Quiche Honore
In some ways the Quiche once seemed a fad to sweep this country with its various combined versions of savory ingredients served at luncheons, brunches, light dinners, and oftentimes in different shapes and sizes at all types of parties and gatherings.
Despite its flavor and ease of serving hot, cold, or room temperature the vogue also seemed to coincide with the saying “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche.” I dare say that many of those who took to this buzz line constantly repeated like a top twenty hit hardly realized that the line was the title of a book merely ‘satirizing the stereotypes of masculinity.’
Nevertheless, there it was out there like the incubation of a chicken sitting on eggs until finally pushed out. Shortly thereafter, the women’s luncheon dish and the trend of the popular ready to go gourmet take-out dish then faded to the next emerging taste.
Perhaps the essence in the longstanding commonality of the Quiche was doomed at the beginning om its name Lorraine. Perhaps the Quiche would have served better longevity as Quiche Arthur or Quiche Philippe with its same traditional common ingredients, crispy cooked bacon, perhaps ham. Who could deny ‘real men’ enjoying such a dish.
I have never really stopped appreciating the value of a good Quiche admiring its versatility in preparing between many choice ingredients then seasoned and blended together in one light, crusty, creamy delight.
Today’s Quiche of crabmeat, cheese, and parsley decoratively topped with arranged thin blanched asparagus and seeded cherry tomatoes is one among the endless possibilities created with this humble yet elegant dish that seems to deserve some culinary stature, Honore. Therefore, I’ve decided to call the recipe Quiche Honore, a decidedly manly name and complementary to Lorraine’s family. Perhaps someday at the next resurgence filling the fluted tart pans we shall gather at the table together proclaiming ‘Real People Do Eat Quiche.’
Quiche Honore
Ingredients
- For the Quiche Filling:
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 1/4 cups crab meat, picked through of shells
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1 bunch pencil thin fresh asparagus, tough bottom part snapped off, blanched in boiling water for one-minute, refreshed in ice water
- 6-8 Cherry Tomatoes, halved, squeezed of seeds
- For Preparing the Quiche Crust:
- 1 10" Fluted Tart Pan
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 ready-made Pie Crust
Instructions
- Preparing the Quiche Filling: In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and heavy cream, sprinkle in the nutmeg, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Stir in the shredded cheese and parsley. Gently fold in the crab meat, cover and refrigerate quiche mixture for one-half hour
- Preparing the crust: Lightly grease and flour a fluted tart pan with a tablespoon of butter, roll out pie crust then overlay onto the tart pan, setting in, covering the grooved sides of the pan with a little overlap, the crust will shrink a bit when baking. Use a fork and prick a half dozen small holes into the bottom of pie crust, refrigerate fitted dough for ten to fifteen minutes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove crust in tart pan from the refrigerator, bake for seven minutes set on top of a parchment lined baking sheet, remove from oven
- Pour Crab and Egg Mixture into the slightly baked pie crust. Decoratively arrange blanched asparagus and cherry tomatoes around the top
- Bake quiche approximately one hour until the egg mixture is set and the top is golden brown
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