Adventures in Crustless Quiche

I’ve never made Quiche before these two recent experiments in quiche-dom.  This is definitely a weekend morning endeavor (or, they are pretty quick for an evening after work)!  But, you definitely can make them ahead and refrigerate for later — they’ll be best served warm or hot, of course.  I made one batch (two Quiche per batch) using duck eggs, and the other batch using chicken eggs.

 

Chicken Egg Quiche with Gruyère, Smoked Gouda, Oyster Mushrooms and Shallot. PS, I think that cheese grater is as old as I am.

 

I use those six-inch pie pans — these are not dedicated Quiche dishes with steeper / taller sides, but recycled aluminum pie pans from the Quiches I’ve been purchasing at the farmer’s market.  (I just knew not throwing these things out would come in handy!)

Quiche with duck eggs or with chicken eggs:  (makes two six-inch Quiches, each Quiche could typically serve two people at breakfast, and one person at dinner.  If you have a side.)

* 2 small (for a duck) duck eggs; or two large chicken eggs.
* 2/3 cup half and half with duck eggs; if using chicken eggs, use 1/2 cup instead.  
* 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
* 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
* 1/4 heaping teaspoon allspice or ground nutmeg

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* 2-3 ounces grated cheese — I am partial to a near equal mixture of Gruyère  and smoked Gouda.  You do want something that will melt, and that preferably has character.  Other cheese suggestions:  cheddar, Swiss, Fontina – or perhaps if you are feeling particularly spicy – pepperjack.
* 4-5 ounces fresh mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced (shiitake, oyster or button).  Four ounces for oyster and button; five for shiitake since there’s that stem waste.
* About 2 inches of thin sliced leek, the white end, being careful that no grit remains.  Worthy substitutions would be one whole peeled sliced large shallot, or chopped green onions (perhaps two, the entire green onion sans root)
* Cooking oil (perhaps avocado or olive) — about 1 teaspoon to cook the mushrooms/leeks, and a little more to coat the pie pans.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Combine the first set of five ingredients together, mix with a whisk or a fork, and set aside.  (In retrospect, I think an immersion blender would have been best for the duck eggs!  The duck yolks separated out, which is not ideal.  This did not happen with the chicken eggs.)

In  a skillet with the oil, heat to medium/medium high, and add the mushrooms/leeks.  If using green onions add them when the mushrooms are nearly done.  You want to cook out all the water from the veggies, to keep the Quiche from being watery.

Drain on a paper towel.

Oil your pie pans, then add the cheese/veggies on the bottom of each pan, insuring a good mix.  Pour the egg mix over the top of each.  It is helpful to have these pans seated in a larger baking dish, to avoid spillage problems.

Bake 20-25 minutes, checking for browning but not burning.

Quiche in 6 inch pie tin

These will come out of the pans without breaking up, if you wait at least five or ten minutes for them to cool.  I used a standard serving spoon, assisted by a regular table-setting knife, to remove them gently.

I am left to wonder why over all these years, I have not tried my hand at Quiche until now!  And now I feel almost guilty walking past the Quiche stand at the market, but I’m saving money…

Duck Egg Quiche, with Gruyère, Shiitake and Leek, and a side of sliced Cortland apple.  Of course, I ended up forgetting to take more pictures once I removed this Quiche from its pan…  Hey, I was hungry!

The recipe I adapted, mostly by eliminating the crust, using allspice instead of nutmeg, and by making two rather than one Quiche in my pie tins — and thus since they are shallower, they will cook a little quicker:

http://cookingfortwo.about.com/od/eggsanddairy/r/Recipe-Quiche-With-Three-Variations.htm