Who doesn’t love quiche? Is is possible that anyone can in fact resist this savory oven-baked, fragrant egg custard tart with its myriad filling combinations of cheeses, onions, meats, fish, chopped vegetables, ham or bacon, and more? As we savored our first scrumptious bite of today’s quiche creation, we dismissed the silly notion that such anomalies could really exist. You’ll agree once you try this recipe from 2gourmaniacs.
Ingredients
Makes 4-8 servings (appetizer vs. entrée portions)
~ 1 pie crust (see below)
~ 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
~ 1 medium chopped shallot
~ 3 cups sliced shiitake mushroom caps
~ 3 cups chopped fresh spinach leaves
~ 2 large eggs
~ ¼ cup half and half
~ 1⁄3 cup milk (skim or low-fat is fine)
~ ½ teaspoon salt
~ ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
~ ½ teaspoon Spanish paprika
~ ½ teaspoon freshly grated (or ground) nutmeg
~ 1-¼ cups shredded mixed cheeses, like Monterey, Cheddar, Mozzarella or Fontina, and crumbled Gorgonzola
Method
Reduce oven temperature to 350°F after baking the pie crust (see directions below). In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat, add the shallot and cook for about 1-2 minutes until softened. Add the mushroom slices and stir, sautéing for several more minutes. Add the spinach and mix together for another 2 minutes or so. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sauté until mushrooms are tender and golden brown, and spinach has wilted, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, whisk eggs, half and half, milk, nutmeg, ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper, and blend well. Blend in the four cheeses and the sautéed mushrooms and spinach. Pour mixture into crust and even it out using a spatula. Bake quiche until golden brown and cooked through the center, about 45-50 minutes. Let cool and set for at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.
Quiche Pastry Dough:
So simple to make, you’ll never buy frozen pie crust again. You’ll make the dough, roll it out with a rolling pin and blind bake it before filling it up with all the quiche goodies.
Ingredients:
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
320 grams pastry flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
4 tablespoons ice cold water
Method:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Take 9 tablespoons of the butter and cut it up into ½ inch cubes. Wrap it with plastic film and put it in the refrigerator. Cut and cube the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter, wrap, and set aside. Pour the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse for a couple of seconds. Then put the flour/salt combination in a plastic bag and place in the freezer, along with the 5 tablespoons wrapped butter cubes. Let everything chill for at least 45 minutes (there’s no time limit as to how long it can stay in the freezer/refrigerator). When you’re ready to make the crust take the ingredients out of the freezer and refrigerator. Pour the flour and the 9 tablespoons butter cubes into the food processor. Pulse for 20-30 seconds so that the butter breaks up and combines with the flour. Then add the 5 tablespoons of butter from the freezer and continue to pulse. Make sure the butter and the flour are well combined. The mixture will be dry and look like oats.
Take the rice vinegar and pour into the food processor work bowl through the feed tube, and pulse. Add the iced water and continue to pulse until it all starts to come together, adding another tablespoon of iced water if necessary. The dough should stick together when pressed between your forefinger and thumb. You don’t want a heavy, gloppy dough.
Dump the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together in a ball, and quickly flatten it into a 6-7 inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can leave in the refrigerator overnight, but make sure you let it warm up and become malleable before rolling it out.
When you’re ready to roll out the dough, remove it from the refrigerator, make sure it’s pliable or it’ll crack when you start to roll it. Flour a wooden or stone surface, and roll out the dough until it is 1/8 inch thick. I could go on ad nauseum about rolling pins: I always say that size matters, the bigger and heavier, the better. Place a tart form next to your work area; liberally flour the dough and roll it up, draping it onto the rolling pin. Move the pin over the tart form and let the dough unwind from the rolling pin onto the form. Gently push the dough into the form. Trim any excess dough on the outside of the form and push the dough against the fluted sides of the form. Prick the bottom of the dough with fork tines. Lay a piece of parchment paper on top of the formed dough. Pour some pie crust weights onto the parchment paper to prevent the dough from puffing up during baking. (I use ceramic pie crust weights the size of small marbles. For years I used white kidney beans, they work great and they’re also reusable.) Trim excess parchment paper with scissors.
Pop the form into the preheated oven. After five minute turn the oven down to 400 degrees. After fifteen minutes, remove the weights and parchment paper, and continue to bake for another 10-12 minutes. Keep an eye on your crust; you’re after a light golden color. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack until cool to the touch. Then proceed with the quiche filling (see above).
RSA & RMA
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great detailed instructions. Will try this out soon, thanks!
Let us know how it comes out, Joy. It is so delicious!