It’s Friday once again, and I actually made the “assigned” French Fridays with Dorie recipe this week! I also caught up on last week’s recipe. I’m on a roll! Since I’m so close to being completely caught up on every FFWD recipe (only 6 to go!), I am determined.
This week I celebrated Spring with two dishes that are chock-full of vegetables: Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps, and Garlic en Papillote and Quiche Maraîchère.
Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps, and Garlic en Papillote
This week we returned to the traditional French method of cooking in packets of parchment paper or foil. This time it was some unexpected vegetables inside these packets: baby bok choy, sugar snap peas, baby onions, and garlic. The veggies were seasoned with orange zest, salt and pepper, and moistened with a bit of olive oil.
I tried an experiment. I made two packets of veggies in parchment paper. Then I put the rest of the vegetables in a baking dish covered in foil. Would there be a difference in taste?
It was close! The vegetables in the baking dish took a little bit longer to cook and weren’t quite as moist. The veggies cooked en papillote were slightly browned and a touch more flavorful. But overall, there wasn’t a big difference. If you are cooking this for a crowd, the baking dish method would be perfectly acceptable.
So, did we like it? I liked it a lot. The vegetables were perfectly cooked: tender, but not mushy. My husband liked the snap peas, but isn’t a fan of bok choy and this dish did nothing to change his mind. My daughter gave it a baby taste and then didn’t touch it again.
Quiche Maraîchère
In Dorie’s words, Quiche Maraîchère is “packed to the brim with celery, leeks, carrots, and little squares of red pepper”. The word maraîchère means “truck farmer”, and when the word is used in a recipe name, you know that fresh vegetables are used. In this quiche, there is only just enough custard filling to (barely) hold the vegetables together. It is topped with Gruyere cheese part-way through cooking.
This quiche was quite tasty! I enjoyed it very much as a simple dinner with salad on the side. My husband enjoyed it too, but wished there had been more eggs in the mix (there was only one and a half). If you are looking for a vegetarian-friendly quiche, this one is a winner!
Both these recipes can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s wonderful book, Around My French Table.
From Scratch 
Your quiche looks really lovely – and congratulations on being 6 recipes away from being caught up! Yay!!!!
Your quiche is brilliant. I’m working hard to catch up too.
With the end nearing about a year from now, I am feeling motivated!
I’m always curious about such things so thanks for experimenting and reporting the results. We more roasted these than steamed them and they were delicious. So sounds like it’s a recipe which is hard to mess up.
Good luck catching up. I think I have about 4 or 5 to go still, but I’m having a hard time getting excited about a few of them.
Just remember how good it will feel to have the whole project complete when it comes time to gear up and make those less than exciting ones! A few of my make-ups will be better in the fall with fresh fruits and veggies, so I will have to wait a few months for some of them. Good luck!
Wow, so impressive! I’m so far behind that I have no thoughts of catching up! Your quiche looks delicious, as do your vegetables.
So glad you did the foil parchment experiment. I was curious myself. You quiche looks right out of the cookbook, spectacular.
I’m glad to know the veggies work in bulk in a baking dish. Because I transfered them from the packet to the plate, which was a bit of a pain, I think I’ll do it that way next time. Congrats on being so close to caught up. I have 5 or 6 I haven’t made, but many of them I don’t really want to. You’re inspiring me to suck it up and just make them.
You’ll be glad you did in the end!
I love the ideas of those vegetables cooked in a packet!