Wild Mushroom, Leek & Gruyère Quiche

Why wild mushrooms?

 Easy, they were on offer and I needed some mushrooms for the recipe.

 I hadn’t decided on the type of mushrooms to use for this quiche, the third quiche I made in my new oven just so I could give it a trial run.

 I mean what would you cook to test your new oven?

 This isn’t the first time I’ve made this and I usually make it with button mushrooms, mainly because they’re cost effective as well as tasty.

 Whichever mushrooms you choose will be equally tasty even if they do have different qualities, so I’d say use whichever mushrooms you like best!

 Leeks are great with the rest of the ingredients in this quiche and then add the gruyere, and it’s a combination made in heaven.

 Why leeks and not onions?

Leeks have a more subtle flavour to onions so they complement the rest of the ingredients rather than over whelming them.

 If my Mum were to cook this, she’d put the leeks on the bottom of the quiche uncooked, not me.

Cooking them softens them and stops any sharp flavours from permeating through the rest of the quiche.  

 My Mum was the queen of quiches.

 Every Sunday, her baking day, she’d use whatever we had leftover from the meals from that week to make other meals in the form of quiches and pies.

Not just quiches and pies, but everything she could to keep us all fed for the week.

 I’m not sure if she’d ever made a Wild Mushroom, Leek & Gruyère Quiche, but if she had, she’d have made the best one, ever!

 Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!

Golden top with moist centre

 What You Need

Pastry

• 175g Plain Flour

• 100g Cold Butter – Cut into small pieces

• 1 Egg Yolk

 Filling

• 50g Butter

• Salt & Pepper

• ½ Tsp Paprika

• 4 Leeks – Cleaned and Sliced

• 4 Eggs plus the extra egg white

• 284ml Double Cream

• 140g Gruyère - Grated

• 250g Wild Mushrooms – Cleaned and sliced – See Tip Box

Layers of flavour - leeks, mushrooms, Gruyère and the cream and egg mixture

 How It’s Done

Pastry

• Place all of the pastry ingredients into a food processor and let it run until they all come together to form a dough.

• Cover it in cling film and let it rest in a cool place for 30 minutes.

• Prepare a loose bottom quiche tin by rubbing margarine all over the inside of the tin and then dust the inside with flour.

• Cut out a circle to fit the prepared tin and lay it inside.

• Heat the oven to 180c

• While the pastry is resting, place half the butter into a shallow frying pan to heat up.

• Once the butter is hot, add the prepared leeks, turn the heat down and let the leeks cook until they turn soft and translucent.

• Remove them from the pan, place on a plate until needed.

• Place the prepared mushrooms into the same pan, along with the rest of the butter, season with salt and pepper, add the paprika and mix to combine.

• Cook the mushrooms until all the water has left them and they begin to go brown around the edges. – Don’t rush this part.

• When cooked, drain on some kitchen paper until needed.

• Time to blind bake the pastry

• Throw some for onto the work surface and roll out the pastry to fit the tin

• Gently place the pastry into the tin

• Place some foil over the pastry, pour some baking beans onto the foil and place into the hot oven to cook for 10 minutes.

• Remove the baking beans and foil and return to the oven to bake for another 3 minutes.

• Put the tin onto a baking tray and set it aside while the filling is made.

• Place the leeks in the pastry case followed by the cooked mushrooms and lastly the grated cheese

• Place the eggs into a bowl and beat them to loosen them up.

• Add the cream and some salt & pepper and mix them up until really well combined.

• Pour most of the mixture over the other ingredients

• Put the tray with the quiche into the oven and pour the rest of the egg mixture into the quiche case until almost to the top pf the pastry case.

• Close the oven door and let the quiche bake for 30 mins – turning the tray around half way through cooking – See Tip Box

• Once baked, let cool completely before removing the quiche from the tin to serve.

Cook the mushrooms until the are brown and all the liquid has gone

 Tip Box

•  Mushrooms – If wild mushrooms aren’t your favourite, use what you like. Once cooked, make sure they are drained well before putting them into the quiche.

• Cooking- 1) All ovens are different, so adjust cooking times accordingly.

2) Once cooked, the quiche should still have a very small jiggle in the middle but firm around the edges.

A thing of beauty