French Fridays with Dorie: Gorgonzola-Apple Quiche

Those of you who have read my last two posts might be wondering if there were going to be many French Fridays in my future for the next few months. How is alternating weeks of protein shakes/minimal dairy/minimal carbs and meaty meals/meatly meals/no grains (oh and did I mention no alcohol?) going to work out with this French thing?  Well, I’m trying not to think too far ahead, but the February recipes are fitting in well. (‘cept that Nutella – so not happening.)

This week measured amounts of dairy and fruit are allowed, and although wheat-free grains in small amounts are also ok, I’ve opted to go with totally grain free eating thus far. That means I’ll need to save my low-carb pastry crust recipe for another time – perhaps when Sarah P and I figure out how to whip up a sugar-free low-carb chocolate pecan bacon pie. (Seriously, the high carb version was on the menu today at the pie shop, according to a devilish texter. I’m now officially obsessed.)

Instead, I opted to go bottomless, er, crustless. And as y’all know there is nothing we love more than eggs, so it was no sacrifice. I was on my own in eating this one: D has no love lost for those savory sweet combos. The surprise in the dish is that the apples, once baked, did not taste dessert-like and only lent a nice sweet flavor to complement the salty Gorgonzola. It brought back the memories of the pear, onion and blue cheese pastry “pizzas” from the fall Italy dinner, but the apples being a bit more tart than the pears gave the quiche a flavor lift.  My notes follow:

• Dairy and Eggs: The goal of a regular quiche is a balanced firm but still creamy custard-y filling. Unfortunately 2/3 a cup of cream is too much for my plan even spread across the 4 servings I divided this into. I cut the cream to 1/3 cup and added an egg for a total of three. This made it more of a baked omelet, but it was still great.
• Cheese: I had regular Gorgonzola in the fridge, and as much as I love Dolce, better to eat up the good cheese you have, than let it go bad when your food plan bans it.
• Onion: I browned those chopped onion bits, recipe be damned. With a crust, I might have followed the directions, but the caramelized edges of onion bits brought to the tongue’s mind the browned edges of crust.  An fitting substitute.
• Baking: Baked in a meatloaf pan (oh, I so need some little French ceramic casseroles – D hope you are reading this :-)) at 400 for 25 minutes.

It was as good as you are thinking it was, maybe better.

You can see it was served as a bonus protein-side with a strip steak and sauteed spinach with peppers. Like many egg dishes, it would also be good served as a main dish with a vinaigrette tossed salad. The French Fridays Consortium is not publishing recipes, but we challenge you to pick up a copy of Around My French Table with Dorie Greenspan and cook along!