Tuesday - October 04, 2011

EZ Bake Goodness

Mushroom - Ham - Swiss Quiche
makes 2 quiches

2 frozen deep dish pastry pie shells
1 pint heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
half a dozen fresh large eggs
2 10oz packages sliced white mushrooms
3/4lb thin sliced deli ham
3/4lb wedge Jarlsberg Swiss cheese
coarsely ground black pepper
whole nutmeg

Heat the oven to 350°F.

Coat a large skillet with a good splash of olive oil. Heat it up a bit, then toss in both packages of mushrooms. Stir them around to coat with oil, let cook for a couple minutes then cover and reduce heat.

Pare the wax off of the wedge of Jarlsberg, then slice the whole wedge into matchsticks using a very sharp knife.

Roll up 3 or 4 slices of the deli ham, cut them into thirds lengthwise, then slice them into 1/2” widths. This gives you lots of little pieces of ham. Repeat this several times more until you’ve cut up about 12-16 slices of ham. Check the mushrooms and give them a stir.

Break the eggs into a medium small mixing bowl and beat them with fork. Add the milk and cream and mix them up. Grate on a bit of nutmeg - about a dozen passes over a fine Microplane grater - and then grind on a generous amount of black pepper. Mix it all together. Check the mushrooms; they should be starting to brown a little and the juices should be running. When that happens, take the cover off and let them evaporate for another 3 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to ladle them out into a bowl.

Put a handful of cheese matchsticks in the bottom of each pie shell, even distributed. Now add a handful of ham bits the same way, and then a spoonful of the half browned mushrooms. Add a generous layer of cheese and then a generous layer of ham and mushrooms.

Open up the oven and slide the top rack forward. Place a solid baking sheet on the top rack - one that won’t suddenly twist out when it gets hot! - and place each pie shell on the baking sheet. Carefully pour in some of the cream/egg mixture until each shell is 3/4 full. Toss in any remaining cheese, ham, and mushrooms. Top the shells off with the remaining liquid, stopping when the liquid is about 1/8” down from the top of the pastry. If you’ve been generous with the fillings you’ll have about 1/4 cup left of the liquid left. If your oven is properly level you can probably get away with putting it all in. If you happen to have pie shields go ahead and use them.

Bake them for about 45 minutes. The quiches will be mostly set at this point but not browned. Turn the oven up to 400° F and give them another 10 minutes to brown, then turn the oven off. If you like your quiche firm leave them in for another 15 minutes, otherwise take them out. Let them cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight. Cut yourself a really generous slice for breakfast and reheat it for one minute in the microwave. Give the second quiche to a friend or neighbor.

I topped mine off with a whole slice of ham and a whole slice of deli Swiss laid crosswise over that, just for show. Comes out great. There is no need to add salt because of all the cheese.

Variations - you can add some onion if you want. Soften or caramelize about half a large sliced Spanish onion ahead of time, and add half to each quiche. You can also cook them using a water bath method. Just make sure that your pie pans don’t have any vent holes on the bottom. You could add some broccolli if you really felt the need. I often add several slices of crispy bacon, although the flavor tends to get lost. I’m sure that slices of pre-cooked breakfast sausage would work too. Don’t make it too complicated; stick to 2 or at most 3 main flavors. I used less than 1/4 of an average nutmeg for both; don’t overdo it with the nutmeg. You can vary the texture by using more milk and less cream, or using half an half instead, or all milk or all cream. IMO heavy cream with just a splash of milk works best. Portabella mushrooms have a stronger flavor. Different cheeses have different flavors. Use your imagination.

I had no intention of making quiches, but when I was getting the ham at the deli I saw their quiche in the display case for $5 a slice. Crivens! I made a whole quiche for hardly more than that, using generous quantities of top quality ingredients. And it’s just so darn easy to do ... and all the neighbor ladies were duly impressed, making more “mmm mmm” noises than a whole classroom full of children during Obama Indoctrination. One asked me if I thought a quiche could be frozen. Probably, but whatever for? So it won’t go stale. Are you kidding me? These things never go stale because they get eaten up in a day or two. What you don’t eat for breakfast you’ll eat later on for a snack or with dinner.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/04/2011 at 02:06 PM   
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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