Food and work stress has a relation. For some its directly proportional and some its inversely proportional. For me if I am low, I eat all rubbish, trashiest of the food possible, forgetting the self promises made to myself in the morning over the little struggle in trying to fit in the trouser. I have grown up eating deep fried oily stuff. So the memory and the taste buds both remain loyal to themselves. As luck would have had it, the office is located in the business hub and its almost streetfood on a platter. From Jhalmuri, Bhelpuri, chaats to numerous roll corners (the place has got some 8 roll shops in a 1 KM radius) to phuchka or golgappas to best of the Mughlai Parathas.

The restrain continues from Monday till Wednesday. However from the Wednesday evening, the flood gates break lose and we end up having everything which is supposedly bad and junk. I do not believe in such categorisation, as I love eating them. Period.

Madhushree keeps on trying different options for evening snacks. She recently tried out Quiche Lorraine.  Okay, its not a healthy option but isn’t eating unhealthy food made at home better than streetside food?

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Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients for short crust pastry

Butter Chilled and cubed 120 gms Egg 1 no
Flour 200 gms Salt A pinch

 

Ingredients for the filling

Bacon Chopped ½ cup Onions Cubed ½ cup
Eggs 2 nos Egg yolks 2 nos
Chives finely chopped a handful Parsley finely chopped 1 tbsp
Cheddar Cheese ½ cup grated Gouda Cheese ½ cup grated
Cream ½  cup plus a tbsp Olive Oil 1 tsp
Salt and Pepper For seasoning

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Method:

For making the short crust pastry:

  • Sift the flour in a bowl and place the chilled and cubed (small ones) butter in it. In my recipe, I used salted Amul butter; hence the pinch of salt is really not required. I added the salt to my list of ingredients, since a lot of people use unsalted butter for cooking.
  • With your fingers, rub the butter with the flour till the butter mixes with all the flour and resembles a grainy crumbly texture. For those of you, who possess a food processor, feel free to use it to pulse the whole thing. It is just easier and quicker.
  • Beat one egg lightly with a fork in a small bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix. Pour about half of the egg using a spoon into the well. If the egg is not very large, then you may require the whole egg. It is completely on judgement. There should be just about enough egg to bring this dough together. It should not be too moist also.
  • Now flatten the dough and cover it completely in cling film and place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
  • After 20 minutes, take the dough out and place it on a cling film on both sides. I find it easier to roll on pastry using the cling film, since it reduces the chances of the pastry breaking or sticking to the rolling pin.
  • Using a rolling pin, start rolling out the pastry to about 4 -5 mm thickness. Take a quiche tin of about 7 inch in diameter. Remove the top part of the cling film. Gently slide your hand under the bottom of the cling film and quickly reverse and place on the quiche tin.
  • With your fingers, line the entire tin, along with the sides with the pastry. Once it is completely lined, without any air bubbles, remove the cling film.
  • Its now time to blind bake the pastry in a pre heated over at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes. For blind baking, I simply use rice filled up in cling film and place it inside. The cling film does not melt or burn in the oven.
  • After 20 mins, take the rice out and brush the tart with an egg wash (with whatever left over egg) and pop it in the oven for another few minutes till its firm and golden.

The Filling:

  • Now we move to the easy part. In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and fry the bacon until it is crispy. Remove the bacon and in the same oil, fry the onions till they are translucent gold. Remove the onions and place them on a paper towel and once the oil has drained, mix it with the bacon.
  • In a bowl, take the rest of the ingredients and mix properly. Add the bacon and the onions. For the herbs, not sure whether chives are used in the original recipe. I had some chives in the refrigerator and hence I used them. It did give a good flavor.
  • Most people use Gruyere cheese in Quiche Lorraine. Again, I had some gouda cheese in my kitchen, hence used it. It did taste good and I believe, the original Quiche Lorraine never had cheese and onions and cheese was added by the English at a later stage. There is nothing definite about this, however, now a days, everybody uses cheese in quiche Lorraine.
  • Now pour the filling on top of the baked pastry and pop it back into the oven for about 30 to 35 minutes or until its set in the centre.
  • This can be had either warm or even straight out from the refrigerator.

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