Foodie Friday: Plums and Quiche

I was in the mood for quiche, a simple egg and cheese pie. I was not in the mood to make pastry, so I bought the rolled and ready pastry. The package had two 12 inch pieces of pastry, and if I leave one in the refrigerator I am likely to forget it. There was a bowl of plums on the table, so a plum tart was in order. 

For the quiche, five eggs, about a 1/2 cup of heavy cream, plenty of freshly shredded cheddar cheese,  four sliced mushrooms, and three slices of precooked bacon - chopped. Mix that up, pour into the pastry and bake for about 45 minutes at about 375F. I served it with arugula in a honey mustard vinaigrette. 

For the plum tart, I used a smaller tart pan, probably an 8 inch, and crimped the extra pastry into a nice thick outer rim. I pitted and sliced 3 or 4 plums, ripe but still firm and tossed those in a couple of heaping tablespoons of cornstarch and 3 or 4 heaping tablespoons of Splenda artificial sweetener. The cornstarch will thicken the liquids. I used the Splenda because it was on the counter - the white powder is the Splenda. It requires liquid to melt. If I had used sugar, the coating on the fruit that didn't get as much liquid would have melted in the oven. Oh well, it looked powdery but tasted wonderful. I added a little glaze of peach jam to the top of the fruit to add just a little moisture. I baked the tart along with the quiche for about 45 minutes. If I had sprinkled the top with powdered sugar before serving, you wouldn't have noticed the Splenda had not melted.  

There was no recipe for either of these.  Once you master the basic techniques, go with the flow. Work with what is fresh and hopefully local. The eggs and cheese came from one of my favorite vendors at the farmers market.  I like bacon, but find it a pain to cook.  What I have started doing is laying it out on a lined baking sheet and baking a whole pound of it, 375 for 20-30 minutes, and storing it in the refrigerator. I can reheat it in the microwave or used it as an ingredient like I did here.