Mushroom Quiche

This is an excellent quiche; I have shared this recipe with many people through the years.

Although the preparation requires a few steps, it is not at all difficult, and the results are wonderful.

You will probably be surprised that there is sugar in the dough. Please do not omit the sugar. because it not only lends a pleasant flavor, but it allows the dough to brown to a beautiful golden color.

There is nothing more annoying then to dig one’s teeth into a piece of quiche, and suddenly discover a hard or rubbery dough, or alternatively, a soggy dough on the bottom. In this quiche, the dough is flaky, tasty, and suits this filling very well. The dough needs to be partially pre-baked to a light golden color; please do not omit this step; if it is not pre-baked, the dough will get soggy!

This is the basic recipe; you can double the amounts of dough, and of the filling, for a bigger quiche, or if you want to make two quiches at the same time.

ENJOY!

Ingredients:

Dough

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted vegetable shortening
• 2 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose white flour
• a pinch of baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Filling

• approximately 80 grams (3 oz) yellow cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 onion halved and VERY THINLY sliced
• 1 basket of champignon mushrooms, cleaned, and sliced.
• 100 grams (almost 1/4 lb.) butter
• salt
• pepper
• paprika

Preparation:

Dough

1. Cut butter and vegetable shortening into little cubes, put it into the food processor together with the sugar, salt, flour, and baking powder. Pulse a few times until it is crumbly.
2. Add the lemon juice and then add the milk GRADUALLY, one spoonful at a time, with the machine working. As soon as the dough forms a ball, that means that you have added enough milk.
3. Take out the dough, put it in plastic wrap or in a bowl, and put it to rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
   TIP: I often take a shortcut here: instead of refrigerating it as a “ball”, I immediately pat it into the bottom and partially up the sides of the cake pan, and then put it to rest in the refrigerator; that saves me the work of shaping the dough later on.
4. After the dough has rested and chilled, turn the oven on, at 190 C or 360 F, and bake, watching carefully, till it is a light golden color.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Filling

1. **You can do this step even a day before, and keep it in the refrigerator; it is actually better that way, since the filling should not be hot when you put it into the baked dough: Slice the onions in half, and then slice each half as thinly as you can. Clean the mushrooms, and slice them in thin slices. In a heavy, non-stick frying pan, melt the butter, and then add the onions and mushrooms, salt, pepper, and paprika, and on a low flame, cook until they get soft but NOT brown. The longer you cook, the better, so that the natural sweetness of the onions comes out; please be sure that the flame is very low, so as not to burn the onions and mushrooms; they should be soft – the cooking can take up to an hour.
2. Allow to cool.
3. In the baked crust crumble the yellow cheese, spreading evenly around.
4. On that, spread the cooled mushroom-onion mixture.
5. In a small mixing bowl with a whisk or electric beater, put the eggs, the egg yolk, the whipping cream, more salt, pepper and paprika.
6. Whisk until all ingredients are incorporated. Taste and adjust seasonings.
7. Pour the mixture evenly over the onion-mushroom mixture which has already been placed on the dough.
8. Place in a pre-heated 190 C (375 F) oven and bake till the filling is “set” and firm – this can take up to about 40 minutes.
9. Allow to cool, and serve. Better to wait an hour or so before serving, so that it will be easier to cut into wedges. If it is too fresh, it will be difficult to cut neatly.

TIP: Make sure that the baking tin is big enough so that the mixture doesn’t overflow – that would ruin not only the presentation of the quiche, but also the flavor, since any mixture that overflows onto the oven will burn, and smoke up the oven.