Felicie’s Famous Quiche
The duxelles may be prepared a day in advance and refrigerated until ready to use. Bring them to room temperature before adding to the pastry shell. One of the best things about making this quiche is preparing the duxelles. As the earthy mushrooms and sha
Makes 2 quiches
Pastry for quiche:
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ cup cold water
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into small pieces
¼ teaspoon salt
3 1/3 cups flour
Duxelles:
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound fresh mushrooms, chopped into very small pieces
8 medium-size shallots, minced (see note)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cracked pepper
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup vermouth or Madeira
Custard/filling:
1 cup baked ham chopped into small pieces
1 ½ cups shredded Gruyère cheese plus 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, mixed together
8 whole eggs plus 4 yolks
4 cups heavy whipping cream
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Sprinkle of cracked black pepper
A few chopped tops of green onions
2 tablespoons butter cut into bits
Prepare pastry shells: Mix egg yolks, oil and water together well.
Using wire whip and stainless steel bowl, add pieces of butter and salt to flour and mix at medium speed until it has the texture of oatmeal, about 5 to 6 minutes.
Make a well in center of mixture and pour in liquid, mixing well with a large fork.
Using hands, press dough into a ball and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate about ½ hour. After chilled, separate dough into two halves and roll out each into a circle on a lightly floured board.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Press each circle lightly into a greased 10-inch, deep-dish pie pan. Flute or fashion edges as you’d like and prick bottom a few places with a table fork. Line pastry bottom with foil or parchment paper and weight it with dried beans.
Bake in preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes or until pastry begins to color. Remove paper and beans and bake 1 to 2 minutes more.
Note: Prebaked pastry can be covered well and frozen before filling with custard.
Make duxelles: Heat butter and oil in a large skillet; add mushrooms and sauté over low heat 6 minutes. Stir in minced shallots and cook a few minutes more, being careful not to brown shallots. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir in vermouth. Raise heat to medium low and cook about 25 minutes to reduce, stirring often until mixture is almost paste-like. (Can be made and refrigerated a day ahead.)
Note: To peel the shallots easily, soak them in boiling water about 3 to 4 minutes before peeling.
When ready to prepare quiche, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Make custard/filling: Sprinkle some of the duxelles (about half the mixture), the ham and all but a spoonful of the cheese over bottom of two precooked pastry shells. In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, cream, Dijon, Tabasco and pepper well and add the rest of the duxelles. Pour mixture over the pastry shells. Top with green onions, the extra spoonful of cheese and dots of butter and bake in preheated oven 45 to 50 minutes, until golden and tester comes out clean. Let sit 5 to 8 minutes before slicing.