Scotland is famous for its smoke houses and they were well represented at the show. I brought some smoked pheasant and more intriguingly some Venison Chorizo from the Deeside smokehouse which is on the Dinnet Estate in Aberdeenshire and uses traditional smoking methods using whisky soaked oak shavings. Never mind the meat Ill have a bucket of that please. Ha ha.
When I looked at the location map on their web site it painted wonderful scenic images in my head as I read the names of the nearby landmarks like Loch Kinord and Ordie. I don't imagine its on an industrial site next to the sewage works !
So today I opened the vac packed Venison and decided to make something simple with it so I choose to make a quiche. When it comes to food and more so when trying something new I think it pays to keep it simple.
A lovely mix of spices and a little bit of heat greeted the pallet. I was in for a treat no matter what I had decided to make from this piece of magic.
Ok first up the pastry I mixed 250 grams of plain flour with 125 grams of butter. I added a pinch of salt and rubbed the lot together until it was sandy in colour and had a crumble mix like texture. I then added about a tablespoon of water and then brought the lot together in my hands as if I was the most skillful massage master in the world. If only I could do the same with a woman instead of the unarmed combat it usually resembles ! Ha ha !
When it all comes to together it should be smooth.
Wrap the pastry in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for thirty minutes.
The pastry is then rolled out and put into your tart tin. I made about six small quiches in total with this amount of pastry. Bake blind the cases with baking beads placed in them for about 10 minutes at about 180 Oc. Take the beads out and cook for a further 3 minutes. I have a friend called June who I work with at a nice staff restaurant near the quayside in Newcastle-upon-Tyne occasionally and she is a devil of a quiche maker and she never bakes her pastry blind first and it always comes out spot on. It must be witchcraft because mine never cook on the bottom when I do it that way. However I call her my Dove from Above because she is wonderful and great fun to work with so with cooking if it works for you don't change a winning formula and she has a winning formulas alright ! ha ha !
Next the filling. I use about 250 mils of double cream with two full eggs plus 2 egg yolks and a little bit of seasoning until I have enough to fill the amount of tarts required.
I tend to layer my tarts but most people will mix the filling with cheese and whatever flavouring your using the choice is yours.
So I used a small handful of cheese on the bottom of quiche then I sauteed the finely diced chorizo to release even more flavour and placed that as the middle layer and then topped it up with more cheese then poured in the egg mix. It then went back into the oven at 180 Oc for about 15 minutes until it was golden on top with a just soft pleasing wobble finish !
I let it cool for a while. I like my quiche served warm but not too hot and love it the next day when its really settled.
I boiled some new potatoes and then sauteed them until golden and crispy with a little bit of butter to serve with the quiche.
The quiche was a great way to eat the Venison Chorizo. The pastry was crispy and buttery and just melted in the mouth when it touched my tongue. The rich creamy soft filling helped complement the powerful rich flavour of the Chorizo.
Edinburgh has provided me with a new online supplier who has some great produce on offer check out their site today.
Now what to do with the smoked Pheasant ? I cannot wait.
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