Swiss chard and goat cheese quiche (tart).
Swiss chards are not really part of my culinary habits. My parents never bought them and I don’t remember having eaten them before finding some in my organic basket a couple of years ago. I thought it was because it was an usual vegetable in the east part of France, where I used to live when I was a child. When I talk about it on my French blog, some readers who come from the same region tell me they eat Swiss chards quite a lot. So, it must be only me. I admit having always been intrigued but not really attracted to these huge white ribs overcome with enormous green leaves.
The only thing which could have changed my mind is this sweet pie with Swiss chards, pine nuts and raisins that I found in the magazine “Femme Actuelle” which I had been keeping for 20 years! This pie is a speciality from Nice in the south of France. Still having this recipe in a file, I really hope to bake it one day.
Nowadays, being much more curious and adventurous with vegetables, I am pleased when I find Swiss chards in my organic vegetable basket I pick once a week. It gives me the opportunity to cook other things than usual and to get out of my reassuring culinary comfort zone.
On a Saturday morning, while taking my rather impressive bunch of Swiss chards, I started to separate the stems (white) from the leaves (green). In the Swiss chard we eat both.
I started to cut the stems which I wanted to add to a quiche with the leaves. Then, I changed my mind, using only the green part, keeping the stems for another use (certainly a soup).
The green part of the Swiss chard is cooked like spinach but looses less volume while cooking, which gives a very nice texture to a quiche for example.
If you often cook Swiss chards, either the ribs or the leaves, I highly recommend Thierry Thorens’s Book “Etonnants legumes”, as it contains a lot of recipes using Swiss chards (book in French).
Goat cheese and swiss chard quiche (tart)
Ingredients for 4 to 6 persons
1 short crust pastry
2 big Swiss chards leaves washed and dried.
3 eggs
20cl cream
1 small fresh goat cheese (150 g)
Nutmeg
Salt and freshly grounded pepper
Olive oil
1 garlic clove minced or crushed
Preheat your oven at 200°C.
Line a tart tin with the pastry then cut the pastry along the edge of the tin with a knife or your rolling-pin and prick over the base with a fork.
Bake blind.
Line the pastry with greaseproof paper leaving plenty to come up the sides. Add some baking beans or dried pulses and bake in the oven for 8 minutes.
Remove the baking beans or dried pulses, the paper and continue to bake for 3 minutes, until the pastry is pale golden.
Remove from the oven and set aside.
Remove the center stem from each leaf (keep them for a soup) and chop the leaves roughly.
Heat a pan with one tablespoon olive oil, add the garlic and the chopped leaves.
Sautee on high heat for about 1 minute, until the leaves are soft.
Spread over the baked blind pastry.
In a bowl, mix the goat cheese with the eggs.
Add the cream and mix again.
Season with freshly grated nutmeg, salt and freshly grounded pepper.
Pour the egg mixture into the pastry and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the filling is set and the top is golden brown.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Everybody in the family really enjoyed this quiche, especially after a day of cleaning up the basement.
It’s also very good the next day, eaten cold.
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Posted by: Nike Dunks | 08/20/2010 at 11:50 AM