quiche and much more..

my attempt in this blog is to get you to conceptualize a meal, how to balance flavors and textures and to allow you to not be a slave to a recipe. the two types of cookbooks i purchase nowadays are centered around science based "hacks" to creating a better meal, or chefs/ cooks who have a keen sense of how flavors can be enhanced by texture, acid and food combinations. i prefer italian cooking as a metaphor for all the value of being part of the process from seed to plate, either by advocating through your purchases the best quality you can get along the entire food chain. its fortunate that quality usually coincides with a producer's love of what they do, great olive oil can only be produced with love!

anyway, lets make a quiche! like i said, i won't give you a recipe, because you won't learn by extrinsic spoon feeding. let's take around eight free range pastured eggs and separate the yokes and the whites for four of them, set the whites aside. now mix the remaining eggs with some cream and some herbs, basil and thyme and parsley are nice. add salt and pepper. now add some ingredients you find in your fridge. maybe some goats cheese and some leftover bacon. maybe some pan fried mushrooms and some leftover brussel sprouts. mix it all together.

now, take your egg whites and whip them by hand or in a mixer until they are stiff. carefully fold the whites into your mixture, and put into a buttered round pie pan and into a 300 degree oven until the mixture sets, usually about an hour. remember: by adding air to the egg whites you've created a leavening agent, so be careful it doesn't spill over the sides. give it room to grow!  tap the sides carefully to see if your quiche has set and look for movement in the center. let it rest and serve cold or still warm..serve with a nice side salad..