Less is more

We finally got round to having the Quiche a la Sardine last night.

As I near the end I comment to the Fox, "It's strange. I know I put in the extra sardine & tomato & yet this tastes like there's less in it."

The Fox looks relieved. Not wanting to upset me, he hadn't wanted to say anything, but now he feels free to readily agree. The quiche looked great with the silvery fish arranged as a star in the the golden, well risen egg custard but the flavour just wasn't there.

I have to confess I've long said that my old Sardine & Tomato Flan recipe tastes better with the quantities stated unless I double everything when we have guests & so need more flan generally. Friends pull my leg when I tell them I make this excellent flan for the two of us with half a tin of sardines & half a tomato, but I've continued to resist the urge to increase the quantity of fish or tomato.

I'm still trying to solve the mystery of why this should be. After all, it seems logical that if there's more in it, the flan should be tastier. In this instance I think it's partially because the quiche also demanded cheese, which the flan does not. I've noticed before now that too much cheese in a dish can neutralise the flavour, so maybe that's the problem. In my usual flan, the tomato slices are put on top of the sardines, whereas in the quiche they were put below the sardines. Perhaps that little bit of caramelisation from being on top helps to bring out the juiciness & flavour of the tomato. Maybe it's that the egg custard is lighter in the flan & so maybe the flavour of the sardines & tomato sings out more - there was some cornflour & extra egg in the quiche than the flan making the custard a bit thicker & richer.

Whatever the reason it's definitely a case of less tasting more. I'll be keeping my old flan recipe & throwing out the new quiche recipe. Maybe I should just accept the fact that perfection can't be improved on!