Bacon and mushroom quiche from chef Peachy Juban

MANILA, Philippines - Chef Peachy Juban is an award-winning pastry chef and one of the most sought after cake designers in the country.

For the past 19 years, she has been operating Shortcrust Pastry Shop in Parañaque and she is also a chef-instructor at the School of Hotel, Restaurant & Institution Management in De La Salle-College of St. Benilde.

“It makes me happy. It’s an extension of who I am and it’s very personal in every way,” says chef Peachy of her work as a pastry chef.  “Every summer, my mom would sign me up to attend culinary classes and she would buy me cookbooks and ingredients to put what I learned to good use. I never imagined that this was something I would end up being passionate about as I got older.”

 Drawing from her experience as a professional pastry chef and chef-instructor, chef Peachy shares two of her most important rules in the kitchen:

“My number one rule is to always use the highest quality ingredients. For example, a staple in any pastry chef’s cupboard is butter and one brand that I believe is the best for baking is Magnolia Gold Butter. The quality and flavor is there and the one time I tried a different brand, my customers weren’t too happy about it.”

“My second rule, which I always tell my students, is to do something outside the kitchen that can help you create an interesting dish. It’s when you involve yourself and expose yourself to a lot of things — you travel, take up a sport, or a craft —that you’ll draw inspiration from when you’re creating something in the kitchen.”

Bacon and mushroom quiche

Crust:          
3 1/2 cups Magnolia All-Purpose flour

1 tsp. salt    
1 cup unsalted Magnolia Gold Butter, chilled

1/2 cup ice water

Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into the flour using a pastry blender, two knives or with a food processor on pulse. Toss in the water a tablespoon at a time just until a ball of dough is formed. Wrap the dough in plastic film and chill until firm, about an hour. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface until it is 1/8-inch thick. Line a 9-inch baking pan, making sure to press the dough snug onto the sides and bottom. Cut off excess and chill for at least 15 minutes more.

To blind bake crust, line dough with waxed paper and fill with a cup of dried beans or uncooked rice.  Precook in a 400F/205C oven for 15 minutes. Remove paper and baking weights (beans/rice). Bake for 10 minutes more. Cool crust before filling. Lower oven temperature to 350F/175C.

Filling:         

2 cups/250 grams lightly cooked sliced

 Purefoods Classic Honeycured bacon or 2 cups/250 grams cleaned and sliced fresh mushrooms sautéed with 1 medium sliced white onion in 1/4 cup unsalted Magnolia Butter or a combination of the above

Custard:       

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 cup Magnolia Pure Fresh Milk

 3 egg yolks

1/2 cup/100 grams Magnolia Quikmelt  Cheese

Whip together the cream, eggs and cheese. Season well with

salt and pepper.

Assembly:

Spread the cooked filling over the bottom of the pastry shell. Pour in the custard. Bake at 350F and continue baking for 15 more minutes or until golden.