Mort’s Quiche

Mort's Quiche

Recipe By : Mortzco

1 Preparation Time :

Categories : Quiche

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -- -- --

MORT'S QUICHE -- See below:

The quiche is composed of three elements: pastry, custard and filling. The

filling takes the most time and while its bubbling away you can prepare the

other stuff. The following is for a 10-11 quiche ring pan. Be sure to use a

ring pan, the pastry tends to burn if cooked in a pie pan (it'll taste fine,

but looks like hell).

THE FILLING:

The filling is composed of three components. Two are cooked (mushrooms and onions), one ( sharp cheddar cheese) is not.

The green onions and the mushrooms are cooked in separate pans and then

combined later.

Clarify a quarter pound of butter. Put about 3/4ths of it into a large

frying pan for the mushrooms and the rest in a smaller frying pan for the

onions. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the butter and add about a tablespoon

for the mushrooms, and about a teaspoon for the onions, of the following (I

just pour the stuff from the bottle into the pan):

Worchester sauce

Soy sauce

Teriyaki sauce

1/2 and teaspoon, respectively) of CINNAMON (now don't falter here) into each pan.

Turn the heat to high and put the mushrooms and onions in their respective

pans. You'll need a lot of both because you REALLY cook this stuff down.

THE MUSHROOMS:

You'll need one big plastic bag of mushrooms (about soccer ball sized)

finely sliced. They'll form a mountain in the pan and some will probably

slide off onto the stove. Just keep throwing the 'shrooms in the pan and stir with a wooden fork when possible. Cook until they are very brown and caramelized.

You really want to get the moisture out of them. You'll be surprised how

much they reconstitute after baking.

THE ONIONS:

You'll like the onions because you get to share a beer with them. You'll

need about six bunches of medium-sized green onions. Chop into 1/8 " slices

all the way back to the chive portion. Cut and reserve a cup of the chives

for later garnishing. Brown the onions until they are almost burnt on high

heat. Then pour a half of a beer in the pan (pour other half down yourself) and cover for about 5 minutes. Uncover and reduce onions until caramelized.

Combine with mushrooms and mix thoroughly for a few minutes. Let this stuff

cool while you prepare the pastry and custard.

THE PASTRY:

This pastry is pretty fragile. Don't freak out if it tears. You can patch it

with egg whites and dough, so don't sweat it.

1 cup flour

1/4 lb butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

4 egg yokes (reserve egg whites)

A little milk as kneaded (excuse me)

Put flour in medium sized bowl. Make a dent in the middle and put in eggs

yolks. Slice up butter and drop it in. Throw in the brown sugar and dive in.

Use one hand, octopus style. Hold off on the milk until the dough is pretty

well kneaded. Sometimes I don't use any. When you've got a good ball formed,

toss it back and forth and compress between your hands. This warms up the

dough and makes it a little easier to roll. Coat well with flour. Make large

pile of flour on wax paper or a pastry cloth. Knead the dough into a

saucer-shaped patty and roll out slowly, using lots of flour, working from

the center. This dough will crack, so roll it a couple inches larger then

necessary. Check your size against the bottom disk of your pastry ring. Trim

1 to 1 1/2 around the disk

kind). Slip the disk under the rolled dough. I place a bowl inside the ring,

set the disk with the dough on it on the bowl, and then gently lift the ring

at an angle while lifting the edge of the dough around the ring. Repair

tears with egg white and extra dough. Brush pastry with egg white. Pierce

all over with fork. Then trim pastry with sharp knife always cutting away

from center of the pan. (You do not need to grease the pastry ring. The

butter in the dough keeps it from sticking.)

THE CUSTARD:

You can use either sour cream or whipping cream or both in the custard.

You're on the home stretch now.

16 oz sour cream or whipping cream (or 8 oz of each)

4 egg yolks

1/2 pound of grated jack cheese

Pinch of nutmeg

Combine in a mixing bowl and stir it all up with a whisk.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

Really, this is worth all the trouble, so let's press on.

Cut some approximately 1/8 square rods of EXTRA SHARP cheddar cheese and place them like spokes in the bottom of the pastry shell. Spoon in the

mushroom/onion mixture. Spoon custard over the whole shebang. Lay down some

more rods of cheddar cheese on the custard. Sprinkle on green onion chives.

Some VERY thin slices of red or white onion can be a nice touch, too.

400x. Cook for 40-50 minutes, rotating it occasionally.

It'll puff up pretty high while its cooking. Watch the center. It needs to

puff up too and brown. I've been cooking this for over fifteen years and still chicken out sometimes and take it out before its completely done (it's

still good but a bit runny in the middle). Let cook until it's dark brown.

You won't believe how good this is. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOTES : This recipe has evolved over the last 15 years. It's great for special occasions because

it is very rich and a small piece goes a long way. It's based on my opinion

that most quiches

are some what bland, combined with my tendency to favor reducing several

flavors into an

almost-pungent filling that in turn is "mellowed out" when baked in the

quiche's custard. I mention

this so you will be brave as you "apparently" abuse the ingredients in the

filling