When I took the Job in Nice, I soon realised I knew nothing whatever about making quiche. The bakery just outside Cagnes Sur Mer had a queue right outside the door every morning from 6:30 onwards. What a baker, what delights we bought there. but what most impressed me was the baker. He was brilliant and in that way the French have, he knew this and acted accordingly. He baked what he felt like and we bought whatever it was he baked. There were no Oliver Twists in that queue, when they were finished they were finished and we never queried this.
My favourite was the quiche, but he only felt like making it 2-3 times a week, so that's how many times I ate it. Hot from the oven, not that sad, flacid, festering dull, day old slime that infests most bakery displays. I just asked for quiche and wasn't at all fussy what variety it was. The texture of the pastry and the cheese toppings and Herbs de Provence did it for me and for all I know, I may even have eaten an anchovey!
I never could match those quiche, but I have leant only to bake them to order and any customer in the shop who sees them fresh from the oven, asks about them and buys or orders them. One hour later, that same quiche has no chance of adoption and ultimately ends up on my waisteline.
After 10 years of working at it, I still pour over recipes for better quiche pastry and adapt some of my own. Pate Brize is the way to go with egg. This limits me though to small batches as it is hard to handle in this climate and easy to break or crack in the oven. Still working at it and the reason this post is in motion is I am on line again now pouring over recipes and pastry handling tips as I have another quiche order.
I just cannot make quiche these days without thinking of that bakery and years later I took great pleasure in making quiche for a French man who lived virtually next door to Carrefour Suppermarket. They made a great quiche and I always bought one when I was there, to see how it compared to the ones I had just dropped off.
The Quiche on new years day came out well, pastry was better and cooking it in the electric oven helped. The electric oven is head height and lit inside so I don't have to move from my position to observe the progress of the blind baking. Gas ovens outside mean I don't get that fine tuning on it and it is either a minute under or over cooked.
Yesterdays offerings were broccoli and cheese and German sausage and cheese. New one on me and it came about as a result of me panic shopping in Makro on New Years Eve and mistaking the sausage slices for bacon. Got to say it did taste good and I'll do it again. I just wish I had the imagination when cooking to really experiment those quiche fillings. I'd promote them more, but they are so difficult to transport and as I like them to be less than an hour old at delivery time, there is no margin for error.
Our sense of smell is the most powerful of the senses for inducing memories. With that in mind, I use Herbs de Provence in all my quiche and pizzas so once again, this morning, I was once more stood in that queue on the Cote D'Azure with Andy and Paul, wondering if there would be any left by the time we were served.
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