A chicken has two breasts, broilers and fryers are 48-day-old birds that cook up tender, and a Rock Cornish Game Hen is simply a younger chicken. These are a few things Elaine Corn explains in Chicken, a book stuffed with useful information, "chicken nuggets" (jokes and entertaining trivia), and distinctive recipes. Delving into poultry's past,
Real people eat quiche, and real cooks make them. You can make quiche with chicken on purpose, or wait for the leftovers.
Serves 6 - 8
For the pastry:
1 1/2 cups flour
Dash of salt
Dash of sugar
7 tablespoons chilled butter, cut up
1 egg
1 tablespoon ice water
For the filling:
1 tablespoon butter
3 leeks, white part only, sliced
1 pound spinach, rinsed and stemmed, or 1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups diced cooked chicken meat
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 whole eggs
3 yolks
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon salt
Black pepper to taste
Pinch of nutmeg
To make the pastry, in a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and sugar and pulse briefly to mix. Top with the butter, and process until crumbly.
Mix the egg and ice water in a measuring cup with a spout. With the motor running, pour the egg mixture into the processor and run until the mixture comes together in a rough mass. Stop the machine immediately.
Gather the dough onto a big piece of waxed paper. Flatten as much as you can, wrap up, and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat and oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out the cold dough into a 1-inch round and fit into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and 2-inch sides. Trim the edges and prick the pastry in several places with the tines o a fork. Line the dough with the same waxed paper you used to wrap it, and weight it down with a layer of raw rice, macaroni, or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, until pale. Remove from the oven.
Pull up on the waxed paper to lift out the weights. Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Let the crust cool slightly.
While the crust is baking and cooling, make the filling: Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the leeks and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
Meanwhile, if using fresh spinach, add it wet to a very hot wok or Dutch oven. Stir quickly until partially wilted, about 2 minutes. Drain and press out the water. If using frozen spinach, press out excess moisture.
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over high heat. Add the wilted or thawed spinach and saute for 30 seconds. Add the chicken and garlic, stir a few times, and remove from the heat.
Sprinkle the Parmesan over the bottom of the partially baked crust. Top with the cooked leeks and then the spinach-chicken mixture.
In a bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, half-and-half, salt, a generous amount of pepper, and the nutmeg. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the spinach-chicken mixture, allowing it to soak in.
Set the tart pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake until a knife inserted halfway between the center and the edge comes out clean, 70 to 80 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.
