mmm, quiche

[illicitlearning]

I made some quiches! Here is the recipe I used; I think it is pretty good.

You'll need:
A large mixing bowl (seriously. pretty big.)
Mixing spoon (for mixing the filling)
Whisk/fork (for beating eggs)
Pie tins (i used two, you don't have to)
Frying pan (for sautéing stuff)
A little butter (unless you wanna sauté using the bacon fat, which may or may not work)

For the crust:
2c flour
3/4c shortening
5tbsp cold water
1tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450. Mix flour and salt. Knead in the shortening. Sprinkle in water, kneading as you go. Once it makes a nice ball, roll the dough into pie crusts (i recommend doing this on wax paper). Put your crusts in pie tins, making sure there are no holes, and the edges are all nice and pretty. Bake at 450 for ~10min (just lightly browned).

For the filling:
6 large eggs
1c (8oz) sour cream
1c (8oz) half&half
1c (8oz) blarney castle gouda style cheese
3/4c (6oz) brie
3/4c (6oz) cheddar
1 can (5oz) canned spinach
1 large sweet onion
8oz button mushrooms
8 strips bacon
4 cloves garlic
1tsp salt
1/2tsp pepper
large dash paprika

Preheat oven to 350. Cook the bacon and crumble it. Grate the cheeses (or kinda mush the cheese, in the case of the brie). Drain the spinach. Dice the onion, slice the mushrooms if they're not already. Mince the garlic. Sauté onion, mushrooms and garlic together. Beat the eggs. Mix in pretty much everything else (ie, sourcream, half&half, all cheese, spinach, onion, mushrooms, garlic, bacon, salt, pepper, paprika). Pour into pie shells. You could probably fit it all into one pie tin, but I split it into two. Bake at 350 for 45min to an hour, until nicely browned and a knife comes out clean-ish. (My quiches stayed in for ~53 minutes, but really could have gone either way; how long you leave them in is up to your preference.) Remove from the oven and let cool for ~10min. Eat hot tasty quiche!

Thoughts: Double the mushrooms, maybe. Perhaps more meat, and possibly use sausage or ham instead of bacon. Probably really good with tomato -- maybe slice some on top after it's baked, or even bake it in?

Comments

[pjdnfalcon.livejournal.com]

sauteeing with bacon fat usually causes things to get brownish... for presentation, I suggest against it. That's me.


(My quiches stayed in for ~53 minutes, but really could have gone either way; how long you leave them in is up to your preference.)

~53?... so... it was within 30 seconds of 53 minutes... not around 50 minutes... or 55... but around 53... you shock me and seriously confuse the fuck out of me when you suddenly have neurosis in those ways. crazy. haha

[illicitlearning.livejournal.com]

Well, if they're gonna be in a quiche anyway, I don't think it'll really harm the presentation. If it screws up the taste or something, though, that's something to worry about.

And, yes, it was around 53. I baked them for 45, and when I checked them they were browned only on one side because the oven heated unevenly, so I rotated them and left them in another 8 minutes or so. Thus, 53 minutes.

[pjdnfalcon.livejournal.com]

i'm used to people being retarded and using bacon fat with eggs... which makes the whole thing look gross...
by people, I mean I made eggs that way once... exactly once. and have warned EVERYONE to never mix the two.

I was just shocked that you would use an uncertain term "~" when you were being specific... like... I cooked them for ~15 minutes and 34 seconds.

[veritaslox.livejournal.com]

Ignore him. When one has bacon and eggs, one should always make the bacon first and use the grease (or at least some of it) to fry the eggs. It'll get brown and crispy around the edges and bottom, but that's just a sign of how bad it is for you. I think they taste heavenly, but I understand if people dislike crunchy edges on their eggs.

3 Questions:
Any suggestions on alternate cheeses? I'm not a big fan of cheddar.
Can one substitute different mushrooms?
Would the taste be ruined by the addition of additional spices (basil, tarragon, etc.)? When I cook, I like to use lots of spices - I don't know why.

[illicitlearning.livejournal.com]

Mmm, crunchy egg edges.

The cheddar was barely noticeable due to the brie and gouda tastes being so strong, but I imagine you could really substitute any cheese you felt like. Maybe if you liked swiss you could get a *really* pungent quiche going :)
I don't see why not; though if you used especially strong-flavored mushrooms I wouldn't double them as I've suggested for the button. What mushrooms were you thinking?
It would require experimentation, but I could see other spices being quite good. Basil in particular would likely go quite well, but I don't know about tarragon. Try it and get back to me :)

[illicitlearning.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the amount for the brie is really just an estimate; I bought a wedge that was, I think, .53lbs, and then used ~3/4 of it. So feel free to fudge the brie.

[veritaslox.livejournal.com]

Any info as to how much mushrooms make up a package?

[illicitlearning.livejournal.com]

8oz in a package. i'm thinking you could pretty much get away with using 8oz of everything in this quiche :P

[ziegelstein.livejournal.com]

Yay, quiche! I tried making one a few weeks ago but something got messed up in the making of the crust part so everything ended up tasting like Crisco. The dogs thought it was amazing though.