I was walking through Chapters yesterday (I am retired, so I can do that)
when I spotted Ricardo Larrivée's current book and in it was an asparagus
and egg pie.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...very-Occasion-
Ricardo-Larrivee/9781552859643-item.html?ref=Books%3a+Search+Top+Sellers

http://tinyurl.com/nemmw9

I remembered we had asparagus, eggs, ham and goat's milk cheese. The
idea was appealing for supper, but doing two kinds of asparagus on a
large cookie sheet and with eggs on top wasn't quite what I fewlt I could
accomplish so I started thinking and came up with a quiche-like pie with
puff pastry.

I bought a frozen pair of puff pastries and defrosted one. I figured the
best to unmold something like that, once cooked, would be my 10" (25cm)
round springform pan. The pastries come rolled up with a length of
parchment paper, so no need to grease. I then thought of adding
mushrooms, ham (we have nice slices of tuscan ham) and goat's milk
cheese. I debated about adding gruyère but that would be too much dairy
for some people.

So with my wife's assistance (she's more used to working pastry than I
am), we made the parchment paper and pastry dough fit into the springform
pan, laid the ingredients on top of each other (first asparagus, then
mushrooms and leeks sautéed, then ham, and finally, goat's milk cheese).
Over that I put a standard quiche mixture (three eggs beaten with 1.5 cup
[375 ml] of 10% cream) and put it in the oven at 375F (190C) for 25
minutes. I checked it, left it in another ten minutes, and another. At
that point it was done. It had puffed up nicely up the sides, making a
dam for the ingredients in the centre. I suppose I could have covered it
with another puff pastry (and I may do that on a subsequent attempt) but
I thought simple is better first time out.

We ate half last night and the other half for breakfast this morning.
Basically, this made good use of items already in the house, except for
the puff pastry, cream and mushrooms.

Caveat: I sautéed the asparagus lightly in oil. Not sure if that was
what did it, but they turned out somewhat mushy (or rather the same
texture as canned asparagus). Next time, they go in cold and maybe
closer to the top.

Also the quiche mixture was a bit too moist, so next time, I'll cut back
on the cream and substitute the difference with goat's milk cheese
(rather than adding it).

--

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest
of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest
good of everyone. - John Maynard Keynes

Michel Boucher wrote:
<snip>
A few hints :

> I bought a frozen pair of puff pastries and defrosted one. I figured the
> best to unmold something like that, once cooked, would be my 10" (25cm)
> round springform pan. The pastries come rolled up with a length of
> parchment paper, so no need to grease.

Butter the form and throw away the paper.
The crust will be better.

<snip>
> So with my wife's assistance (she's more used to working pastry than I
> am), we made the parchment paper and pastry dough fit into the springform
> pan,
Use a fork to puncture the dough at the bottom.
That will take care of most of the sogginess.

> laid the ingredients on top of each other (first asparagus, then
> mushrooms and leeks sautéed, then ham, and finally, goat's milk cheese).
> Over that I put a standard quiche mixture (three eggs beaten with 1.5 cup
> [375 ml] of 10% cream) and put it in the oven at 375F (190C) for 25
> minutes.
Standard mixture :
3 eggs
250 ml cream (not 10% cream)
125 g cheese
a little white pepper
salt
nutmeg (if you like it)

Use 200C.
Bake the quiche on the second rail from below in the oven.
For roughly 40 minutes.

> I checked it, left it in another ten minutes, and another. At
> that point it was done. It had puffed up nicely up the sides, making a
> dam for the ingredients in the centre. I suppose I could have covered it
> with another puff pastry (and I may do that on a subsequent attempt) but
> I thought simple is better first time out.
>
A quiche isn't covered.

<snip>
> Caveat: I sautéed the asparagus lightly in oil. Not sure if that was
> what did it, but they turned out somewhat mushy (or rather the same
> texture as canned asparagus). Next time, they go in cold and maybe
> closer to the top.
>
Don't saute them. Blanche them in boiling water until half done.
Be careful - the tips should be above the water.

> Also the quiche mixture was a bit too moist, so next time, I'll cut back
> on the cream and substitute the difference with goat's milk cheese
> (rather than adding it).

Cut back on the asparagus. It looses a lot of water.
Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner

"Michael Kuettner" > wrote in
:

> Michel Boucher wrote:
> <snip>
> A few hints :
>
>> I bought a frozen pair of puff pastries and defrosted one. I figured
>> the best to unmold something like that, once cooked, would be my 10"
>> (25cm) round springform pan. The pastries come rolled up with a
>> length of parchment paper, so no need to grease.
>
> Butter the form and throw away the paper.
> The crust will be better.

The crust is already buttered.

> <snip>
>> So with my wife's assistance (she's more used to working pastry than
>> I am), we made the parchment paper and pastry dough fit into the
>> springform pan,
> Use a fork to puncture the dough at the bottom.
> That will take care of most of the sogginess.

Good idea.

> Standard mixture :
> 3 eggs
> 250 ml cream (not 10% cream)
> 125 g cheese
> a little white pepper
> salt
> nutmeg (if you like it)

Those were my proportions (except for the 375ml of cream). The 10% cream
was to try to make it "lite" and compensating with goat's milk cheese.
It could have been better.

> Use 200C.
> Bake the quiche on the second rail from below in the oven.
> For roughly 40 minutes.

Ok.

>> I checked it, left it in another ten minutes, and another. At
>> that point it was done. It had puffed up nicely up the sides, making
>> a dam for the ingredients in the centre. I suppose I could have
>> covered it with another puff pastry (and I may do that on a
>> subsequent attempt) but I thought simple is better first time out.
>>
> A quiche isn't covered.

I know that. I was thinking of trying another thing entirely.

> <snip>
>> Caveat: I sautéed the asparagus lightly in oil. Not sure if that was
>> what did it, but they turned out somewhat mushy (or rather the same
>> texture as canned asparagus). Next time, they go in cold and maybe
>> closer to the top.
>>
> Don't saute them. Blanche them in boiling water until half done.
> Be careful - the tips should be above the water.

Got it.

>> Also the quiche mixture was a bit too moist, so next time, I'll cut
>> back on the cream and substitute the difference with goat's milk
>> cheese (rather than adding it).
>
> Cut back on the asparagus. It looses a lot of water.
> Hope that helps.

There weren't that many, but then again that could have been too many
still.

Thanks.

--

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest
of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest
good of everyone. - John Maynard Keynes