EDITOR'S NOTE: What's better than watching a riveting drama with great food and drink, right? Here are some scrumptious recipes crafted by Chef Caroline Schiff for your next French binge watch!
Caramelized Onion and Roquefort Quiche
Notes from the Chef:
Quiche may be one of the most iconic French foods, and it fits so many occasions. With so much butter and cream, it makes a perfect, indulgent bite for party grazing. This recipe can be made in stages ahead of time, to make your party stress free. The dough can be assembled, wrapped and chilled up to four days in advance. The crust can be rolled and shaped the day before. For the filling, there’s no reason why you can’t caramelize the onions two days ahead and store in the fridge. Everything can be baked the morning of and sliced as guests arrive. It’s also 100% acceptable to use a premade crust here if there’s a brand you love! I use a whole wheat crust for because I love the slightly rustic quality it gives, but your favorite all-purpose crust will work great here as well.
One 14” x 4 ½“ or one 9” quiche
Active time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Baking time: 45 minutes
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Quiche Crust
1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
Pinch salt
1 stick of butter, chilled and sliced into little cubes
Approximately 7 tbs ice water
½ tsp apple cider vinegar
All-purpose flour for rolling
Filling
2 small yellow onions, sliced thin
3 tbs olive oil
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
½ cup cream
½ cup milk
3 eggs
Fresh black pepper
½ cup crumbled Roquefort cheese
Process: Quiche Crust
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and chilled butter. Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour, creating a crumbly mixture with pea sized bits of butter.
- Add the vinegar and then the ice water, about 2 tbs at a time, gently incorporating it with your hands. You want enough moisture so the dough holds together when pinched, but it shouldn’t be sticky, so do this gradually. You may not use all the water.
- Once the dough comes together, form it into a flat disc or rectangle depending on the shape of your pan, and wrap in plastic. Chill until ready to shape.
- On a lightly floured surface, gently roll the dough out to a rectangle or circle depending on which pan you’re using, rotating the dough as needed for an even thickness, and using flour as needed. To measure, gently place the pan on top of the dough. You’ll want the dough to be about 2” larger than the footprint of the pan and about ¼” thick.
- Gently, drape the dough over the rolling pin and transfer to the tart pan, pressing it in, and trimming any extra dough off the top. You can use this trim to patch up any holes or cracks. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork and then chill the shaped crust until ready to bake.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the formed crust on a sheet pan, line it with parchment paper and fill it to the top with pie weights or baking beans. Blind bake the crust for 30 minutes. It will be golden around the edges and partially cooked on the bottom.
- Allow the crust to cool with the baking beans intact while you prepare the filling. Turn the oven down to 325 degrees.
Process: Filling
- In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the oil until it shimmers. Add the onions and 1 tsp of the salt and cook, stirring frequently to deeply caramelize, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly.
- In a mixing bowl whisk together the cream, milk, eggs, salt, pepper and onions.
- Remove and discard the baking beans and parchment paper from the crust. Fill it with the filling and top it with an even layer of the crumbled Roquefort.
- Transfer to the oven, on the sheet pan, and bake until the filling is set and slightly golden on top, approximately 45 minutes.
- Allow the quiche to cool at room temperature and then gently remove from the pan by pushing up from the bottom to remove the outer ring. From here you can slice into small rectangles or wedges and serve, or reheat in a 300 degree oven for about 15 minutes as guests arrive.
Pair this recipe with:
A gorgeous collection of mysteries, each one set in a different, picturesque region of France. Enjoy French towns and areas you may have never seen before… cheaper than a plane ticket!
About the Chef
Caroline Schiff is a chef based in Brooklyn, NY with a decade of experience in restaurants and bakeries. In May 2018 she launched her culinary consulting firm ParadigmSchiff, offering recipe and product development, menu consultations, concept development and corporate events. In winter 2019 Caroline will take on the role of Pastry Chef at the re-opening of Gage & Tollner, the legendary Brooklyn restaurant. She has been featured on Vice: Munchies, Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay, Genius Kitchen, Cosmopolitan.com, Hulu’s Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi and stars in the documentary series, Her Name Is Chef. Follow Caroline here: @pastryschiff.
