- [Andrew] A good friend is someone
who appreciates your personality in a way that few can.
So today, my best friend and I
are basking in each other's unique way of doing things
with the uniquely delicious flavors in The Botanist Gin.
This gin comes from a small island
off the wild west coast of Scotland,
and makes a spring Botanist and Tonic
actually worth coming out of hibernation for.
Here's to the start of spring, and friendship,
and to the subject of today's episode,
a spring vegetable quiche.
Let's get down to basics.
(light midtempo music)
Alright, so we're gonna start off by making
a nice easy quiche crust, by virtue of a food processor.
Into the bowl of said processor goes 145g,
or about one cup of all-purpose flour,
and a half teaspoon kosher salt,
which we're just gonna pulse together to combine.
Then we're adding 113g or one stick
of refrigerator cold cubed unsalted butter,
which we're gonna process together
while pouring about 45mls or three tablespoons
of ice cold water through the feed tube.
We then want it to come together into a ball of dough,
so if it does not,
then go ahead and add another tablespoon of water.
And as soon as it starts to form big old clumps,
we're gonna dig it out,
begin wrapping it thoroughly in plastic wrap,
and press it into a disc.
This is gonna make it easier to roll out into a circle
after it spends a bare minimum of one hour in the fridge.
Its fridge stint now complete,
we're ready to roll it out
on a generously floured work surface.
At first pounding, and then rolling out
to a diameter about two inches wider
than your intended baking vessel.
I'm gonna be using a nine inch fluted tart pan,
so I'm going for an even foot.
Drape the pie dough over the tart pan,
and then we wanna sort of lift and drop the dough,
not press and stretch it into the corners.
Once we've done that, we then want to press it
to fill out the fluted edges.
A great way to do this is
with a little ball of dough,
so your hot, warm fingers don't start to melt
all that nicely chilled butter.
Once shaped, this guy's headed back into the fridge
for yet another 30 minutes.
I know this is annoying,
but this is what prevents your crust from shrinking
and deforming in the oven, which is where it's headed next,
but first we need to weigh it down.
Now, you could line the crust with aluminum foil,
but a crumpled up piece of parchment paper
does a much better job.
You just gotta make sure it's really thoroughly crumpled.
If you have to,
pop it in your mouth and give it a few chews.
I know this seems gross, but it's perfectly normal,
I'm just kidding, don't do that.
Go ahead and crumple one up that has not been in your mouth
and press it into your quiche crust.
Now to weigh it down, you can use pie weights,
or beans, or rice, but I really like sugar.
It really gets in all the nooks and crannies
and presses down thoroughly and evenly on the crust,
and turns into flavorful toasted sugar in the oven,
which is lovely to bake with.
Speaking of which,
it's headed into a 375°F oven for 25 minutes
before we remove whatever pie weights we're using,
and returning our crust to the oven
for another five to 10 minutes until it's lightly browned
and the surface is totally dry.
Now, while it's still relatively soft,
we wanna trim off all that overhang
so that our quiche will have a nice clean edge
and we'll be able to get it out of the pan.
Carefully shake out any errant crumbs if you made any,
and set this guy aside to cool completely
while we prepare our filling and examine our crust.
As you can see, it's a light and tender shortcrust
with many flaky layers and excellent snackability.
Once you're done snacking, onto the filling.
Now bear in mind that I'm making fillings
for multiple quiches right now,
so don't pay attention to how much I'm doing,
just what I'm doing.
We will have a correct amounts
in the written recipe on the website.
To start with some caramelized leeks,
we're basically gonna thinly slice some leeks
and soak them in water for about 10 minutes,
and then slowly cook them in a glug of olive oil
over medium low heat for about half an hour,
covering occasionally and adding a splash of water
if necessary until they are a soft, brown, and jammy.
Season those with a little kosher salt
and freshly ground black pepper and set them aside to cool.
Next up, some sauteed mushrooms.
You can use whatever kind of mushrooms you like,
I got some sliced baby bellas here.
And so I can feel like a fancy, fancy boy,
I've got some oyster mushrooms,
which I'm gonna cut off their root thing,
and roughly chop into bite sized pieces.
Now, mushrooms contain a lot of moisture,
so it is especially important
that we cook them prior to adding them to our quiche.
I'm gonna simply saute them in a pat of butter
with a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme,
and we'll give them a little sprinkle of kosher salt,
which is gonna help draw out their moisture.
We're cooking them for seven to eight minutes
over at medium heat
until their liquid has released and evaporated
and they're starting to brown.
Lose the thyme sprigs and likewise, set these aside to cool.
Next step, some nice skinny spears of asparagus.
Everyone in my life has always told me
that you should trim asparagus by snapping it,
but I'm here to tell you, you can just cut it, it's fine.
We're likewise chopping the asparagus into bite size pieces
before dumping into some boiling water
and shocking in an ice bath
after cooking for about five minutes.
Boiling will obviously parcook the asparagus
and shocking it in an ice bath will preserve
its beautiful green color,
and cooling it off fast will prevent it
from getting mushy.
Last step, some simply sauteed spinach.
Little bit of olive oil and a nice hot pan,
add way more spinach than you think
can feasibly fit in there,
and cook over medium high heat
until it's shrunk to about a bajillionth
of its original size.
At this point, we're gonna crush in a clove or two of garlic
and continue sauteeing for another 30 seconds
or until fragrant.
Season with a little bit of kosher salt
and freshly ground pepper, and just like everything else,
set it aside and allow it to cool completely.
Next up, the all-important custard.
