Salmon and Leek Quiche

This recipe may look complicated, but it's really a lot of steps...and well worth it! Make it for brunch and invite some friends over...they will be raving about this quiche dish for weeks. TRUST ME!!!

What you will need:
A 7-10" tart pan or pie dish will work. We used an 8" removable bottom tart pan.


Tart Pastry:
1 2/3 cups of all purpose flour (we used King Arthur Flour...use the good stuff)
1 egg yolk
6 tbsp. of cold unsalted butter, diced as small as you can get it
1 tsp. kosher salt
water as needed

Filling:
1/2 lb. of smoked salmon (8 oz. for the conversion impaired)
2 leeks, chopped into 1/8" circles (white parts and as much green as feels tender)
2 whole eggs
1/2 cup of heavy cream (or crème fraiche if you want to be really French)
1/2 tsp. of ground cloves or nutmeg...or both
pinch of kosher salt
2 tbsp. of butter (one stick of butter has 8 tbsp., so you end up using 1 stick in this entire recipe)

Making the Tart Pastry:
This gets made first. Mound the flour, make a hole in the middle for the egg yolk and start bringing it all together with your hands. Add the butter in as evenly as possible, and then the salt. Add water, one tbsp. at a time, until the mixture forms a cohesive blob. Wrap your "blob" in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes...overnight...three months...basically it has to be cold.

Preheat oven to 400F. Get your "blob" out of the fridge and unwrap it. Spread the plastic wrap out on the work surface and put another piece of plastic wrap over the blob. Use a rolling pin, or an empty wine bottle to roll out the pastry dough, big enough to fill the tart pan, covering the bottom and up the sides. Put some muscle into it! Put the pastry dough into the tart pan. Push the dough into all the corners and up the edges. Remove the excess. Get a piece of wax paper or parchment paper big enough to cover your tart pan and crumble it up really well into a small ball. Then pull it out flat again. Put it over the pan and fill with dry beans or baking beads or marbles or small pebbles. Pop it into the over for 10 minutes. Take beans out and bake for an additional 5 minutes. When baking is complete, take out of oven and set aside.

Making the Filling:
Melt the remaining 2 tbsp. of butter from the stick into a 10" saute pan over medium heat. Toss in your leeks, and a pinch of salt. Stir around until pretty soft (about 15 minutes). In a mixing bowl, beat together the two whole eggs, cream, salt to taste, and cloves (nutmeg).

Put just enough of the egg mixture into the baked pastry to cover the bottom. Add most of the smoked salmon, then the sauteed leeks. Add the rest of the egg mixture over the leeks. Add bits and pieces of the remaining salmon over the top. Place into a 375F oven for 30 minutes.

*Here is a tip: put the tart dish onto a large sheet pan in case there is spillage. This way you won't ruin your oven.

Take the quiche out of the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Don't worry if it is puffy. It should be (like shown here). You have made a ghetto souffle...it will deflate.

Serve with a nice green salad for a lovely brunch. Enjoy the yumminess!!!