QUICHE 101

Posted in Small Dishes by

Some people are intimidated by cake. Some by bread. Others by quiche. I am here to end your quiche-o-phobia once and for all. I promise you that you will be able to make any quiche you’d like without the need to look at a recipe. Yes, that easy. Your quiche will be slightly lighter in fat than the authentic concoctions from France, but you won’t even notice. All you need is a food processor, a skillet, and a bowl.  You could even skip the food processor and do the whole thing  by hand, just add a second bowl to the utensils needed.  Ready? Let’s go…

FOR THE CRUST

MEMORIZE  1 + 1 + 1/2

Add one cup of flour to your food processor bowl. All-purpose is fine.  Add to it one stick of butter, cold, cut in pieces.  Half a teaspoon of salt. Yes, it would be even easier if you could add a full teaspoon, so memorizing would be a triple “1.” But you don’t want to taste salt in the crust, so stick to half a teaspoon.

Pulse everything in the processor until the butter look crumbly, probably 6 times or so, not more than that.

Now I ask you. How many different items did you add to the food processor?  Three. So that’s the number of tablespoons of very cold water you will drizzle on top with the machine running.  The moment it threatens to start crumbling together, STOP. Stop right away!  Pinch a small amount with your fingers, if they hold together you are done.  Dump it over a plastic wrap on your counter top, wrap it bringing it all together, it will smooth out considerably as it rests.  Do not try to knead it or you will end up with a tough crust. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to 1 hour. Or more. You can do that the day before.

When ready to roll out the crust, remove from the fridge, and roll it thin enough to cover a 9-inch pie plate, preferably with fluted edges and removable bottom.  Dock the surface, refrigerate while you heat the oven, or for several hours.

Blind bake it  at 375 F for 15 to 20 minutes, with pie weights or dry beans. I like to cover the surface with plastic wrap so that any type of weight I use has an easier time reaching the edges. Remove the weights once the pie has been in the oven for 10 minutes.  That is it, your crust is done!   

FILLING

Anything your heart desires.  Amounts are pretty flexible, just use common sense, you need to cover the surface of the quiche, but not crowd it too much.  In this example I used diced prosciutto (straight from the package, not cooked in any way), sautéed mushrooms, grated Gruyère cheese, and minced parsley.  Place your goodies over the surface of the blind-baked crust.  Now get ready to make the liquid component, enough for a 9-inch quiche.

MEMORIZE 1/2 + 6

Measure half a cup of whole milk. Place it in a bowl, season lightly with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add to it 6 eggs, except that 4 will be whole, and 2 will be egg whites only.  Whisk vigorously, and pour on the quiche with all the goodies already placed on its surface.

Bake at 375F for about 30 minutes. It will puff and get all golden and gorgeous. Remove it from the oven and wait 15 minutes to serve, so that it sinks down a bit and gets a nice texture.

Voilà!  You made quiche!


Now here is my detailed recipe for you

MUSHROOM AND PROSCIUTTO QUICHE
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

for the crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick butter, cold, cut in pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ice-cold water

for the filling:
about 10 ounces of mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup prosciutto, diced
1/3 cup grated Gruyère cheese
fresh parsley leaves, thorn into pieces
1/2 cup milk
4 whole eggs
2 egg whites
pinch of nutmeg

Make the crust by adding flour, butter and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times until butter is in large crumbs. With machine running, add the ice-cold water. Stop processing once it starts to come together in a mass.  Transfer to a plastic sheet, press delicately into a round disk, and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, but you can leave it overnight in the fridge.

Roll the pastry out and cover a 9-inch pie dish with removable bottom. Dock the surface, chill the pastry for at least 30 minutes before blind-baking it in a 375 F oven, with weights. You can cover the surface with Saran-wrap, as long as the plastic does not touch the metal pan. Bake for 10 minutes, remove weights, bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer, until it is opaque, but not getting dark.

Make the filling. Sautee the mushrooms in olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Make sure the mixture is not watery. Allow it to cool slightly. Sprinkle prosciutto all over the surface of the baked crust. Add the mushrooms, the shredded cheese and parsley.

In a medium bowl, mix the milk with eggs and egg whites. Add a pinch of nutmeg, and a very light touch of salt and pepper. Whisk well, and pour over the filling. If you like, you can reserve some or most of the cheese to sprinkle on top, that gives the quiche a darker color on the surface.

