Dear readers of this blog,
Everytime Thomas goes to Italy for work, I take the opportunity to ask him to buy some products. These are basically cold cuts and cheeses, which we cannot find in my town. Fontina cheese is always one of them!
This is a PDO cheese, which means Protected Designation of Origin, a way to protect regional foods designed by the European Union in 1992. It’s produced thanks to a specific type of cows which live in Valle d’Aosta, a region in the north of Italy, whose borders are Switzerland and France.
If you’ve been reading my blog for at least one year, I am sure you know about this cheese as I have already suggested two recipes before, such as an egg over fontina cream and fonduta, the Italian version for fondue.
So here goes another: Quiche with sage, fontina, and pears. I was really looking forward to preparing this recipe as I was really curious about the sage leaves in the dough. I was not disappointed at all!! The flavour and smell of fresh sages and the unique taste of fontina make this quiche a recipe to prepare frequently!
INGREDIENTS for a 25 x 17 cm or 10 x 7 inches mould
For the dough
250 gr (2 cups) all-purpose flour
140 gr (½ cup + 2 tbsp) unsalted butter
15 sage leaves
30 ml (5 tbsp) cold water
1 tsp salt
For the filling
250 gr (2 ½ cups) fontina cheese
2 big and juicy pears
100 ml (½ cup + 2 tbsp) whole milk
100 ml (½ cup + 2 tbsp) heavy cream
1 egg
1 yolk
Salt and black pepper to taste
METHOD
Start preparing the quiche dough. In a food processor mix the flour, butter, and the sage leaves finely chopped. Later add the salt and water until everything is well combined. Transfer to a work surface, turn the dough in a ball and cover with a plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl pour the milk, heavy cream, egg, yolk, salt and pepper and mix well. Then cut the fontina cheese in 1 cm (half an inch) thick and then the pears finely chopped, after removing the seeds and skin.
Now take the dough from the fridge, flatten it in 3 mm (0’10 inch) think and then transfer it to a ceramic pan. Place a layer of pears, then another layer of fontina and last pour the liquid.
Cut and remove the remaining dough and bake at the lowest level in the preheated oven at 180ºC (350ºF) for 15 minutes and another 25 minutes more at 160ºC (320ºF).
Buon appetito!
Photography & Stylism: Carlota Fariña
Instagram: @carlotafarina
