Another Food Blog

Actually, it’s been quite a long time since I made a quiche, and since I had plenty of bacon I decided to make a fairly traditional quiche Lorraine. The shortcrust pastry had sunflower spread for shortening, plain flour and a heaped spoon of bran. I worked it with a fork until crumbly, then added the minimum of water that would get it to form a dough. Into the greased ceramic quiche dish it went, to be lined with mature cheddar cheese. Then the chopped purple onion went in, then the pre-fried bacon, lots of it, before I added ground pepper and sea salt. Finally one and a half eggs were beaten up with a third of a big cup of warm milk, and creamed spinach (in nuggets, thawed out from frozen).

It had 10 minutes at 200, then a further 35 minutes at 175. I cook it long because I don’t blind bake the pastry first, and I like it done through. It formed a light skin and a fluffy texture below, and it had a really taste. I served it with garden peas alongside.

I’ve sometimes written about launch parties I’ve held for my children’s science fiction books, and I write about the food and drink served at them. There’s never been a launch quite like this, however! The students of Cambridge University Spaceflight (whom I sometimes call the Rocket Boys, though they include girls) launched my book Dark Visitor in a high altitude balloon to the edge of space. Their launch a month earlier had broken the world altitude record for an amateur balloon. This time they chose a dawn launch and captured amazing still and video pictures of a dawn in space. They also took photos like the one above, of one of my science fiction books suspended against the black sky and the curved earth. See that blue shimmer where the earth meets space? That’s the atmosphere!

To celebrate such a book launch, what else but champagne? I broke open a bottle of the Billecart-Salmon brut rosé and toasted their achievement.

I did change my mind about the Alaskan wild salmon after I tried more of it. It does take less cooking than the normal salmon. It is chunkier, almost meatier, and seems to have less oil in it. However, it does have a very good taste and texture. I tried some with cucumber slices, lemon and pepper in bread and brown rolls spread with light mayonnaise. I used a little wine vinegar to get it to mash up better (not too much, now). It is a pleasant variation to enjoy occasionally.

Suddenly the shelves are full of South African pinot grigio. Come off it, guys. We all know you do chenin blanc as your white, just as you do pinotage for your red. I thought pinot grigio was what Italy did. Obviously I have to see what this is all about. I chose a bottle of the First Cape Limited Release. It’s a 2008 (their summer’s over) and comes in at 11.5 percent. It’s from South Africa’s Western Cape.

The first sip is intense green apples. Very nice, too. Then there’s maybe pears, with a tang of citrus. Quite good body, too, well balanced, and with a nice finish. Good with chicken and salads, I guess, as well as being a highly quaffable party wine. I’ll try some more.

After the Sainsbury’s chicken en croûte, I had to compare it with mine. I rolled puff pastry into rectangles, and browned two free range chicken fillets before putting them onto the pastry. Then came a layer of lean bacon, and finally strips of Emmental cheese. I sealed the pastry and decorated the top. There was not enough left for a lattice, so I used up the spare pastry by putting strips on top. A quick brush with beaten egg, and in the oven for 30 minutes. I wish I’d been braver and settled for 25 minutes. Again I made a kind of ratatouille to serve alongside, and this one included German beetroot.

Surprisingly, the Sainsbury’s version was better. So what did I do wrong? I should have used twice as much cheese. The pastry was good, but the chicken was not moist enough. My guest said it was, but mine was not. It was nice enough, but not as tasty as the ready-made version. I followed it with a fresh fig crumble. Again, I felt it was not quite right. There was not enough liquid, even though some of it bubbled over the crumble. I used goat’s milk yoghurt to make it acceptably moist. If I’d had more honey to mix with hot water over the figs, I’d have used it…

I made a very straightforward pasta lunch using Italian farfalle (bow-tie) pasta by De Lecco. I dropped it into vigorously boiling salted water and kept it going for 12 minutes. I made a cheese sauce with semi-skimmed goat’s milk, cornflour, and pieces of mature cheddar cheese melted in once the basic sauce was made. I added some chopped watercress at that point, and saved some for a final garnish when the drained pasta had mixed in with the cheese sauce.

It looked appetizing and tasted good, too, with the watercress adding a light peppery contrast to the creamy sauce. The pasta was perfectly cooked, with plenty of chew on it. Mmm.