Quiche me please

I fell in love with the idea of ‘quiche’ the first time I tried one. First of all, it’s got a quirky sounding name. And it’s a symphony of eggs, cheese and any filling your heart desires in a delicious piecrust. What’s not to love?

Here’s one of my favourite quiche recipes. Mushroom and Spinach quiche. Makes one 9 inch quiche.

For the pie crust:

1 cup Maida

1/3 -1/2 cup cold Butter cut into small cubes

1 pinch Salt

Cold water

Cling film

For the filling:

2-3 Eggs

Cheese (how much depends on how cheesy you want it)

1 packet Mushrooms 

Onion (optional)

Half bunch Spinach 

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Chilli flakes (optional)

Oven setting: About 170 degrees centigrade. Preheat please. 

The Pie Crust

This took me a little practice to get right but is quite easy once you get the hang of it.

Place the maida in a big bowl. Add the salt.

Cut the butter into smallish cubes and drop it into the maida.

Using your fingers mix the maida and butter together till the dough resembles crumbs. You should feel tiny lumps of butter in your mixture. 

To this, add cold water one tablespoon at a time, mixing the maida and water till the dough just about holds together in a rough ball. You don’t want a smooth mixture like chappati or puri dough. Let it remain a rough, but held together.

Wrap your mixture in the cling film and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. This is important and is the difference between a hard crust and a flaky delicious crust. I learnt this the hard way :/

Roll the (rested) dough flat (I like using the marble counter of my kitchen). Use flour to ensure your dough doesn’t stick to the counter. Roll out to about a 4 mm thickness and a little bigger than your pie dish.

Place the rolled piecrust dough into the pie dish. Line the pie with butter paper and weigh it down with rajma or channa. 

First blind bake the pie crust. This is basically baking the crust a bit before adding the filling, so that the filling won’t make it soggy later. The rajma/channa will ensure that the pie doesn’t puff up in the centre.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes. Then remove the butter paper and rajma/channa and bake for another 5 minutes to ensure that the bottom is cooked.

Weigh the crust down for blind baking

After blind baking

The Filling

Sauté the mushrooms with butter and onions, or just boil them with salt if you like. When done, let the mushrooms cool.

Lightly sauté the spinach with garlic and add a tiny bit of salt to taste. Let this cool.

In a large bowl, beat 2-3 eggs, depending on the size of your pie dish. Add salt and pepper. Chilli flakes for some extra punch. If you're feeling really wild, add some fresh cream :)

Grate some cheese and keep it ready.

Into the pre baked piecrust, spoon in the spinach and mushrooms. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the veggies. Finally pour the beaten egg into the pie, letting it settle between the veggies. Careful not to overfill.

Bake this in the oven till the egg is firm and starting to get golden on the top, The edges of the piecrust should be golden brown.

Allow the quiche to cool, before cutting and serving.  Tastes great with a fresh leafy salad.

Enjoy J

*Blind baking pictures courtesy http://www.thekitchn.com/