During the ’70s and ’80s, my hometown of Houston, TX, had an exciting burgeoning food scene. Today it is one of the most diverse ethnic food scenes in the country, highly regarded by food writers, cooks, and trend seekers. When I was young, I was fortunate to work Christmas season and school holidays with talented chefs from around town in my mother’s restaurant (known then as The Sunset Tea Room). She featured heirloom Southern recipes and new trends crisscrossing the country and Europe, part of a new food movement known as New American Cuisine.
One of my favorite menu items was the quiche-A choice of diced ham and spinach, or mushroom and spinach. Each slice was offered with either a green or fresh fruit salad along with a cup of soup du jour. That memory is the basis for this post. While I will be diving into the spinach and wild mushroom quiche here, you can substitute the mushrooms for diced ham or bacon if you prefer.
Wild Mushrooms
Supermarkets are stocking a wide variety of domestically grown wild mushrooms like never before. If you happen to live in an area where they still aren’t available (or out of season), check out my Shop Ingredients page for several varieties. Nearly any store-bought wild mushroom will do, but I’ve listed the type I use or recommend in the recipe card. Never pick wild mushrooms without experience. There are as many poisonous species as there are edible ones. Take a hands-on class before harvesting your own.
If you want to skip the wild mushrooms, white or brown button mushrooms work as well, albeit without the super depth of flavor found in their wild cousins.
Stuffed full of mushrooms and imported cheese, this quiche makes a great lunch! Serve with a green salad tossed with a vinaigrette.
Pastry crusts begin with quality butter. I’m using Kerrygold unsalted Irish butter.
Cut the butter in half.
Cut the butter again and then into cubes.
Freeze the butter uncovered for 20 minutes.
Add the flour and salt to the work bowl of a food processor. You can do this by hand, but it’s much easier and faster with the food processor.
Prepare ice-cold water. Strain a little more than needed into a measuring cup to keep the water cold and pour into the flour as needed.
Add the super-chilled butter to the flour. The process is by pulsing the food processor. Once the butter and flour look like a coarse meal, add the iced water. You will know if there is enough water in your dough by squeezing a sample. The dough should hold together without breaking apart.
After adding the iced water, turn the coarse grated flour/butter onto a work surface covered with plastic wrap.
Fold the plastic wrap back over itself and press down on the dough mixture.
There should be enough dough to make two packets. Refrigerate to relax the gluten for at least 1 hour or overnight.
After the dough is chilled and relaxed, turn it onto a lightly floured work surface.
Roll the dough into a thin circle (about 14 inches/36 cm). Note-if you made the dough into two discs (like I did), combine them to make the 14 inches (36cm) circle.
Prepare a 9 inch/23 cm springform pan (without the bottom) using oil or nonstick spray. Place the ring on a nonstick Silpat or parchment paper rather than the bottom of the pan. This will prevent a doughy crust.
Work the dough to fit the pan. Make sure there a no gaps or holes in the crust.
Crumple up a 14 inch round of parchment paper. (Crumpling the paper beforehand makes it easier to fit into the round pie pan.) Add dry beans or pie weights and fill to the top of the pastry. Par bake the pastry shell at 375F/190C for 40 minutes.
Carefully remove the dried beans or pie weights. The edges of the pastry shell should be just golden brown. The bottom of the pastry should be soft but still set up. Check for holes or breaks and patch with leftover dough.
Prepare the wild mushrooms. One type is plenty, but I had a mix available to me the day I went shopping.
Roughly chop the mushrooms.
Slice an equal amount of white or brown mushrooms.
Prepare white pepper salt with 1 part salt to 3/4 white pepper.
Mince two shallots for the mushrooms and two shallots (optional) for wilting the spinach.
In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and butter.
Sauté shallots until tender.
Add the mushrooms, chopped fresh thyme, and white pepper/salt. Cook the mushrooms until all the moisture evaporates
Prepare a shot of sherry or brandy.
Add the shot of sherry or brandy and cook out the alcohol (about 1 minute).
In a clean sauté pan over medium heat, add olive oil and salt. Once the pan has come up to temperature, add the shallots.
Working in batches, add three large handfuls of spinach. Cook until the spinach has reduced some, then add more spinach into the sauté pan. Keep cooking and stirring until all the spinach has wilted.
Three large handfuls of spinach will cook down dramatically. Continue cooking until almost all the moisture has evaporated.
Remove the spinach from the pan and roughly chop.
Place the roughly chopped spinach into the center of a length of cheesecloth or a kitchen towel. Once the spinach has cooled, this can be done by hand-the cheesecloth or towel just makes it easier.
Fold the cheesecloth over and around the spinach. Gently twist the cheesecloth while squeezing to remove excess moisture. (The spinach juice can be saved for another use or discarded.)
Add the eggs and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer or hand mixer with the salt. Whisk until the eggs are smooth and no egg white strings hang from beaters or whisk when removed.
With the use of a stand mixer, the eggs will only take a minute or two on medium-high.
