Friday, January 8, 2010

Mediterranean Quiche

This is an Emeril Legasse recipe, circa 2002. It has been in my recipe file for a long time and I have made it at least three times. You can see his original version here, on the Food Network website. Funny, I even left a review for it about this time last year. It is a "5 star" recipe, averaged from 28 reviewers!
Beware that it is not low-fat. I considered buying fat-free half & half but was a bit disturbed by the ingredients. Best thing is to restrain yourself and eat small portions. It is so good that it's not easy to do that!

I chopped and cooked as I went. The pace was fast, and especially trying since the tot would have various needs to be met while I was cooking. At least he was asleep in the stroller while I shopped for the ingredients!

First, slice up a medium onion. Cut the ends off, then halve it, then slice it in thin half moons.
Chop up a medium sized zucchini. Saute on medium-high heat in 2 TB butter, for 6 minutes. Toss often.
Meanwhile, use a damp paper towel and wipe the dirt of your mushrooms. I opted for 1/2 package of baby bellas. Slice them up. Add to saute pan and cook an additional 10 minutes, stirring often, so the mushrooms release their water.
Meanwhile, mince 1 teaspoon of garlic, chop 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme and 3 Tablespoons of fresh basil. After the ten minutes is up, add the garlic and cook one minute. This is where I got behind. You are supposed to add the basil, thyme and tomatoes at this point. I had yet to prep the tomatoes. I turned the heat down to really low, added the thyme (not the basil) and went to the tomato prep.
Use 4 oz oil packed sun dried tomatoes, drained. I find Trader Joe's julienned work well since I only have to chop them up a little bit. I use 1/2 jar and my fist to squeeze out the oil.
Emeril suggests making your own pie crust but I opted for the ease of store-bought refrigerated Pillsbury. It was also on sale so 1 crust cost $1. And, you don't have to use a rolling pin! It is an 11" disk ready to put into a 9" pie plate.
Soon after I started fluting the edge I recalled that I should have used my tart pan (which has scalloped edges and sides that drop out). Oh well, next time!
The recipe suggests baking at 375º for 12 minutes while the Pillsbury package suggests otherwise. Follow the Emeril recipe. I don't have pie weights and didn't want to bother with coming up with beans or marbles to solve this. The crust came out fine, only a couple puffed places which I pushed down.
Crack 3 eggs in a large bowl.
Whisk eggs, 1 1/4 cups half & half, 1/2 cup grated Gruyere, a dash of salt, a grind of pepper and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes.
Put veggie mix in the pre-baked pie crust.
Pour egg mixture over and dab with 3 oz. crumbled goat cheese. It helped to slightly freeze the cheese so it wouldn't be so sticky and mushy. I froze it longer than intended and it completely froze! I was able to cut it up with a knife easily this way. Don't be tempted by the pre-crumbled cheese unless you already know of one that tastes good.
Bake at 375º for 25-30 minutes (takes our oven 30) until set (no more jiggles). Allow to rest for another 30 minutes.
It was so late, the tester was already bathed and in his p.j.'s! He LOVED it and so did we!

Bacon, egg & cheese breakfast sandwich