The Charmed Kitchen

We made this quiche in a mushroom class the other night. We used a traditional pie crust and it came out great. The first time I made this recipe, I actually used a different dough.

Sometimes there are happy accidents in the kitchen. This recipe is one of those. I had made kolachy for a friend. Kolachy are filled cookies, made with a cream cheese based dough. There was some dough leftover, and I did not want to waste it. I decided to use it for a quiche. Well, technically a tart, since it was baked in a tart pan. I looked through my fridge for what I had, and came up with the combination of leeks, mushrooms and asparagus. I also had a nice chunk of Swiss cheese, so away I went. The rest was pretty easy. I just added the eggs, half and half and seasonings to complete the dish. You could, of course, use any crust recipe you prefer. I must admit, the kolachy dough worked really well. I would most definitely make this recipe again, using the cream cheese crust. I did include the recipe for the kolachy dough at the bottom of this post. So here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy it.

Mushroom, Leek and Asparagus Quiche

1 unbaked pie shell*
2 T. oil or butter
1 c. sliced leek- white or light green part only
4 oz. sliced mushrooms- I used baby Portobello
8 oz. asparagus, trimmed and sliced
4 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
2 T. flour
3 eggs, beaten
¾ c. half and half
1 T. fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste

Roll out crust to fit a 9 or 10- inch tart pan. Place crust in pan and trim edges. Chill crust until ready to use. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In skillet, heat oil or butter and cook leeks until tender. Add mushrooms and continue cooking until mushrooms are golden. Set aside. Steam asparagus for 3-4 minutes, or until just tender. Set aside. Combine flour with cheese and toss to coat. Spread cheese in prepared tart shell. Top with the mushroom and leek mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the eggs with the half and half, dill and hot sauce. Pour over the mushrooms mixture in the tart shell. Add the asparagus. Place in preheated oven and bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Turn down heat to 350 and cook for 20-25 minutes longer, or until crust is golden and filling has set up. Serves 4-6.

 
* While I would normally use a more traditional pie crust, I ended up using the dough I normally use for my kolachy. It was leftover and seemed like a nice choice. The kolachy dough is 3 sticks of softened butter, 8 oz. of cream cheese and 3 cups of flour. Mix all ingredients until smooth and chill until ready to use. It was leftover, so hard to say how many crusts a full recipe would make. I would think you could easily get three crusts from one recipe. You can, of course, use your favorite pie crust recipe.