Ham, pear and blue cheese quiche and Food Revolution Day

Hi! Did you know that today is Food Revolution Day? If you didn´t, don´t worry. I only discovered this by being part of my cooking group which is cooking its way through David Lebovitz´s cookbook My Paris Kitchen . So, what is it all about?  Well, it was started by none other than Jamie Oliver and here is what it is about:

Access to good, fresh, real food and the basic skills to cook it has the power to transform lives, and that is what the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation is all about. Working in the UK, US and through the Good Foundation in Australia, we are leading a full-scale and ongoing Food Revolution to improve the health and happiness of future generations, through the food they eat. From our food education programmes delivered at a local level, to our national and international campaigns that influence policy on key issues, we aim to revolutionise the way people feed themselves, and their families.

Source :Food Revolution

My cooking group posted the following messages:

This year, the theme is #FeedtheFuture and Jamie’s put together what he’s calling a starter Pack of recipes(available in UK and US measures) – ten delicious, nutritionally balanced recipes, each covering a different skill and technique that can give anyone the confidence to cook good, real, healthy meals for themselves and their families, for now and the future. Jamie has spoken about the idea of ten recipes to save your life since his TED talk in 2010.

For Cook the Book Fridays on Friday May 20^th 2016, we’re all going to be cooking the dish we’ve deemed a “must know” starter French recipe – QUICHE! David’s recipe for Ham, Blue Cheese and Pear quiche (p 155) includes a pastry crust recipe – something that really should be in everyone’s repertoire whether they are French or not!

Before I continue with the actual recipe and the outcome, I should say a few things about the Food Revolution Day. I think it is a great idea and I am especially in favour it because I teach children. May of them have poor diest and it is not their fault. Their parents rely too often on ready made meals, unhealthy snacks and junk food. Learning a few cooking basics is not hard and parents can make an effort to cook healthy meals for their kids. The majority of teachers I work with are women. Many of them are between 23 and 28 with at least one child and a good majority  readily admit that they don´t cook and neither do their husbands. And it leaves me wondering. What do their children eat and seriously, doesn´t having kids require the responsibilty of feeding them well? Or at least making an effort? I feel very strongly about this because I was lucky enough to have parents that cooked for me when I was a child. And let me tell you, I did not dictate what I ate or didn´t eat. I think that this is why I have a positive attitude towards food. I don´t mind trying new recipes whether  someone cooking for me or I am trying to decide which recipe to try. And I have fond memories of the different dishes that my mom would prepare for my dad because they were his favourites or that she prepared for us for christmas or our birthdays.  (My dad used to make me a steak every Friday…I so looked forward to it and even now, whe I vist him, he makes one for me!) Food,  became part of my childhood and not long ago, I told my mom how much I appreciate everything she did, and still does. (My Dad cooked too but he worked full time and my mom stayed at home. That doesn´t mean she did not work, of course!) And she answered that even though her mom was single and working full time, she always made sure there were good meals on the table. The same can be said for my husband´s mother. She worked full time to support her two children and cooked simple but delicious meals for her kids. When I say, ¨simple¨ I don´t mean it in a condescending way. I say ¨simple¨to contradict the opionion that to cook something great you need extensive culinary knowledge and lots of time.

Incidentally, this was my first time makig a quiche. My mom used to make them a lot. I had fun making it and it was the first time my husband tried a quiche. He loved it too.

Are you interested in the recipe? You can find it here . the combination of pear and blue cheese is just divine although I did make a few changes to the original recipe. I used cured ham instead of cooked ham. (You cannot find a good cooked ham here in Spain like you can find in France or Ireland.)  I also reduced the amount of Roquefort because I find it a bit strong. I put 100 grams instead of 150 and substituted the 50 grams with more cured ham. Also used 2 small onions and 1 clove of minced garlic as a substitution for the leeks. The crust for the quiche was quite simple to make and it fit my 10 inch pie pan quite well. The crust was quite delicate and it did not take over the flavourr. the one thing which was a notable difference was the baking time. I had to bake it for another 20 minutes or so and I covered it with foil so that the top would not burn.

 

The quiche froze very well.  I would definitely make this again, especially for a special occasion. It looks beautiful, it is easy to make and tastes delicious.

I am looking forward to checking what my cooking buddies have done and what their reactions were.If you are interested in checking them too, check them out here . I am also sharing this on Fiesta Friday

Have a good weekend everyone and join us in a Food Revolution!

xxxx Natascha