The Classics Revisited, Pastry I mean…
June 18th, 2008Visited 457 times, 2 so far today
close up shot of quiche de fruits de mer
One of the perks of being a teaching chef is I get to enjoy making and eating classic French desserts which are no longer sold commercially and done with the best of ingredients. Four times during the year do I get to demonstrate and make for my students, the royalties of pastry, Gateau St Honore and Paris Brest. It is made with rich pate brisee, luscious and melts in the mouth, crème patissiere lightened with velvety crème chantilly. Oh, how should I say, a spoonful of these desserts and 10 lbs of fat to regret, and there’s more, praline paste is further added to the lightened crème patissiere for flavor as a filling for the Paris Brest. Additional crème chantilly is further used to decorate both desserts and caramel, hard thread stage sugar is spun and sprinkle to create a halo or confectionery dome to complete the Gateau….oh, a dessert made for the patron saint of pastry chefs and another to commemorate a bicycle race between the cities of Paris and Brest, even people think they are easy to make, they’re not. I always get to burn my fingers when attaching the crème puffs into the walls of the Gateau and this is sugar that burns the skin, the pain lingers, heeheee…..we also did some quiches which generally is becoming very popular with Pinoys but are becoming more minute due to the staggering prices of its ingredients. I enjoy these days but everyone is getting so mixed up with what goes first the pate brisee or the pate a choux….in time, they get it and in time, we all enjoy the grand dames of the French dessert world.
As much as I want to share my recipe for the classics, I can’t – I never owned the recipe, better yet enroll in our one year professional program and get to learn more.
Vegetarian Quiche is what I had in mind for you in this post, something that’s rich but with some healthiness infused into it.
Vegetarian Quiche
Ingredients:
Quiche Dough:
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
50 gms butter, chilled and cut into ¼ inch pcs.
½ cups shortening, chilled and cut into ¼ inch pcs.
1 pc egg, beaten
6-7 tbsps cold water
Procedure:
Sift together dry ingredients.
Cut in butter and shortening into dry ingredients and rub between
finger tips until it resembles coarse meal. Add in egg. Toss.
Then add enough water for the dough to bind together.
Rest in the chiller for 30 minutes to an hour.
Roll out dough into a circle to fit a quiche/tart pan.
Fill with custard mixture.
Filling:
¼ cup butter
1 pc onion, chopped
150 gms fresh button mushrooms, sliced
50 gms fresh oyster mushrooms, sliced
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup fresh milk
4 pcs eggs
100 gms assorted cheeses, grated e.g. gruyere, parmesan
salt
freshly ground pepper
Procedure: Preheat oven to 350 F.
Melt butter in a saute pan. Add onions and cook until translucent.
Add button and oyster mushrooms, cook for 10 minutes.
Mix well and season to taste. Set aside to cool.
Beat eggs until liquefied. Add in heavy cream and milk.
Season to taste.
Sprinkle mushroom mixture into quiche dough.
Add in grated cheese. Then pour custard.
Bake for 40-50 minutes.
Serve warm, at room temperature or cold.
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June 20th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Thanks for this recipe. I certainly will make this. It is rare to find good vegetarian recipes in postings like this. I guess the market for vegetarian dishes is still limited. There aren’t many good vegetarian restaurants around much less a gourmet one. I am looking forward to more postings like these. Vegetarian food need not be sad. Best regards and see you soon.