Quiche (or Refrigerator Pie)

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It has been ages already since I wrote a post of me cooking. The truth is with all the activities going around, including the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, I haven’t taken my time to look for new things to try. I did cook but mostly simple, quick fix type recipes. However, there was dish I have had in my mind for quite some time.

See, I like eggs, with one of my personal favourite dishes being the Chinese steamed egg, it was only a matter of time for me to prepare the Western version of this dish: quiche. But… But… There is one thing that really bothered me: that of stereotyping men for eating this dish, as referred to in a “book“. Sure, it is tongue-in-cheek but, when I first ordered it long time ago, there was an endless poking fun of me. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good dish but… So, as Alton Brown puts is, just call it “refrigerator pie” to be safe of such fun poking. With that in mind, it was a matter of time I wanted to try it myself…

And, since I mentioned Alton Brown, I had to, of course, try his recipe, as listed in Food Network’s site:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
• 2 eggs
• 2 pinches kosher salt
• Freshly grated nutmeg

For 1 Refrigerator Pie:

• 1 frozen 9-inch pie crust

Any one of the following combinations:

• Cooked spinach, cheddar cheese, cubed cooked ham
• Bacon, Sauteed leeks, and Gruyere cheese
• Cooked spinach, canned artichoke hearts, and Parmesan cheese
• Roasted chicken, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes
• Blanched asparagus and smoked salmon
• Port Salut and Spam

Instructions

In a nonreactive, stainless steel bowl, combine the cream or half-and-half and the eggs. Whisk until combined thoroughly. Add the salt and the nutmeg. Whisk to combine.

Refrigerator Pie Rules: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Evenly distribute the pie fillings in the pie crust. Do not overfill the crust with the filling ingredients. Do not pour too much royale into the crust. The eggs will expand upon cooking. Bake the pie until it is firm to the touch like set Jell-O, about 45 minutes. Cool the pie for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

I will admit, the recipe was extremely more simple than what I thought! But, I knew there ought to be a trick. And, the only way to find that out was to prepare it… In my case, I used a variation of the ingredients above (as it was unlikely I would have one of the particular combinations listed above). And that meant…

Yes, I used spinach, browned pork and mushroom. Well, I had to use what I had in hand! So, after preparing the egg/half-and-half combination and baked it, I ended up with…

Not too shabby if say so myself. Actually… No… While visually looks good, the end result wasn’t as I expected. First, despite I let it rest for 15 minutes, when I finally cut a piece, the interior was still soft (a bit too soft). I guess I should have waited longer but hunger took the best of me… Furthermore, I don’t think spinach was a good ingredient to use (used fresh), as the whole strand slipped out. I guess I should have chopped it down… However, that did not deter me from trying a second time, this time using chicken, onions and mushroom (yes, I love mushroom!).

Again, not too shabby. In fact, this worked quite well, specially after I waited a bit longer. However, there was also one problem: because I used a supermarket bought roasted chicken, when it was the oven, its juices started to ooze out of the meat. That resulted in additional liquid which the dough couldn’t handle too well after cutting into it. It wasn’t bad but, again, it could have been the ingredient combination. So, that meant I had that window of opportunity to try a third time, this time with an additional twist: try to make the crust myself.

Now, this is to address two separate issues: Other than quick breads (like muffins or banana bread), I need to learn to work with flour. And the one problem I had while using a store-bought crust: it was a pain to cut that first piece!

And, to do prepare that dough, I used this recipe:

• 1.5 cups of flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of butter (chilled)
• 1 large butter
• 1/4 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of ice cold water

Here, we “cut” the butter into the flour and salt. Afterwards, mix the rest of the ingredients into the flour to make a dough. Flatten the dough into a pie pan and “flute” the rim. I will admit I did not know what this meant and left the dough “as is” after I flatten it into the pan and set it at the bottom. Let’s just say, keep on reading… Anyway, put this into the fridge one hour or overnight to chill down. Before using it, blind bake it at 350F (~175C) for 20 minutes. Now, one thing I chose to skip was to prick the bottom and sides with a fork before blind baking it (as per recipe). Let’s just say I was taking my chances here…

While that was blind baking, I prepared the filling and, this time, I cooked some chunks of dark chicken meat in a pan – the same with some leeks and mushroom. Once everything was ready…

Now, if you thought the not removing the excess dough was an epic fail, wait for what happened next… I mentioned above that I didn’t prick the bottom and side because I thought the liquid filling would overrun and leak out (in theory, if I do this well, it shouldn’t happen). However, what I did not take into consideration was that there might have been “holes” in the dough itself! And here is what happened…

Yes, the egg custard filling leaked out the dough. It was fortunate I had some foil at the bottom because I had some bad feeling… But, past that (and removing the excess doughs from the rim), I will have to say it actually turned out quite well! In fact, the fact I used a pie pan, help me “dismount” the quiche whole (though, of course, the fact that the egg was baked into the pan posed a challenge).

Indeed, I am quite proud I was able to make this and boost to a certain extent my confidence into prepare doughs (for pastry or, who knows, pasta!). However, while good, I don’t think it has topped down the Chinese steamed egg. But, for a recipe where I can have left overs and have it the following day, I think this one will work quite well. So, here again, my end result slice of quiche…

Tagged under: Random • Recipe