Bake for 30 minutes, remove from the oven, allow it to cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here


Comments: This was part of our Valentine’s dinner menu. I made the dough and rolled the crust early in the day. Once we arrived home, all that needed to be done was blind-bake the crust and prepare the mushrooms. Piece of cake. So much better than going out. Last year we made that mistake, and were unlucky enough to wait 45 minutes for our order to arrive at the table. Keep in mind we don’t live in LA or New York, and were not enjoying our dinner at a super fashionable and crowded restaurant, where seeing and being seen trumps the quality of the service. Anyway, we could not make the same mistake two years in a row.

I was debating whether to cut the mushrooms in smaller pieces, but I’m glad I went with bigger chunks. Much more satisfying that way.  If you omit the prosciutto, this would be a perfect meal to entertain your vegetarian friends. Use sun-dried tomatoes in small pieces instead. I bet that would be lovely.

On the side, a version of a recent salad we truly enjoyed. This time I used dried cranberries and roasted pistachios, same dressing. No cheese, as we had enough of that in the quiche.

It was a lovely dinner, in the comfort of our home, fireplace on, pups happily snoring nearby, waiting for the time when the dishes get done and some bits and pieces of goodies might “accidentally” find them…

ONE YEAR AGO: Persian Butternut Squash Soup

TWO YEARS AGO: Walnut Cranberry Sourdough Bread

THREE YEARS AGO: Ottolenghi in Brazil?

FOUR YEARS AGO: Roasted Winter Vegetables with Miso-Lime Dressing

FIVE YEARS AGO: 2012 Fitness Report: P90X2

SIX YEARS AGO: Caramelized Bananas

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Roasted Lemon Vinaigrette

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Whole Wheat Bread

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32 thoughts on “QUICHE 101”

  4. Making a quiche has never intimidated me because I buy pre-made pie crusts, lol! However, your recipe for the dough seems easy enough for me. I did have to google “dock the surface,” as I had no idea what that meant. I was going to guess it meant to cover it, but it means to put holes all over it (with a fancy gadget if you have one) but I suppose a fork or something would work. I should surprise my husband with a quiche with a homemade pie crust soon. He’s a fiend for mushrooms too, always a good choice. Your quiche looks delicious. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    • ooops, sorry for the docking – it means making small holes with the tines of a fork, or with a fancy docking gadget… it prevents the crust from bubbling up during baking.. well, sort of. There is always some bubbling up with this kind of pastry, but the weights help counteract that

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  6. Here is a very good tip from Gary at CooksTalk. I was asking for advise about soggy bottoms.

    “First as soon as the blind-baked crust comes out of the oven, wash some egg whites over the bottom. Give it about 2 minutes to set up before adding the filling. This type of protection would be particularly appropriate for an egg-based filling. Second, bake the quiche on a pre-heated pizza stone. This will set up the filling near the bottom crust before it has a chance to get soggy. FYI, we always baked our fruit pies directly on the hearth (basically a giant piece of ceramic) of our deck ovens for this reason.”

    Cheers,
    Peter

    Liked by 1 person

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    • yes, indeed, I knew about this trick but totally forgot about it – will incorporate in my next quiche adventure

      Gary always gives excellent input on recipes, we’ve been discussing cakes lately and he comes up with all sorts of ideas to get me in trouble… (sigh)

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  7. I love it!!!! A formula for a perfect quiche 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
    Can you remind me how much a ‘stick of butter’ is please? We don’t have them here.
    Your formulas reminded me of what a friend taught me years ago for making a sponge cake: 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 200g flour, 200g sugar, 200g butter, 4 eggs. Or 3+3+3+6 for a bigger cake. I’ve always remembered that for some reason!

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  8. I had the same question as Elaine (do sticks come in different sizes or am I just imagining that…) I’m guessing 1/2 cup butter. Your quiche looks amazing – that first photo is literally glistening with cheesy/shroomy goodness. I’ve got your formula down and you’ve got me craving quiche big time!

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    • yes, it is 1/2 cup or 113g – hard to make it work nicely enough with all systems of measurement… (sigh)

      I realize I love quiche, and do not make it often enough.. crepes, even worse…

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  10. Q: After the 6 pulses of the food processor for the first 3 ingredients of the crust, do you continuously run it after you’re adding the 3 tablespoons of cold water? My fear is over-processing it. I’ll just have to try it out.

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. I do enjoy quiche, Sally, just haven’t prepared one in some time. Love the idea of combining prosciutto and gruyere, though. When I o prepare this quiche, it had better be a small one because I know me. No matter the size, there will be none remaining by the time I go to bed. No, Max will not have had a bite — although he most certainly did should anyone ask. 😉

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    • Oh, the pups would flip for quiche, no doubt about it… it’s a good thing also that it freezes reasonably well, so as long as we remember to put the leftovers away… to avoid midnight temptations… 😉

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