Quiche

"What is your favorite food?"  What kind of question is that?  How can you pick one?  You mean today, right now?  Or, "If you had one last meal-what would you eat?"  Hey, I am not interested in that 'one last meal idea'.  I have too many things left to do-I still don't have my new Anapeg pedal steel guitar!  Or, "If you had one thing to eat on a desert island-what would it be?"

As a matter of fact, I have been thinking about my favorite food & today, it is definitely quiche-Quiche Lorraine, the traditional, is probably my absolute favorite, but I have others.  This is a dish that can be eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner.  A quiche of course is a pre-baked savory pie crust that is filled with a blend of Emmenthal & Gruyere cheeses, topped with bacon bits & diced green onions, & filled with a mix of eggs, half & half, salt, pepper & grated nutmeg.  You use enough swiss cheese to fill the pie crust-not enough & the mix is too eggy- too much & the mix is too rubbery from the cheese.  

This morning I was eating at Tre Kroner, a Swedish restaurant in Chicago & after looking at their menu, I noticed they had a smoked salmon quiche.  It sounds good but decide not to order it because, after all, we are in a Swedish restaurant, not French.  However, my daughter Ashley feels no such qualms & happily orders it.  As it arrives I notice that the pie slice is fairly deep dish. This salmon quiche was good, but too much egg & not enough seasoning. I would have added dill maybe chosen a danish cheese for the filling.

 Now, my quiche pans are not deep dish.  I have the traditional tin pans with a fluted edge & a removable bottom.  They probably hold one or two handfuls of cheese & 3 eggs & one cup of half & half.  They might be about 3/4 of an inch high.

The pan they used at Tre Kronor must be an inch or inch & 1/2 tall.  I saw a quiche pan like that last summer when I was in Vallerus, France.  That is a potter's town north of Antibes on the French Rivera.  My other daughter, Nikki was studying pottery there during the summer & on a visit to her, I found a shop with these wonderful ceramic quiche pans-red, blue, green, orange, yellow and I looked but didn't buy one.  They were something like 25 Euros-about $50.00 each at the time & I figured I could get one here somewhere for less.

The reason I noticed them that day is because we had just taken an inland drive through Grasse; Gourdon & had stopped for lunch at Greolieres, a very small village with two restaurants that I could see, one of which was a Pizzeria.  None of us got pizza though.  What caught my eye was a tomato cheese tart.  When it arrived, I noticed it was also baked in one of these deep dish pans.  The mixture of cheese, egg custard & tomatoes was perfect-not too much egg & not rubbery with the cheese.  In fact, they might not have used swiss in the pie-maybe some type of goat cheese.  I never asked.  

Quiches can be filled with anything within reason.  I use spinach; grilled vegetables; the afore-mentioned salmon; bacon or tomatoes.  I love them all.

I think I'll go look for a deep dish pan tomorrow.