Grate fresh nutmeg or measure out ground nutmeg. If using fresh nutmeg, add a smidgen more since store-bought ground nutmeg is usually stronger than fresh.
Add the milk and nutmeg to the eggs. Then, for extra flavor, add a dash of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco-style hot sauce.
Whisk all the liquid ingredients until well incorporated.
Back to the quiche shell-add a good layer of Comté cheese
Follow with the prepared spinach.
Add the mushrooms next.
Add a layer of Gruyère cheese.
Carefully pour in the quiche mixture, being careful not to overflow the pastry shell—Reserve any egg/milk leftover. If your quiche leaks a little, you can top it off again after 30-40 minutes of baking time. Place immediately into a pre-warmed 350F/175C degree oven.
Remove the quiche from the oven and place the sheet pan on a wire rack to cool. The center of the quiche should be just set. To check the internal temperature with an instant-read food thermometer at least 165F/74C. Don’t overcook past 180F/82C.
Once the quiche has cooled to warm, place it on the serving dish with the help of two spatulas. Run a thin, flexible knife around the outside of the quiche to loosen the crust from the pan. Remove the springform.
Using a sharp knife, cut the quiche into equal portions. (Notice the golden brown flakey crust.)
Serve the Wild Mushroom and Spinach Quiche with a light green salad or fruit salad.
Almost like mom used to make. For a hearty lunch, add a cup of your favorite soup.
Wine Pairings: Pinot Noir, 2018 Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, CA, Pinot Grigio, 2018 Trentino, Italy , Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, 2018, Loire Valley, France
Wild Mushroom Spinach Quiche
Equipment
- 9 inch springform pan, bottom removed
- rolling pin
- stand mixer
- non stick parchment paper or Silpat
- pie weights or uncooked beans
- cooling rack
Ingredients
Quiche Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tbsp butter
- 1 lb mushrooms, wild thinly sliced...On this day I'm using a mix of (Oyster, Trumpet Royale, Forest Nameko, Velvet Pioppini, Maitake Frondosa) (Fresh Porcini/Chanterelle are an excellent upgrade)
- 1 lb field mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 2 whole shallots, peeled and minced
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, stems removed and chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup sherry wine for deglazing
- 1 cup spinach, wilted/chopped and excess water squeezed out
- ½ cup Comté, shredded (Emmenthaler, Fontina Val d'Aosta or regular Swiss cheese are good substitutes)
- ½ cup Gruyère, shredded
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups milk
- 6 whole eggs
- 1 heaping tsp nutmeg, freshly grated (Use a bit less if not using fresh nutmeg. Jarred nutmeg tends to be more concentrated)
Pastry Shell Ingredients
- 2 cups flour, all purpose
- 2 sticks butter, cut into small cubes and then frozen (2 sticks butter = 1 cup = 8 oz = 32 tbsp = 225g) For richer more flakey crust substitute high quality lard for the butter.
- ¼-½ cup ice water
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
Pastry Shell Instructions
- Using the ring from a (9" or 23cm) springform pan, spray with non-stick oil or rub oil all along the inside of the pan. Put aside.
- Measure out the chilled butter and cut into small cubes. Add the butter cubes to a sheet pan and freeze for 20-30 minutes (or overnight).
- Using a food processor or your hands, add the AP flour and salt to the work bowl. Next add the cubed frozen butter. Place the lid on the work bowl and pulse or cut the butter into the flour. If you are using your hands, squeeze the butter and flour with your hands to break up and distribute. The butter should be evenly distributed throughout the flour. You should visibly see the chunks of butter in the dough.
- Every flour and ambient humidity in the kitchen is different so the amount of water you will need will vary. Start with ¼ cup of ice chilled water and pulse in the food processor. Remove the lid and grab a sample of the dough. Clinch it in your hands. The dough should come together without falling apart. If it falls apart add a few more spoons of water and recheck the dough after a brief pulse with the food processor. (I live in a very dry climate so it took me ½ cup of iced water to get the pie dough to come together.) After adding the water, and once the dough is starting to come together, turn out onto a work surface and work the dough together into a small disk or two. Avoid overworking the dough as this will make for a tough pastry. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour. (Any longer and the butter with become hard and you will need to let it sit out at room temperature until the dough is soft enough to work with.)
- Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C.
- Methods to roll out dough:1. Remove the rested pastry dough from the refrigerator and place onto a very lightly floured work surface. Take the rolling pin, and with your free hand with a small amount of flour in it, roll the pin around to cover the rolling pin with flour. This will help rolling out the pastry without it sticking. If needed, add a small amount of additional flour to the work surface or the rolling pin and carefully roll out the dough into a (14-16"/35-40cm) wide circle. You will need all the dough used together to have enough pastry. There will be a small amount leftover for filling any cracks.OR2. Removed the rested pastry dough from the refrigerator and place on a large non stick parchment sheet(16x24" or 40x60cm). Flatten the dough into a medium sized disc with your hands. Place another large non stick parchment paper (16x24 or 40x60cm) on top and then slowly roll out the disc of dough into a wider circle by rolling the dough out in one direction, then make a quarter turn with the dough and repeat. Repeat this several times until you reached (14" or 35cm) circle of thin dough. This method has the advantage of no additional flour, which can make the dough less flakey.
