Back to Italy (5) - Simplified Quiche Lorraine with vegetables and brie (Botticelli Gifts & the Round table)

Sometimes, the mental associations play unexpected links, which are actually difficult to understand. For some reasons when I think to a quiche Lorraine I immediately project the image of the Arthurian knights:

I would warmly suggest to read Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval

Circular preparations (such as pizzas, cakes and pies) are somewhat addressing that corner of my intellect that stores all the memories related to sharing food: the perfect shape of a pizza, for instance, grants equal slices: the regular number of the portions mirrors the equilibrium of the circle.

This picture comes form another interesting blog, Ciao Italia,
helpful for those who wish to learn some Italian:
http://italiaitaliano.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/ecco-la-ricetta-della-pizza-margherita.html

Sharing food then is more than a simple act of allowing other people to benefit of what is yours. Sharing food (or making a food-gift) is something deeper: there is feeding in it of course, but especially taking care. As when you water a plant you do not ask for a reward, you merely feel to do it, because it gives you pleasure, the reward is melt inside the action. You do not make food then to entertain or to be complimented for: these two aspects clearly enflame the ego, but only are a surface of the whole problem. On this point, unfortunately, I am often misunderstood. A real gift should never expect reciprocity: it should be a gesture of kindness that you feel spontaneously driven out of your heart, unconditionally and totally.

Sandro Botticelli: another association with the quiche Lorraine
is the Louvre,  perhaps for the sound,
and in the Louvre there is this Botticelli’s fresco:
Venus and the Graces offer a gift to a maiden,about 1486.

According to my personal etiquette: who often shows up to parties with empty hands (or just with too symbolic items) spoils the inner idea of donation (unless he has a very good excuse!) The gift is an offer of our time, which is irreplaceable, a time that won’t ever come back again. Who doesn't free his time for others is possibly a person too retreated in himself/herself: therefore he/she sees others as functional tools. On the contrary, the use of Time - our precious source - is an honour: it is a mean somehow to substitute us with something tangible and eatable. This "something" brings inside the body calories, as a tender embrace does. In the moment in which the entity is offered, the action of offering retires, as a sunset that leaves the memory of its splendour.

Scott Peck was an eminent psychiatrist who died in 2005,
the link he draws between time and life, possibly derives
from Heidegger. His major book, written in 1978, is called
The Road less Travelled:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Less-Travelled-Arrow-New-Age/dp/0099727404/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351291416&sr=8-1

So, let’s finally come to the simplified quiche. This recipe melts together a French tradition and that of the Italian torta salata. I sincerely prefer the pastry of the quiche, but I feel the filling tends to be too heavy, because of the abundance of cream. At the barbecue, this quiche became the perfect appetizer, to control the rising appetite. As often happens, the famished and voracious friends groped the quiche to the last breadcrumb, a ransack that is also a compliment. Nonetheless, I was left with a rescued tiny bit, which gave me at least the pleasure a final personal opinion: Antony, for instance, behaved like a mountain lion aware of its strength, as Homer would phrase it. The quiche was, especially for me, an excuse to prepare something smart for Michelle, who’s often looked down during these carnivorous events. Isabel & John (who brought an amazing seed bread) and Kathy (who's also a refined chef) showed a great interest in the preparation and this post is meant to pass them the legacy of the recipe.

Ingredients: half a red organic pepper, 3 Scottish potatoes, 1/2 Italian courgette and 1/2 French Camembert.	Slice or chop your ingredients, add salt, pepper, and extra-virgin olive oil, toss.
Dust some rosemary and dice the Camembert on top. Pour on top a drop of whole organic milk (10-20 ml).	Bake in the oven until brown at about 200 °C, gassmark 8.

One triple word: appetizing, rich, and piebald.

Here are three variants for the pastry:

I	II	III
200 gr spelt plain flour 100 gr unsalted organic butter 70 ml of ice cold water a pinch of Maldon salt	200 gr plain white flour 90 gr unsalted organic butter 1 small organic egg 10 ml of organic whole milk a pinch of salt	225 gr of white flour 100 gr unsalted organic butter 40 ml of whole organic milk a pinch of smoked Maldon salt

I am in debt with Pasta, amore e...fantasia! for the proportions of the first of these variations, although in the original recipe the flour wasn’t spelt flour: 

http://stobenecomesto.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/pasta-amore-e-fantasia.html?spref=fb