Bon Appetit!

Last night Nate and I hosted a French-themed dinner party (mainly an excuse for me to practice my culinary prowess for a willing audience). I followed Queen Julia Child's instructions through the Bible (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) and made 2 recipes from it: Swiss Cheese Quiche and Ratatouille. 

I spent about 5 hours total cooking yesterday but the end result was fantastic! 

I began with making the quiche because the dough had to par-bake prior to being filled. 

Pastry Dough

2 cups all purpose flour, leveled

1 tsp salt

1/4 tbs sugar

6 ounces butter, chilled

4 Tbs vegetable shortening, frozen 

Half cup of iced water 

Julia approved of using a food processor to blend the dough so I did just that. 

Measure and level off flour and pour into bowl of food processor fitted with chopping blade. Cut butter into 1/2 inch slices and add into food processor. 

Add in other dry ingredients, put on the top and begin to pulse the food processor. Meanwhile, slowly pour in the water through the spout of the processor. Blend until the dough begins to pull together (DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH)

Empty the food processor onto a floured surface (I like wax paper for easy cleanup) and work dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in the fridge for 1 hour. 

Now if you're like me and do not have a quiche pan, don't fear! I just used my 8 inch spring form pan (worked like a dream!)

After an hour roll out dough to about 1/8 of an inch thickness and around 10 inches circumference. Put into greased pan and cut off any excess dough (you can add a decorative edge if you want). Puncture bottom of the dough with a fork to reduce puffing.

In order to keep the pastry from puffing up or collapsing, press greased aluminum foil in the bottom and up the sides and weigh down with dried beans or rice. Bake the crust at 400 for roughly 8-9 minutes or until just beginning to brown. 

Quiche au Fromage de Gruyere

(Swiss Cheese Quiche)

8 inch par-baked pastry dough

3 eggs (or 2 eggs and 2 yolks)

2 cups heavy whipping cream 

2 cups shredded Swiss cheese 

1/2 tsp salt

Pinch of pepper

Pinch of Nutmeg 

1-2 Tb butter cut into pea sized pieces 

Ok so how many of you hate grating cheese? Especially when it's a semi-soft cheese? You get out the box grater, the cheese ends up getting gummy and gross and then you have to wash the stupid grater!!! Well I decided to use my food processor fitted with the grating blade and I grated an entire block of Swiss cheese in less time than it took to put the processor together. 

Beat eggs, cream, seasonings and cheese together until blended. Pour into par-baked crust and distribute the butter pieces on top. 

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes (or until puffed and browned). The center of my quiche didn't set in the middle but don't worry, and as Julia says "don't apologize" just roll with it, trust me it was still absolutely delicious! The crust was flaky and buttery and the filling was cheesy, creamy and rich. 

Ratatouille 

(Eggplant Casserole with tomatoes, onions, peppers, and zucchini) 

1 pound eggplant, pealed

1 pound zucchini

1 tsp salt

4 Tbs olive oil

1 1/2 cups yellow onion, thinly sliced 

2 green peppers, sliced

2 cloves garlic, mashed

1 pound firm tomatoes, peeled, seeded and juiced (instructions below) 

3 Tbs minced parsley

2 Tbs Herbs de Provence (optional) 

So here is where Julia and I disagree a little bit. Last night I prepared this dish the way she instructed in the book, however I found the eggplant to be tough and hard to manage so I would suggest dicing the eggplant and zucchini rather than slicing into long pieces. 

Peel eggplant and dice the pieces into 1 inch pieces; dice the zucchini in the same way (peeling not necessary) put both into mixing bowl and toss with salt to remove excess moisture. Put bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

After the 30 minutes is up pat each piece with a paper towel to dry. Sauté veggies in olive oil for about 1 minute each side or until lightly browned and remove to a side dish. 

In same skillet cook onions and peppers in oil slowly for around 10 minutes. You want them to be tender but not browned. Stir in garlic and season with salt and pepper. 

Slice the tomato pulp into 3/8 inch strips. Lay them over the onions and peppers. Cover and cook over low for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes have begun to render their juices. Uncover and baste the tomatoes in their own juices, bring to a boil or until juice has almost entirely evaporated. Season with salt, pepper and Herbs.

In a 2 quart casserole dish, place a third of the tomatoe mixture (tomatoes, onions and peppers) in the bottom and sprinkle with 1 Tbs parsley, then do a layer of the eggplant and zucchini. Repeat this layering until you run out of ingredients. 

Cover the casserole and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Uncover and tip the casserole to baste with the rendered juices. Raise heat slightly and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes or until juices have evaporated leaving a spoonful or two of flavored olive oil. 

The flavors of this dish were spot on and despite the fact it was a completely vegetarian dish, the meal was quite filling, we served dinner with a bottle of 2012 Bordeaux and the dry flavors of the wine paired well with the natural sweetness of the vegetables. 

To Peel, Juice and Seed Tomatoes 

There is no bigger pain than peeling tomatoes. 

Being a pot to boil and place tomatoes 2 at a time in the boiling water for 15 seconds. Remove promptly and cut out the stem. Begin to peel off the skin at the stem hole. After all your tomatoes have been peeled, cut them in half crosswise and squeeze out all the seeds and juice.

While Julia and I did not see eye-to-eye on the cutting of the vegetables, these two recipes were incredible! I am already looking forward to the next time I can make a quiche. 

Enjoy, readers!