brunch and quiches
A good brunch is inconceivable without good company. One can, and sometimes needs to, eat one’s breakfast, lunch or dinner in solitude, but brunch is meant to be a convival affair, intimate but lively, where conversation flows as freely as coffee and one can afford to pay relatively little attention to food. After all, how adventurous can one get with eggs? (I shall leave aside my own misplaced childhood creativity, when I gleefully combined hard-boiled eggs with halved tomatoes and dots of sour cream to create replicas of highly poisonous mushrooms. They are known in Russian under the cheerful name of “death to flies.”)
The company at our housewarming brunch last Sunday was delightful, and the company has asked us to write about our quiches, so I will, after indulging in a little historical commentary.
As it happens, eggs had nothing to do with brunch as it appeared in England in the late 19th century (adding to the long list of British culinary contributions, such as the sandwich, banoffee pie, and Magna Carta). Brunch as a word was apparently invented in 1895 by Mr. Guy Beringer of Hunter’s Weekly, who wrote a passionate plea for introducing brunch as a meal. It was to be enjoyed upon returning from a Sunday morning hunt - or upon finally emerging out of bed after Saturday night’s carousing. It looked much like a caffeine-spiked dinner, less soup and vegetables, comprising cold cuts, meat loaves, ham toasts, and roasted larks for the ladies. Eggs became prominent only after brunch caught on in the States in the 1930s, first in hotel restaurants, then just about everywhere else. It was, I believe, a fortunate development.
Poached eggs and omelette have a longer brunch history than quiches do - perhaps because they are more impressive and less likely to be made for breakfast on a regular basis. They are hardly difficult, although making twelve individual ones might wear one down. Quiches are easy to make for any crowd, and flexible enough to accommodate any degree of culinary experimentation. The most difficult part of a quiche is the crust, and even here the difficulty is largely a myth, especially if you settle for a pat-in-the-pan crust that does not require any rolling. The rest of the quiche is simply filling bound with custard, baked until set. The number of possible fillings is infinite - the Joy will give you a good range of classics, and I have even seen quiche cook books - an example of soulless commercial publishing if ever there was one, for a quiche filling can be anything you want to make it (just don’t make it too wet), and the best cookbook is your own imagination. The two quiches we served were spinach and blue cheese, and roasted peppers, onions, and gouda.
For the spinach quiche:
- a bunch of spinach, sauteed over high heat to evaporate as much liquid as possible. Salt gently.
- about a quarter-pound of valdeon - a lovely Spanish blue, ripened in grape leaves. It is less sharp than cabrales, the more famous Spanish blue, and grape leaves give it a lovely herbal depth. Other blue cheeses would also work here, of course. Crumble and mix with cooled spinach.
For the roasted vegetable quiche:
- two or three medium-sized red peppers, well-roasted, peeled, and cut into strips. Most recipes I’ve seen tell you to roast peppers skin-up; roasting them skin-down will evaporate more liquid and concentrate flavor better. Hot oven.
- onions - either caramelized (it’s nice to have a stock of frozen ones!) or halved and roasted with the peppers.
- aged gouda. The quantity of gouda will depend on its age. We used the so-called “ancient gouda,” aged for four years and so concentrated in flavor that barely a tenth of a pound was required. It’s a fabulous cheese, its sharpness mellowed by age and framed with the smell of caramel. You will need a greater quantity of younger cheese.
For the custard, you’ll need three eggs and 1.5 cups of dairy per 9″ quiche. The Joy recommends heavy cream, but if the mere thought makes your arteries clog, you can go with half-and-half.
For pat-in-the-pan butter crust:
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 8 tbsp (one stick) butter, softened, cut into 8 pieces
- 2-3 tbsp heavy cream
Mix flour and salt thoroughly, add butter and mash with a fork or a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle cream and stir (or pulse in a food processor) until the mixture comes together. Press into a pie pan, pat evenly, and bake for 18-20 minutes in a 400F oven. Before adding quiche ingredients, brush the inside with an egg yolk mixed with a pinch of salt and bake 1-2 minute more.