Monday, August 30, 2010

Broccoli Goat Cheese Quiche

Over the weekend, I happened upon purchasing a dozen farm-fresh eggs from a woman with a ranch in Halfmoon Bay. They are small and delicate, and so beautiful (some of them are blue!). So, I made a quiche!

And -- oh my god. So delicious. Here's what happened:

Ingredients:
Crust
1 3/4 cups flour
1 stick of butter, cut in little pieces
1 egg
water
salt

Filling
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
one medium yellow onion, diced
goat cheese, crumbled
parmesan, finely grated
paprika
cumin
2 cloves garlic
salt
3 or 4 eggs, depending on size
1 1/2 cups milk
dollop of dijon mustard

Do it!
1. Make z crust! Put flour, salt and butter in a food processor and process until the mixture is pebbly. Transfer to a mixing bowl and move all the dry stuff to the side to create a little crater in the middle, into which you shall now crack your egg. Use a fork and scramble the egg a little bit, then use a mixing spoon to start slowly incorporating the flour. Add water as needed (probably not more than a few tablespoons) the create a nice dough. Knead with your hands and separate into two equally-sized balls, then refrigerate for an hour.
2. After an hour, take the dough out of the fridge and roll out one of the balls into a thin crust and lay it in your tart pan. Press the dough against the bottom and sides of the pan to release air bubbles, then prick the dough with a fork to prevent it from popping up when baked. Refrigerate again while you're getting the filling ready. Alternatively, you could leave it out and actually cook it for 7-10 minutes before adding the filling. This gives the crust more substance and it's less apt to be soggy in the final product - I might try this next time.
3. Preheat oven to 375. Saute onions, add garlic, add paprika and cumin and salt, then add broccoli. Cook until broccoli is tender-crunchy.
4. Crack 3 or 4 eggs into a mixing bowl and beat well.
5. Add milk and mustard, then process the whole mixture to remove lumps.
6. Take your shell out of the oven and spread the cooked veggies in the bottom of the pan. Add goat cheese and parmesan (in the future, I might add the cheeses to the milk/egg mixture to ensure more even cheese action - doing it this way you'll end up encountering big bites of goat cheese here and there, but if that's your thing, by all means go right ahead), then pour the eggy mixture over the top.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes and enjoy!