Cookin in Brooklin

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t like quiche. It’s a satisfying and easy meal, and best part is, good for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Quiche
3 Large Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream
1/4 Lb good quality Ham, cubed (I usually get a French Ham, but Virginia Ham works well, you can get Smoked Ham as well. The best way to buy it, is to go to the meats/deli counter and ask for one slice of ham about a 1/4 of an inch thick, this will give you a nice slab that will be easily cubed)
1 1/2 cups grated Jarlsberg Cheese (you can use Gruyere too)
15-20 large Shitake Mushroom caps, sliced.
1 Tbs butter
Salt and pepper
Pate Brisee Crust (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 400.
Sautee the sliced Mushrooms in the 1 Tbs of butter until they have released their moisture, and then gotten dry again — sprinkle with a little salt, set aside to cool.
Grate the cheese and cut the ham, set aside.
Whisk together the eggs and cream, add about 1tsp of salt and fresh ground pepper (remember, the mushrooms, the ham and cheese, are all somewhat salty, better too have to salt your individual piece than have the whole thing be inedible).
Place the mushrooms, ham, and cheese (cheese last so it floats to the top to help create a nice crust) in the pie crust, then add the egg mixture.
Bake in the oven for 45-1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean. The finished quiche should be nice and brown, and when you shake it slightly, the middle shouldn’t jiggle. Let it cool for a good 5-10 minutes, 1) because it’s impossible to cut right out of the oven, and 2) that cheese is molten hot!

Pate Brisee Crust
2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Sugar
1 Cup (2 sticks) Chilled Unsalted Butter, cut in pieces
1/4 to 1/2 Cup Ice Water

Parchment paper, dry beans or pie weights

Preheat oven to 350
Combine the dry ingredients and whisk together. Add the butter and with your hands combine until the dough is the size and texture of Parmesan Cheese.
Add 1/4 Cup Ice Water and mix until it holds its shape. Overturn onto a well floured surface and kneed with the heels of your hands until it comes together and is smooth — if it gets too dry, add more water teaspoons at a time.
Divide into two discs, plastic wrap them, place one in the fridge to chill, and the other in the freezer for another time (it will last for about two weeks).
After letting the dough chill for an hour, take out the disc and on a well floured surface roll out to about a 10″ round.
Roll the dough onto the rolling pin, and then un-roll it into the pie/quiche dish. Finish the edge however you like (clean, crimped etc), and line with a piece of parchment paper (you can use wax paper too). Then, add the dry beans or pie weights into the paper lined dish (the weight keeps the dough from shrinking too dramatically when baked). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then take out the paper and weights and bake for another 15, this is called “blind baking”.
Set aside for filling.

PS. When I’ve run out of, or don’t have the time or energy to make crust, I use “Pillsbury’s Roll Out Pie Crust”. It tastes wonderful, and it’s really easy to unroll and use. It’s in a bright red box in the refrigerated section, NOT in the freezer dept.

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