Quiche for all
Good morning, here we are we’ve hit May. It’s been an event filled couple of weeks.
Spring, Sprang, Sprung bake sale with Georgia and Louis at Leila’s was a joy. The sun shined for us and lots of lovely people came throughout the day. My favourite item I made was the ricotta and blackcurrant bun, which I developed for the event. Blackcurrants are I believe a rather under appreciated fruit and I’m constantly cheerleading for them. Mixed with creamy Long Lane sheep’s milk ricotta that made a great filling for a squidgy, swirly bun maybe not the most appealing to look at but it was my top bake of the day. We had some beautiful items but I was particularly impressed by Georgias pizza fritti, made with Nottingham Mill coop flour half sifted half wholegrain, a fried pizza dough that puffs up and then served with tomato sauce and ricotta, it was heavenly. Georgia is always up for trying any flour that I throw at her and mixing up her sifted and wholegrain ratios.
Then for the bank holiday weekend Georgia and I ventured to Dorset, an area of the UK I haven’t spent very much time. We were cooking dinner on the Friday and Saturday at 101 Bridport. This small slightly shabby but charming restaurant is run by 2 sisters who do an amazing job of working with local suppliers and have created a wonderful spot with simple but delicious food that locals swarm to. They looked after us very well so we had everything needed to have an enjoyable weekend of cooking.
The menu included asparagus tart with wholegrain rough puff and Dorset grown asparagus, super fresh crab salads, chicken cacciatore, white beans with leeks and spring greens à la greque, custard tarts, ginger and rye cake with garden rhubarb and ice cream. All the flour I used was wholegrain or rye and came from a local mill called Tamarisk Farm.
Then we also had some time to explore the Dorset coast, including bluebell woods, plenty of bracing sea swims, fossil beaches and bank holiday strolling, I highly recommend stopping at Bridport if you ever find yourself nearby or in need of some British seaside rejuvenation.
So to this week’s recipe one from the bake sale, a Spring vegetable quiche. Quiche has a slightly bad rep for various reasons. I was definitely opposed to quiche for years, you’d see it looking rather shriveled and insipid in a fridge definitely not looking so appealing. I remember the first time this changed which was when I made quiche at Violet Cakes, where they make a really deep one and always baked to a good colour, it was delicious!
The first question that needs to be answered is who the heck’s Lorraine? Well Lorraine is a region of France where quiche was often eaten particularly on May Day for years before anyone else had heard of it. Originally made with a bread dough rather than pastry, it seems everyone is very strict about how the filling should just be 3 ingredients; egg, cream and bacon. The rest of the world cottoned on to quiche in the 20th Century and more variations appeared, it can be eaten cold, warm or hot, so making it very versatile. Despite going in and out of fashion and definitely having a rather Hyacinth Bucket moment in the 70’s, Mary Berry describes it as an essential at any Summer party, and it’s often seen as a reliable picnic food. It caused some what of a brouhaha in the 80’s when Bruce Feirstein brought out his book “Real men don’t eat quiche.”
Quiche is a brilliant vehicle for any season really and a great way of using up your fridge leftovers. There has been some dispute about the use of cheese in quiche, but I’m always pro cheese and a light fresh cheese like ricotta or goats curd always sings at this time of year. There’s space for complete creativity when it comes to your filling, for the bake sale we opted for leeks, spring greens and goats curd but you are free to customise however you feel although nice to keep it seasonal.
King Charles is a big fan of a quiche, and chose it as his coronation dish. Although I did object to him having broad beans in there, as the beginning of May is a bit too early for the British broad bean!