- Once the dough has been rolled out to size, transfer it to the bottomless prepared spring form pan resting on a Silpat or non stick parchment paper. (Removing the bottom disc of the springform pan allows the dough to rest directly on the sheet pan and helps make the bottom crust crispy and flakey.) Gently fit the dough into the pan while lightly pressing it into place. Trim any excess off from the top and inspect to make sure there are no gaps or holes. If you have a gap, take some of the leftover dough and use this to patch and fill the crack or tear.
- Take a (16x24" or 40x60cm) piece of parchment paper and crumple it thoroughly. Straighten the paper out and gently insert inside the dough. (Crumpling the paper will make it easier to place the paper into the round dish.) Place as many beans or pie weights into the cavity as you need to fill the space to the edge of the dough. Place the pastry dough into the oven and bake for approximately 40 minutes. The dough should be just turning golden brown on the edges. Remove the pastry shell from the oven and cool. Once the beans or pie weights are cool enough to handle, carefully remove half of the beans/weights using a scoop or small cup. Remove the last half of the beans/weights by carefully lifting the parchment paper from the edges, then lift out the rest of the beans/weights. Allow the pastry to cool and inspect the edges to make sure no cracks have formed. If some have, patch with the leftover dough and reserve. Prepare the filling while the dough rests. If cooking the quiche straight away, lower the oven temperature to 325°F/165°C.
Quiche filling Instructions
- In a small bowl or cup add the kosher salt and white pepper. Mix thoroughly and reserve. The mixture should resemble gray salt.
- Pick through and clean the mushrooms as needed. Roughly chop the mushrooms to achieve consistent just-smaller than bite-size pieces. Reserve.
- Core and remove the outer layer of 2 medium shallots. Mince and reserve. Prep the fresh thyme by removing the leaves from the stem and discard the woody stems. Chop the leaves and reserve.
- Clean and wash 3 large handfuls or approximately 3 cups of spinach. Reserve.
- Using a large sauté or fry pan over medium heat, add the oil and butter. Once the butter has melted and the pan has come up to temperature, add shallots.
- Cook the shallots until just translucent and then add the chopped mushrooms. Add the salt and white pepper mixture. Cook stirring often until most of the water has cooked out and the mushrooms have shrunk in size by half. Add the fresh chopped thyme, stir in and cook for a few moments more. Once the mushrooms have cooked down to a dark grey and the pan starts to get dry, add the sherry and Worcestershire sauce to deglaze the pan. Cook for 1 minute or more until most of the moisture has evaporated. Remove from the burner and reserve.
- In a separate pan add oil, butter and shallots as before with the mushrooms. This time however add a big handful of cleaned spinach. Add salt/white pepper mixture. As the spinach wilts, add another handful until all the spinach has been cooked down. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once the spinach has cooled, remove from the pan and place into a length of cheese cloth or a kitchen towel. While standing over the sink or a large bowl squeeze out all of the moisture from the spinach. Once drained place the spinach on a cutting board and chop. Reserve.
Final Quiche Assembly and Service
- Preheat the oven to 325°F/165°C
- In the prepared pastry shell on the sheet pan, start with a layer of shredded Comté. Next add the prepared layer of cooked chopped spinach, then add the prepared mushrooms. On top of this add a final layer of shredded Gruyère cheese. Pack the ingredients down very lightly. Pour or ladle the prepared quiche milk/egg mixture just to the top edge of the pastry. Place into the preheated 325°F/165°C oven and bake for 1½ hrs, rotating the quiche halfway through. Check for leaks between 30-40 minutes of baking and add more mixture if needed at that time. (See Notes)
- To check if the quiche is done, the internal temperature with an instant read food thermometer should be at least 165F/74C. Don't over cook past 180F/82C.
- Remove from the oven once the quiche is cooked and place on a cooling rack. Let the quiche cool till very warm to the touch. Gently run a knife between the quiche and sides of the pan. Carefully remove the springform pan ring.
- The quiche is now ready to be sliced with a very sharp or serrated knife. Cut into equal sized pieces and serve warm, or alternatively, allow the quiche to cool completely and serve cold. Either way is delicious. To warm up leftovers, place on an oven safe dish in a preheated oven at 350°F/175°C for approximately 10 minutes.
Notes
- There will be a small amount of pastry crust leftover. This allows for filling in any small cracks you might experience.
- There is more quiche mix than is needed. If any quiche mixture leaks out of the bottom while baking, keep cooking till about halfway and add what you need to fill it back up. The quiche should have set up enough at this point to allow more quiche mix to be added. Add 8-10 minutes of cooking time if this is the case. If you don't have a small leak then you can cook the excess off in well buttered ramekins or discard.