Northerly, 4 or 5, occasionally 6 at first.
Slight or moderate.
Showers.
Good.
Please note this recipe is for 2. Quite generous! Or one now and tomorrow`s lunch sorted.
Flamiche is..yes, what exactly is it?
Originally done with bread dough, so a
kind of filled focaccia or a calzone.
However it also contains eggs and cream,
so looks more like a leek quiche, but has a top layer of dough. A tart? A tart with a top on?
A bit like strata? The savoury egg
pudding as described here?
It gets even more dodgy if you, like I did,
replace the bread dough (and lets face it, we don’t have always bread dough
just laying about) with puff pastry. We are now in the Prasopita range, the
Greek leek pie. But it does not contain Feta and is not
done with Phyllo pastry.
It cant. Its neither Greek nor Italian, it
is French. Or Belgian, depending on where you stand in the great Flamiche war.
Lets be diplomatic and declare it as a Belgian/French border dish. A Flemish
dish.
And a Flamiche Aux Poireaux is a Flemish
tart/cake thingy with leeks. Easy, isn’t it?
But it is also a great way of learning
about how to deal with leeks.
As you know, leeks tend to have a white
stem which gradually gets greener and ends in dark green leaves. You find the
same in another member of the allium family, the spring onion. Or in fennel
which is white and has green tops. You also see this in asparagus: white
asparagus left to grow outside the earth turns green. So yes, the white part is
from under the soil and the longer it grows outside, the greener it gets.
And the taste change. The white part is
delicate, the more greener the stronger the taste.
So you should choose your leek according
to what you want to do with them. Are you after a delicate leek and potato soup,
get a leek with lots of white. You are doing a hearty stew with fatty sausages?
Throw the whole lot in. Even with the leaves, just cut them off after you are
finished cooking and before you serve it.
And remember, leeks can contain lots of
sand, so cut them in half lengthways and clean the layers under running water.
As usual: Egg based dishes taste better
if they are room warm or cold. And, as already mentioned here, a quiche needs strong seasoning or it
will be boring. So be generous with salt and pepper.
Flamiche
A sheet of puff pastry (about 350gr)
1 packet of Vegetarian Gelatine
3 big leeks with lots of white
3 eggs
150ml crème fraiche or double cream
50gr butter
Salt and white pepper
1 pinch or rub nutmeg
50gr strong cheese (Parmesan, Gruyere, mature
Gouda, Raclette cheese), grated (the cheese is optional)
Cut the green of the leeks off and use
that for something else (great in a stock). Cut leek in half lengthwise and
rinse the layers under running water. Shake dry, but not too much. Lay the leek
halves cut side down on a chopping board and cut into thin half rings. Add to a
bowl (or pot if you don’t have a microwave). Add all the butter, a pinch of
salt and a good pinch of white pepper, cover it and cook in the microwave 3x2
minutes, stirring in between. If you use a pot, just heat all this and let the
leeks get very soft. Let it cool down as much as possible. This can be even done in
the morning or evening before. Just put it in the fridge until needed.
Heat oven to 180C. Add a baking sheet
right at the beginning so it is nice and hot.
Prepare the gelatine according to the
instructions on the packet; just use a little bit less water.
Roll the ready prepared sheet out. No need to further roll it out with a rolling
pin. Remember that the waxed paper underneath is normally oven proof, so you
have already your prepared baking paper.
Brush the pastry with the (already
thickening) gelatine and put that for 5 minutes in the fridge while you deal
with the filling.
Once the leeks are cool, add 2 eggs and
the egg yolk from the third egg. Keep the last egg white. Add cream, salt,
pepper and nutmeg, and if you use it, the cheese. Give it a good stir. If it
seems too thick, add either a drop more cream or milk.
Take the pastry sheet out and cover one
half pretty high with the filling, but leave a border of 1 cm. Fold the other
half of the sheet over and crimp the two together. Here is a cool video about proper crimping.
But you have a square, so you need to
crimp three sides.
Cut with a pair of scissor a little hole
into the top (about the size of a one pence piece), to let the steam escape.
Into the oven and bake until the top of
the quiche is getting nicely browned (about 20 minutes). Now brush the top with
the remaining (beaten) egg white and give it another 15-20 minutes, until the Flamiche
is golden. You can also, as I did, sprinkle some flaked salt over it once you brushed it with the egg white. But this is optional. Take it out, put on a cooling
rack. Eat lukewarm or cold. Can be eaten up to 2 days if you keep it in the
fridge.
Serve with a green lettuce salad.
Enjoy.
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