Monday, May 02, 2016

Custard Without Milk...In A Quiche


I enjoy making quiche and have made a few which have been posted on this blog, but now I decided that rather than forgo quiche due to the use of milk in the custard that I would try making it using soy creamer. Soy milk, or any rice or nut milk would probably work, but I like the thickness of Silk brand original (unflavored) soy creamer, so I went with that. I also used to put cheese in my quiches but still haven't found a non-dairy cheese worth bothering with, so this is a custard pie with ham, mushrooms and asparagus. It's different, but worth making.

It was well over 80 today when I was making this pie, so I decided to use my toaster oven, which is out in my studio. Since I wasn't going to be in there except to put the quiche in and out of the oven it didn't matter if it got heated up, but I didn't want to do that to my regular kitchen. The unfortunate thing is that since I wasn't there to check on it, the blind bake went on too long and so the final crust was pretty dark brown in a lot of spots...almost burnt.


Other than that, it was a lovely quiche. I lowered the heat for baking it after my experience with the crust and also baked it for a shorter time than the recipe called for. Since I had browned the mushrooms before I put them in the crust, they went on the bottom. Over that I put the blanched asparagus, then I scattered the diced ham on top. This is truly asparagus season around here, so it made a very seasonal and delicious dish. The custard was not quite as tender as one made with milk but we didn't miss the cheese with all that yummy ham, asparagus and mushroom flavors going on.



Quiche with Asparagus and Mushrooms and Ham

1 9-inch pie shell, blind baked at 425 degrees F for 10-12 minutes (recipe follows)
1½ cup sliced fresh mushrooms, sauteed for 5 minutes in an oil slicked frying pan, then set aside
1 cup blanched asparagus pieces
1 cup diced cooked ham
3 eggs (or equivalent egg substitute)
1 ½ cups soy creamer or evaporated milk or light cream
¼ teaspoon salt
dash pepper
Dash nutmeg
dash dried thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sprinkle the bottom of the pie shell with the mushrooms, asparagus, and ham, distributing evenly. Set aside

In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then add the soy creamer and beat with a fork to combine, add the salt, pepper, nutmeg and thyme and beat with a fork to combine.

Pour the egg/milk mixture over the ingredients in the blind baked pie shell. Place in the preheated oven and bake 30-45 minutes, or until set and lightly browned. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting to serve.
Serves 6-8

Pastry Pie Shell

1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons ice water
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, or two knives, until particles the size of dried peas are formed.

In a small bowl mix together the egg, ice water and lemon juice (if using). Sprinkle over the flour mixture and toss with a fork lightly. Do not over mix. Gather the particles together in a ball. Wrap airtight and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes. Roll out with a rolling pin on a floured surface until large enough to fill a 9 inch pie pan with some overlap.

Fit into a 9 inch pie pan, smooth to fit, trip excess, tuck edges under and crimp as for any pie crust. Prick lightly all over the surface with a fork. Freeze 10 minutes. Remove from freezer and cover with a circle of parchment paper. Fill the paper with beans or pie weights (blind baking the crust).
Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 – 12 minutes. Cool slightly. Remove and save the beans or pie weights. 

Fill the blind baked crust with filling as called for in recipes needing a pie shell. If the crust has browned too much, use a piece or two pieces of foil to create a shield for the part of the crust that is over browned after filling the crust.


1 comment :

  1. Looks like we need to give Silk creamer another shot - I'd tried other non-dairy but not silk unflavored. Hmmmm. Some nice vegan options for when I'm cooking for Mom!

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