 1 tablespoon mustard with vinegar. You can also add tamari or honey. Then, very slowly, add the various oils, stirring all along - you can do this with a simple fork. The dressing will get thicker and opaque as you add the oil. Add salt et pepper to taste, other spices if you want.

Sometimes, the dressing just doesn't ant to build a real emulsion, and the ingredients don't blend well together, or the oil separates form the rest after a while. Just mix again right before using the dressing, and don't worry, the taste will be the same. :)

A basic : pastry dough

It's not really a classic "pâte brisée", it's not really a precise recipe either - and I don't have pictures. But since I have several tart recipes ready to post with the ingredient "one pastry dough", I figured I should start with this. I use it for quiches, desserts and salty tarts as well.

Basic pastry dough

2 big tablespoons of butter - or vegetal butter subsitute

1 dash of oil (I like olive oil for the taste, but you can mix various oils according to your taste)

1 small glass of water

2 to 3 cups of flour

1 pinch of salt

Put the butter or substitute in a small bowl and melt it in the microwave (if it's not completely melted stir for a while and the remaining solid blobs will melt as well). Add the flour, oil and salt, start lightly mixing with your hand. At this stage your dough is a little fat and a little dry at the same time. Don't try to turn it into a ball yet !

Little by little, add some water, keep kneading lightly. Don't press or twist the dough too much or it will become hard once baked. With the water the dough will get more cohesion. Knead it lightly into a ball. Dust your tabletop with flour and simply roll the dough onto it - you don't need to let it rest before using it as it contains less butter than a regular pâte brisée.

I know it might seem off-putting to not give more precise measurements, but really, I go by a rule of thumbs to make my dough. Adding the water little by little allows me to stop when I have the right consistency - easy to knead, not too heavy, not crumbly anymore, not sticky either. At this point the dough doesn't stick to the skin anymore, just rub your hands with some flour to get rid of what is still attached to your fingers. If you added too much water and the dough got sticky, just compensate with some more flour.

With experience, you'll get a idea of yow much fat and flour you need for variosu quantities of dough.

Just remember :

• don't over-knead the dough (it will still taste good, but you'll need a good knife to cut the portions)
• don't stress :)

You can replace the butter by other fats, according to a wise cook I know, incorporating many different fats makes for a tastier dough. One way to decide how much oil to use it to pour the flour into the bowl, put your finger into the flour, vertically, and fill the hole with oil. It's probably not a scientific method, but it amuses me.

Off course, you can spice it up, with one tablespoon of sugar for sweet tarts, some spices, ground hazelnuts or almonds, ... (I have to admit, I rarely do, because I'm often lazy in the spices department, shame on me !)

Okay, now I've typed a mile-long post for something that's extremely simple, I hope I haven't scared off anyone !