I like to call this quiche – “how to teach the girl who hates mushrooms to eat them quiche.”
While my official farm share won’t start until June, my CSA has been supplementing us with fresh veggies from surrounding farms and the last few weeks some of those vegetables have included mushrooms.
Not wanting to be one to waste what I have, I needed to figure out a way to cook them and not have “mushroom flavor” take over.
What can I say, I love almost all foods, but I am very texture and flavor driven when I eat and there are some that just completely turn me off.
Notice there has never been one recipe that included beans on this blog? Yup, can’t stand them. Same goes with bananas.
However, beans and bananas are not going to show up in my CSA box – mushrooms are.
I figured cooking them off in some bacon fat would be a good start, so would chopping them up nice and small so I wouldn’t get the chewy mushroom texture I dislike so much. Add some flavorful leeks that I had been holding on to from the week before, plus landaff cheese that was included in this weeks share.
Did I mention that 50% of this recipe came from my CSA? Something about that just makes me smile.
Also to speed things up a little for a weeknight meal, I took the cheaters way out and used puff pastry as my base. It makes for a light and crispy crust and keeps the dish from being too heavy.
Recipe:
120z Puff Pastry Dough 3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1″ pieces 1 leek, tender green & white parts halved and thinly sliced 6 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, diced 3/4 cup Landaff or English Cheddar Cheese 3 large eggs 3/4 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup whole milk salt and pepperPreheat your oven to 400 degrees F. In a deep fluted tart pan (4 inches) spread the puff pastry dough out to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. You may need to break the dough up to cover all areas, careful to press firmly into the corners. Seal any tears with your finger dipped in a little water. Par-bake your crust for 20 minutes until puffed and it is lightly browned. You do not want it to brown all the way. I also suggest lining the base of the tart pan with aluminum foil and baking on a un-rimmed cookie sheet. The aluminum foil will catch any leaks when you add the custard.
While the crust is baking, in a large saute pan over medium heat cook the bacon until crispy and remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
Add the diced mushrooms to the bacon fat and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 4-5 to minutes until they start to brown lightly. Add the sliced leeks to the mushrooms and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until they are softened. You may need to add a little olive oil at this point, since the mushrooms will have absorbed all the bacon fat. Season again with some salt and pepper while cooking the leeks.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, whole milk, and a little salt and pepper to make the custard for the quiche, set aside.
Once the mushroom and leek mixture is finished evenly spoon it out onto the par-baked puff pastry crust. Top with the bacon and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Pour the custard over the filling, if you notice it beginning to leak before you finish pouring do not continue.
If that happens you can cook the extra custard in muffin tins or a small container for a crustless quiche.
Top the custard with the remaining 1/4 cheese. Bake for 30-40 minutes until brown on top and the custard is set.
Let sit for 5 minutes before carefully removing the bottom and slicing. Serves 4-5 dinner sized portions.
I like mushroom flavor but I do not like the texture of mushrooms. I cook with them and then I will pick them out (only from the serving on my plate).
Oh my. You poor thing. I don’t like mushrooms either. I would have a tough time with that kind of set up
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I share your feelings about mushrooms (although not about the beans and bananas). But when there’s puff pastry involved, I can overcome a lot. Add in some bacon and leeks and I can forget about those mushrooms in my yummy quiche. 🙂
That’s what I’m talking about! The puff pastry and mushrooms make all the difference!