Mushroom Quiche

Real Men, I was told in 1982, don't eat quiche - but for a girl's pool-side brunch, quiche is just the thing!

Just LOOK at all these mushrooms!!! YUMMMM!!!!!!!!

I love this recipe from “The Eggs & Cheese I Love” by Jules J. Bond, 1978, probably because it contains my favorite product in the world, Worcesershire sauce. This recipe also calls for shallots, but I had some nice scallions which I used instead, which just goes to show how adaptable quiche is. You can throw in nearly anything you have, and Ta-Da! Lunch. If mushrooms aren’t in season, might I suggest…lobster?

Mushroom Quiche

1 pie crust **

2 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. minced shallots

1 lb. firm button mushrooms, sliced thin

1 tsp. lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

½ tsp. grates nutmeg

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

½ cup light cream

4 eggs

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

Heat butter in a skillet, add shallots, saute for about 3 minutes until they are translucent and soft. Do not brown. Add mushrooms and lemon jice, saute for 3 or 4 minutes over moderate heat until mushrooms are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from fire, season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and Worcestershire sauce.

Beat eggs, cream and cheese in a bowl until well blended and smooth, then blend with the mushrooms.

Pour into crust and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until the quiche is well set.

Serves 6

** Oh, Pour into crust, you say - so I need to make a crust? 

Yes you need to make your own crust. No I do not approve of using pre-made crust. Just NO. If you have a food processor, you have no excuse – that’s what my mother told me, after she taught me her 2 minute pie crust recipe, and she wasn’t kidding. Below is a similar recipe from The Grand Master, James Beard, who embraced the Cuisinart whole heartedly. Mother's variation on this is even quicker - no egg, and she doesn't even roll the crust, and it is splendid. I used it here with a strawberry pie (mmmm!!!) 

Easy crust, yummy quiche - a total hit at brunch! 

Tarte Saint-Germain - with Grant K Gibson

For my first ever Carried-Away Guest Spot, I turned to a dear friend of mine, (and fellow blogger: http://www.grantkgibson.blogspot.com/), designer Grant K Gibson - because he is always in his kitchen cooking up a storm, AND I knew we both grew up with The Silver Palate Cookbook (1979). Oh, and I knew he’d fix me a cocktail and do most of the cooking himself, so how could I loose?

Part One: Dinner.

I actually suggested we skip dinner entirely and simply have cake and cocktails, but after we tasted, and each ate not one but TWO huge slices of this concoction, I was glad Grant insisted we start with the Tarte Saint-Germain. “The lowly leek is the star in this glamorous tart,” advise the authors, and I am with them in spirit, because the treatment really is a win for leeks, but don’t be fooled: there are FOUR Tablespoons of butter working here, too!

Grant had already made the shell, so really, all I had to do was help stir a bit, leaving the other hand free to photograph our efforts in Grant’s chic black-and-white kitchen. And once the leek mixture was cooked, it just got dumped into the shell and baked – couldn’t be easier. No wonder quiche became such a “thing” in the 80s, though “Real Men” everywhere (like my father) swore they wouldn’t eat it. Neither of us was concerned about that, so Grant and I gobbled it up. We did, however, save room for dessert…



Tarte Saint-Germain

4 Tbsp sweet butter
6 leeks, trimmed, well washed and thinly sliced
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup light cream
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1 9-inch shell of Pate Brisee, partially baked
½ cup grated Gruyere cheese

1. Melt the butter in a skillet. Add sliced leeks and cook, covered, over low heat for about 30 minutes, or until leeks are tender and lightly colored. Stir frequently or leeks may scorch. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
2. Whisk eggs, yolks, and light and heavy cream together in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a grating of nutmeg, if you like.
3. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
4. Spoon cooled leek mixture into partially baked tart shell. Add cream and egg mixture to fill the tart to within ½ inch of the top. Sprinkle the Gruyere evenly over the tart.
5. Set the tart on the middle level of the preheated oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until top is well browned and filling is completely set.
6. Cool for 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm.