Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Goat Cheese Quiche

Yes, I ate the little piece of missing crust.


It is only fair to say that none of these ingredients is truly unfamiliar, unless you count the type of goat cheese, but what can I say, I'm hungry, and this is an easy nutritious yummy supper.


I started the Goat cheese quiche by blind baking (pre-baking) my empty pie crust to prevent sogginess. I used a purchased pie crust, as this was intended to be a quick and easy supper. I had the crust, baby portabella mushrooms, fresh baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil sun-dried tomato goat cheese on hand. Voila, supper.

After baking
Before baking

The sun-dried tomatoes I purchase are halved fruits, so I slivered them with a pair of kitchen shears. I love them for their rich fruity taste & long shelf life and most often use them as an addition to my homemade herb oils, generally with fresh basil & garlic or rosemary & garlic and eaten with whole wheat bolillo bread.



Next I washed and roughly cut my baby portabellas. I bow to Alton Brown on the mushroom washing issue. Some cooks would advise that you saute the mushrooms before adding to a quiche, but I like the texture when cooked with the egg mixture.

Baby Portabellas cut
Baby Portabellas uncut

For my egg mixture I fork beat five eggs with a very small splash of milk, about two teaspoons (it looks like more in the photo as it spread across the surface). I use less because I put in so much veg., and they add a lot of moisture to cook out. If you prefer a fluffier quiche, use more milk and beat more thoroughly, but your quiche may take longer to firm and your heavier ingredients will sink to the bottom of the quiche unless you add them part way through the cooking process. Also less milk provides a denser less moist & spongy quiche. Always go with your preferences, there is no 'right' way with food, only what you desire. If you don't care for any browning on your eggs (I don't!) tear off a loose sheet of foil & lay it over the quiche until nearly done, then remove to eliminate surface moisture.

Eggs & Milk for Quiche

I washed the baby spinach after purchase, so it was only necessary to pull off the stems as I added it to the quiche. I put a few on the bottom of the crust and a few on top of the egg mixture. The cheese I simply picked into small lumps with the help of a butter knife & dispersed throughout the quiche. This type of goat cheese is very soft and mild, if you prefer a more pungent flavor, I would recommend feta crumbles. Finally, pop the quiche into the oven at 350-400 degrees until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and dry.

Basil Sun-dried tomato Goat Cheese
Baby Spinach



You may note that the crust is a tad dark, but like any cook, I make the occasional bone-head mistake, this time it was not covering the edges of the crust with foil before blind baking it. I promise that if you cover yours before blind baking, it will come out perfect. Honest.

Goat cheese & vegetable quiche

No comments:

Post a Comment