The sun is shining today on the isle or Ireland, gently flirting with a 19°c. The Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and all the Hirundinidae (Swallows and Martins) are back from Africa. My blind cat “Wilson” decided to make friends with my neighbours cows and after two months, we finally have a Government that nobody really wants or democratically voted for. An Independent politician from Co. Kerry has joined the climate change deniers’ list with a fine statement that I expected to hear from a pub pillar after a couple of scoops, just not in the Daíl (National Assembly). As you can see, all is good in “Iwerzhon”, so good that I decided to turn off the radio, enjoy watching my cat making new friends and make a quiche… Just like that!
To start, I decided to make my favourite, fool proof short crust pastry, where I put 200g of flour, 100g of cubed butter, 1 egg yolk and two ice cubes in a blender. Pulse the lot for a couple of minutes and put in a bowl. Mix with the tip of your fingers while adding a little bit of water. Knead gently, make a ball and in the fridge it goes for a bit. Roll the dough and lay on a buttered and floured dish…
For the star ingredient of my quiche, I use one of my favourite Irish cheese, St Tola “ash” from Inagh, south of the magical Burren in Co. Clare, west of Ireland. It is very delicate in flavours, yet rich on the palate but not too strong. The dusting of alimentary ash used in the ripening process is made of vegetable carbon. An old technique used by cheesemakers. It will bring a bit of drama to this dish… I crumble it in a bowl where I have beaten 4 eggs and 25cl of raw fresh cream. I have added some Beetroot relish from Janet’s, a friend of mine in Co. Wicklow and 1/2 a finely chopped courgette. Salt and pepper to taste.
I then pour the mix into the pastry cast and bake at 200°c for about 25 minutes…
While the quiche bakes and then cools, I like to prepare a few roots to go with; a couple of potatoes, a small parsnip, two types of beetroot, a garlic bulb cut at the base and some sea salt on top, all rubbed with olive oil. It will take around the same amount of time( 25 minutes at 200c). But don’t sweat it, it is actually better if the quiche cools a bit so don’t feel under pressure to have them ready at the same time.
Well, our quiche is ready, time to take a picture and sip on a glass of Gavi… Hell, why not?
Just before the roots are fully cooked, I toss them in a bowl, adding dried herbs from the garden, thyme, rosemary and parsley… It actually works well with dried dill too but it may not be for everyone!
I put the roots back in the oven, with a bit of space between the wedges and give them another five minutes blast…. The rosted garlic cloves will give them an amazing flavour!
The quiche is now ready to serve, the crust is beautiful and neat ( if you don’t mind me saying…), the reward when you keep a short crust pastry cool in the making!
Serve to the “chip-chap-chip-chap” call of the Chiffchaff, a nice way to say “bye for now” to the winter and a “careful now!” to the summer… We’ve been there before so many times!
And here is Mr Wilson with his cow friend…
Keep Well, Eat Happy
Slán Tamall
Franck
Hungry Breton 
Such a beautiful quiche! Love the idea of adding beet relish. 🙂
Thank you! It worked super well! A bit of sweetness in a world of brutes! 🙂
I’m all for it! 🙂
The marriage of goat cheese and beet is sublime and this has the added bonus of glorious pink custard before it goes in the oven. I will certainly be trying it for myself (though with a local goat rather than the St Tola which I can’t get here)
Knock yourself out “Osyth” and thank you so much for reading 🙂
Interesting!
Thank you Mira, yep, no one complained anyway!
Tasty as always. Fennel seeds, perhaps, in with the roasties? I have taken to adding this to the odd dish (much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. It’s my way of saying ‘hey, lazy b**tards, why don’t you make the dinner for a change?’. So far, it’s not working, which is okay, coz I like fennel 😉 )
So which muppet is denying climate change now? Mind you, I have looked several times and I can’t for the life of me work out which of these fools is looking after the environment portfolio, so maybe the government has decided to give up on that score…
🙂 I like your style! I must try that as I like fennel seeds… The joker of the week was Danny Healy rae, straight out of Father Ted! Yes, environment on the back burner again when it should be at the forefront! I would love to see some of their faces the day it’s gonna give!
That figures. Climate change is a Dublin 4 conspiracy, of course…
Very good writing and photography Franck. It is pretty depressing that that gobshite from Kerry attracts so much attention for his self motivated ramblings. More depressing that while our political leaders admit that the re is a climate change emergency for humanity, they do nothing about it. That makes me wonder who the real climate change deniers are.
Rant over, very nice quiche my friend.
Best,
Conor
Yes, I do a lot of Birdwatching ( when I have the time) and it leaves me with a feeling of dismay when I see Irish species disappearing from what was once their habitat. Our dear leaders are missing a vital opportunity, as much in business as in their citizens’ well being by not putting the environment at least a bit more forward! But hey, saying that, good thing are happening too; I am looking forward more projects like Bord na Mona’s . People need to go out in the wild and appreciate what they have!
Too true. My mother is a former active member of the Irish Wildbird Conservancy. She is quite expert on our various coastal species (amongst other things).
Small world!
“Hell, Why not?”as you said very well ! I love your crust, cheers to that, Franck ! I hope you’re doing well. I take the opportunity of my meaning-free message of today to actually say something meaningful: Irish English sounds like a whole other language of its own, i had such a hard time understanding each and every sentence of your post today! It’s great to see how you picked up the culture though, because you couldn’t speak that well without “getting it” in the first place. Do I make sense or am I really tired tonight?!
You are making perfect sense 😀 ! Yes, there can be some funny lingo differences. All is good here today in Ireland, 20c and blue skies… Yeah!
Good for you, same here in Nice, except that we are bothered (and painfully annoyed) by a national strike on all transportations today (I hate this country so much for that!)
Oh wow, great! I just did a phone interview for a French Expats website called “Le Petit Journal.com”. They want to speak about my blog and my story as it is Brittany day coming soon ( first I’ve heard of it! 😀 )
Great !!! Your time for glory has come !!
Haha! I don’t know about that but it was fun anyway! 😉
What a fantastic one – You have great stuff here. Thanks
Thank you very much! 😉