The weather is turning chilly, so it's perfect for baking again. Baking in a tiny studio apartment in mid summer is heat stroke inducing, so I love to warm up my apartment in the fall or winter with a cozy dish...
Going out for brunch is such a Chicago thing. People here love to flock to a eatery around 11 a.m. and then wait patiently in line to enjoy a brunch with a mimosa or other tasty beverages while catching up with friends. Whenever I go to brunch, I can't resist ordering the quiche of the day with a side salad (anything baked in a pie is irresistible to me... I'd probably not even object to the questionable pie served by Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd if I didn't know what was inside... :p). It's usually hard for me to make it to a brunch place and spend enough time with my boyfriend, who has to rush off to work around noon on the weekends, so this time, I chose to make a quiche for enjoyment at home.
Pie crust: adapted from Ina Garent's Perfect Pie Crust recipe - makes 2 crusts
1.5 sticks of butter (frozen)
.5 stick of butter flavored shotening (or sub with extra half stick of butter)
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
half cup of iced water (just put some ice cubes in the water if you don't have iced water)
You'll also need:
saran wrap
rolling pin (I prefer a French rolling pin/one without those annoying handles)
pie tin
aluminum foil
*If you want a healthier quiche- feel free to sub the above crust recipe with this one. But honestly if I'm eating quiche, I'd rather just enjoy one as it is in its gloriously fatty form...
Filling:
1 tbsp of butter + 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 red/yellow onion, diced
1-2 lb of asparagus (about 2 handfuls), ends snapped, rinsed, diced into half inch pieces
5 slices of good quality ham (about a cup diced)
4 eggs
1 cup half & half
1/4-1/2 cup grated Gruyere, cheddar or Asiago cheese (your choice)
salt n peppa (I know they're no together anymore but just try)
Before you start, just read through this quick tutorial about what quiche is and how it's made. I find that it's good to have a general sense of how to cook a dish before you begin, so you are not surprised half way through the recipe that you're missing something or doing something wrong. Given this, I find cooking is about invention and having fun. If you know the general blueprint of a dish, you can easily substitute ingredients and adapt the recipe to what you have on hand and what YOU want to have in your quiche. In this case, I happened to run into fresh asparagus at Aldi's and they also had great pre-sliced ham (yes I shop at Aldi's. They have really good quality things for cheap).
You'll need some time to make the pie crust and then freeze it for half an hour (during which you can be making the filling). It's easiest to make pie crust in a food processor. Add the flour, salt and sugar to the food processor. Cut up the FROZEN (not refrigerated) butter into half inch cubes. Toss the butter and shortening in there. Then press the Pulse (not ON) button repeatedly until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs or small peas.
Add spoonfuls of the ICE water one at a time while pulsing until the mixture starts to stick. Tear off two foot long pieces of saran wrap and lay them on top of each other in a cross shape. Dump half of the loose crust mixture on the plastic wrap. Close the wrap and start to squeeze the dough. If it's not sticking together, add one spoonful of ice water and the resqueeze to combine. Do this until the dough is just lightly sticky and not crumbly (don't over squeeze). Stick the dough into the freezer to rest and get cold again. Repeat with the rest of the flour/butter mixture to make the 2nd dough ball.
While the dough is resting, start pre-heating the oven to 400 degrees. Also start heating a medium sized pan. Add the vegetable oil and butter and heat until melted (the oil prevents the butter from burning). Add the diced onions and start to sautee. Cook and stir for about 8 minutes, until the onion starts to caramelize/turn light brown. Add the asparagus (make sure they're pretty well dried off in a spinner). Sautee until the asparagus starts to turn darker and shrink/caramelize. Add the diced ham. Sautee for another 2 minutes. Add the salt n peppa and taste to see how salty you like it. Turn off the flame when everything is nicely caramelized and seasoned.
Whisk the eggs and half & half together until it's completely combined. Add the cooked asparagus/onion/ham mixture to this custard mixture and stir well. Toss the grated cheese with a tbsp of flour and then add the cheese to the custard mixture (the flour prevents the cheese from sinking to the bottom).
Pull the frozen dough ball from the freezer. Sprinkle/wipe flour over a flat/clean surface like a granite counter or clean cutting board. Wipe flour over the rolling pin and your hands. Then lightly flatten the ball against the board. Roll your pin toward one side of the dough using mild pressure. Then rotate the dough either clockwise/counter clockwise by about a quarter turn (to prevent it from sticking), and roll again toward one side. Continue doing this until the dough is flattened. Keep flouring your pin if it gets sticky. You should see pieces of butter still embedded in the dough. You can squeeze the overlap edges into a nice pattern. Watch this video if you're confused but note that I advise rolling toward one direction instead of back and forth for better results.
You will need to pre-bake this pie shell. Put the aluminum foil on top and either use pie weights or pace a round cake pan on top to weigh the crust down. Bake for about 8 minutes at 400 degrees. Check to see if it starts to puff/harden. If not, bake for about 1-4 minutes more. The crust should be almost golden.
Pour the custard filling into the crust and return to the oven. Reduce the temperature to 350-375. Bake for about 45 minutes. Remove and insert a knife in the center. If it comes out clean, then you're ready to go. If it is coated, return and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Let the quiche cool for about 10 minutes before you cut/serve it! If you decide to store it in the fridge, make sure the quiche is completely cooled first before you refrigerate it (don't want food poisoning right?).
Serve with some arugula and spring greens or baby spinach topped with some chopped nuts, soft crumbled cheeses and craisins/raisins and light dressing. Super yum on a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning!
**If you don't have time to make pie crust (who does?) just buy pre-made pie crust and pre-bake before adding the custard filling. You can also add left over veggies/protein to the quiche to make use of left over food (chopped sausages, ham, cooked spinach, broccoli, shredded chicken etc.). Vegetarians can omit the proteins and add more veggies. Have fun with this! And you can also make tiny quiches by baking the dough inside muffin tins and get party/single serve quiches. So yum...
