Deep Dish Quiche

Deep dish quiche with spinach, mushrooms and Swiss.

Did you even know that it's a thing? I was feeling experimental one day and had some stuff in the fridge that needed to be used up. Quiche is always a good way to repurpose leftover veges and some meats, but I wanted something that could be a dinner versus lunch or brunch. For whatever reason, in my mind, a typical 'slice of pie; quiche doesn't constitute dinner. But a deep dish alternative, now that seemed substantial. Plus, it ave me a chance to use one of my springform pans which I think are the coolest gadget. (I know, geeky right?)

Since I didn't have a recipe to work from I looked for info about proportions of ingredients necessary to get the nice custard texture that we all love in a good quiche. What I found was a proportion of 1 egg for each cup of cream or milk, so that is where I started. As far as the filling, I had some spinach and mushrooms that needed to cooked, and plenty of Swiss cheese to shred.

Although I have several go-to pie crust recipes, I was having fun asking ChatGPT for basic propositions and went that route for the crust. as I did for the custard It said: "1:1:1/2 ratio of flour, butter, and water by weight".  I also knew I was too lazy to bother blind baking the crust, that's where you get the crust in the pan, weight it down with pie weights and bake it for a bit to crisp up the bottom. Supposedly, it avoids soggy bottom crusts. I on the other hand would rather use some imagine to find a workaround...... That turned out to be shredded Swiss cheese. This was an experiment gone good for sure.

IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure you know the volume of your pan before you start and adjust the ingredients accordingly maintaining the proportions noted above. The last thing you want is to have 8 cups of filling and a 6-cup pan. My pan holds about 8 cups and when you tally up the ingredients, that's where it lands +/-.

THE RECIPE:

For the Crust

2C flour

1/8t salt

2C butter in 1/4: cubes kept cold

Up to 1C cold water

Pulse flour and salt in a food processor to blend

Add cubed butter and process until the mixture looks like course cornmeal

gradually add cold water until the dough comes together is is workable but not too sticky. (You probably won't use the entire cup)

turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll our into a circle large enough to line the bottom and sides of your springform pan.

Flour the dough and fold into quarters so that you can lift it and place it in the pan

Unfold it and press it firmly into the bottom of the pan and up the sides.

Place it in the fridge or freezer while you're making the filling.

For the Filling

1-1/4C shredded Swiss cheese separated

1/4C shredded Asiago

6 eggs

2C heavy cream

1C 10% milkfat plain Greek yogurt

1/4t Nutmeg

Salt / pepper to taste

Sauteed vegetables to equal about 1-1/2C

2T butter or Olive oil to saute veges

1/4C white wine

Heat the butter or olive oil in a large skillet and add vegetables. For this recipe I used slivered sweet onion, crushed roasted garlic, sliced mushrooms, chopped plum tomato, and baby spinach/

Stir-fry for 5 minutes and add the white wine to deglaze anything that might have stick to the pan. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper until completely blended.

Vegetables for the quiche sauteeing.

After dough is pressed into the springform pan, put a layer of shreeded cheese on the bottom.

Place sauteed filling into ppan and pour custard over the top.

Sprinkle with remaining cheeses and bake.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees

Remove the crust from cold storage and cover the bottom with 1 cup of the Swiss cheese. (I was counting on the Swiss to keep the crust from getting soggy and it worked.)

Spread the sauteed veges over the Swiss cheese layer.

Pour the custard mixture over the veges

Sprinkle to Asiago and remaining Swiss on top

Place the pan on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 60 to 70 minutes until the custard sets up and a skewer comes out clean-ish. (It won't be clean, but it won't be dripping with liquid either)

Gently remove the wall from the pan.

Let the quiche cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

When the pan is cool enough to release the latch, set the quiche on a rack to cool a bit more before cutting. While not typical for a shallow quiche, I like how this remains layered. I suppose you could mix the veges with the custard before pouring it in the crust if you prefer the more trad look.

Anyway, it tasted as good as it looks and was great reheated for lunches.