Comfort Food, better late than never!

Like most people, I too love soup at this time of year. For me one of the most comforting things about food is making it and one of my favorite foods to make (and eat...soooo yummy!) is kale and pancetta quiche.

Quiche filling:
4 oz (125 g) pancetta or bacon, diced
1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups (1.5 L) chopped kale
1/4 cup (50 mL) water
4 eggs
3/4 cup (175 mL) milk
1/2 cup (125 mL) whipping cream
Salt and pepper to taste (usually a pinch of each)
1 tbsp (15 mL) dijon mustard
3/4 cup (175 mL) shredded swiss or emmental cheese

Sour Cream Pastry:
1-1/4 cups (300 mL) all-purpose flour - I use Spearville Mill's Unbleached Whole White flour
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
1/4 cup (50 mL) cold butter, cubed
1/4 cup (50 mL) cold lard (you could sub in shortening)
2 tbsp (25 mL) cold water
4 tsp (20 mL) sour cream

Preparation

Sour Cream Pastry: In bowl, whisk flour with salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter and lard until in fine crumbs with a few larger pieces. Whisk water with sour cream; drizzle over dry ingredients, stirring briskly with fork to form ragged dough. Press into disc. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. You can refrigerate the dough for 24 hr.

On lightly floured surface, roll out pastry to generous 1/8-inch (3 mm) thickness. Fit into 9-inch (23 cm) glass pie plate. Trim to 3/4-inch (2 cm) overhang; fold overhang under and flute edge. Prick all over with fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Line shell with foil; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake in bottom third of 400°F (200°C) oven for about 15 minutes or until rim is light golden. Remove weights and foil; bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until pastry is golden. Let cool on rack. I usually make this the night before and keep it in the fridge so it makes putting together the quiche much faster.

In skillet, fry pancetta over medium-high heat until crisp, about 5 minutes.

Here you have two choices, you can drain off the fat from the pancetta and add the olive oil, or keep the fat and ditch the oil (I use option 2); fry onion and garlic over medium heat until golden, about 3 minutes.

Add kale and water; cover and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Uncover and fry for 1 minute. In bowl, whisk eggs, milk, cream, salt and pepper. You can refrigerate pancetta and egg mixtures separately for up to 24 hours.

Brush pastry shell with mustard; sprinkle with 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the cheese and the pancetta mixture. Pour in egg mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake in 375°F (190°C) oven for about 35 minutes or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean.

Recipe from: Canadian Living Magazine