And once again, I'm making multiple quiches here,
so do as I say, not as I do.
And the recipes will be adjusted on the website.
Into a medium bowl goes two large eggs,
a half cup of milk and a half cup of heavy cream.
Whisk that together with a dash of white pepper
until homogenous.
And then for a shallow quiche like this one,
we're gonna start by laying down
a thin bed of gruyere cheese,
followed by any and all of our parcooked spring vegetables.
Then we're gonna pour our custard over top
until the quiche is very nearly full,
it's gonna puff up a little bit in the oven.
Top with a little extra cheese or a lot of extra cheese,
plop it on top of a rimmed baking sheet
to protect your oven from any accidental drippage.
Then we're gonna bake it at 375°F for 10 minutes,
lower the temperature to 325, and bake for an additional 30.
You want the edges to be set
but for it to be still a little jiggly in the center.
Let it cool for at least half an hour
before removing it from the tart pan and serving.
And you can serve this guy warm at room temperature
or chilled in the fridge overnight.
And it makes for a delicious and versatile breakfast,
lunch, or dinner.
But what if we want to make a quiche
that really blows the bloody doors off?
Well, first we have to make ourselves
an honest to god pie crust,
and my new favorite way to do it is in a stand mixer.
This is gonna be a much larger quiche,
so this is double the recipe that we did
in the food processor.
And we're gonna use the paddle attachment on low speed
to break up the butter into the dry ingredients
until it's in varied chunks, about the size of blueberries.
At that point, we're gonna add our ice water
just a little bit at a time
until it starts to clump together into a cohesive pie dough,
which we're going to treat very much the same
as the other pie dough.
Press it into a disc using plastic wrap
and fridge it for at least 30 minutes,
or up to overnight if you want to get ahead
in the quiche game.
This time, we're gonna roll it out
to a diameter of about 18 inches
because our intended vessel
is stay high walled, nine inch springform pan.
Getting the dough in here is a bit tricky.
We're gonna roll it up on the rolling pin itself
in order to drape it as centered as possible
over the spring form.
Then in order to prevent holes and rips and tears,
you really have to lift and drop this one into the pan,
knowing that your patience will be rewarded
with a tall, proud crust.
Into the fridge it goes for 30 minutes
before we commence to parbaking.
Same procedure here, but this time,
we're using two crumpled up sheets of parchment paper
and just a whole lot more sugar,
this thing ate, like, six pounds of sugar.
But don't worry, none of it is going to waste,
toasted sugar is your friend.
We're parbaking at 375 for the same 25 minutes,
carefully removing the sugar,
and returning to the oven for an additional 10 to 15 minutes
until it no longer looks wet.
Then, same as before,
we're trimming off the excess
and allowing to cool completely before filling.
Now, you might've noticed that this is rather a deep quiche,
so we're going to need a whole lot of custard.
We're also gonna make one that's super badass.
We're starting by combining two cups each,
whole milk and creme fraiche,
whisking gently until smooth,
and then once again, busting out the stand mixer.
We're using a grand total of 10 eggs
and we're gonna crack the first five into the stand mixer,
and we're gonna whisk it together
with about a third of a cup of all-purpose flour
until it forms a paste.
This is to help stabilize the custard,
which, once again, is gonna be very tall.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl
if you missed any dry stuff,
add the five remaining eggs,
and the milk/creme fraiche mixture,
and we're gonna start beating that together
into a light, creamy filling for our quiche.
But wait, the fun's not over.
We're adding about a tablespoon's worth
of chopped fresh thyme,
one quarter of one cup of kosher salt,
about a half teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg,
and a generous dash of white pepper.
Then we're beating everybody together on medium speed
until things are light and frothy, about one minute,
and then it's time to fill.
I've got four ounces of gruyere
and three ounces of Emmental cheese.
I'm gonna lay a little bit down
on the bottom of the quiche shell,
and then we're gonna start layering in our fillings.
A roughly even amount of each vegetable,
and then we're gonna top it with our custard
and some cheese, just enough custard to cover the veg,
a little sprinkle of cheese,
and rinse and repeat until the thing is full.
Top generously, one might even say greedily,
with the remaining cheese,
and instead of the variable oven temperatures,
this guy headed into a 325°F oven
for a solid hour and a half,
until the edges set but the center jiggles when jiggled.
Now this guy's gotta cool for at least four hours,
plenty of time to make ourselves a cocktail.
First, we're gonna harvest some fresh thyme
from our herbs garden,
or you can just get some from the fridge,
engage in a bit of overacting,
and then we're filling a tall collins glass
with some ice and a lemon peel,
topping that with two and a half parts
of the Botanist Islay Dry Gin,
oop, little splash,
and topping that to the rim of the glass with tonic.
Add a straw and our thyme garnish,
and it's that easy to make this classic, bright,
and crisp cocktail that will go perfectly with our quiche.
Speaking of which, we've carefully removed that
from its springform pan,
and now we're gonna cut ourselves a big old slice.
taking a moment to admire the soft luxuriant custard
and flavorful fillings.
And yes, this one is pretty labor intensive,
but it's super impressive,
and you just do not get quiche this good
outside of a bakery.
Thank you again to The Botanist Gin
for sponsoring today's episode.
This gin is distilled with wild botanicals
from an island off the coast of Scotland.
It's one of a kind flavors complement
any season and friendship.
This bright lemon B&T is the ideal way
to welcome the warmer months
and celebrate the one of a kind people in your life.
Order a bottle of The Botanist on Drizly,
the link is in the video description.
Cheers. (soft, mellow music)