week 9: Spring Bling

Spring has sprung... and it seemed appropriate with the cherry trees boasting their colourful display of blossom, the Hawke' s Bay sun radiating down and summer attire being dusted off and worn... that a "lighter" dish from Julia's repertoire of recipes was in order.

The idea of a quiche seemed appropriate .. the classic Quiche Lorraine. Hmmm... maybe not so light with  2 cups of cream. Although I did take the recommended option of 1 cup cream and 1 cup milk.
I hadn't done the partially cooked pastry shell before, and I hadn't performed an "unmould the quiche" before. I had always followed Alison Holst',s true and tested, "meals without meat" self crusting quiche recipes - with no mention of cream.

I was reassured by Julia's comments that making a Quiche Lorraine was practically foolproof... and simple to make.  I did need to invest in a couple of items that were missing from my kitchen assembly of goods. I needed a false bottom (call me a Kardashian) pan. And being alarmed at the thought of having to find a supply of dried beans quickly, I splashed out on the ceramic baking beans, " Baking bling"  (1/2 price) when I purchased my quiche pan. These are probably the first bling item I have ever brought!

I had completed a good day in the garden ferociously weeding a vegetable patch that had been overrun, although it still had a good crop of parsley I was feeling particularly proud of. Before making the quiche I sat down to enjoy a pre-dinner snack and drink. Note to self... after a days gardening make sure one hydrates with water and other non-alcoholic beverages before starting on the wine. Feeling rather light headed and thankful I wasn't about to embark on a 4 course meal the quiche making begun. Pastry already in fridge ready for action, I wacked it with no mercy so loudly the family came to investigate. Julia did instruct "if the dough is hard , beat it with the rolling pin..."

I rolled, lifted and turned the pastry... rolled out onto the pan and even made the decorative edge. Slight loss of focus saw me tipping the baking bling straight onto the pastry then reading the instructions of "ensure there is a layer of cooking paper between the pastry and ceramic balls"...This meant I had to tip out the beans... and pour back in once paper was in situ. Nevertheless to say there were a number of these little ceramic balls pinging around the bench and floor. Loss of focus #2 saw the addition of allspice rather than nutmeg. It's the urghh moment when you realise you have done something wrong and you have gone past the point of no return. Luckily it wasn't a significant problem. The Quiche Lorraine was well received and although the pastry shell could have done with a little more cooking the family ate it with relish. Lucky this recipe was fool-proof!

spring bling

The shell

Healthy salad