concoction

The other day Chip said I should make an asparagus quiche to use some of the quickly-growing vegetable.

I did a search of all the food blogs I read and didn't come up with one (which surprised me), so I decided to adapt one or two of theirs and make it work for me. This is more along the lines of a tart, rather than a quiche (hence it's title), but either way, it's rather yummy. Note: this may be a long post, so sit back and enjoy a beverage while you read.

A Tarty Quiche with Asparagus

The tart shell recipe comes from The Best International Recipe cookbook.

1¼ c flour
1 T sugar
½ t salt
8 T (1 stick) butter, cut into tablespoons and chilled
3 T ice water

Spray a 9-in tart pan (with removable bottom) with oil and set aside.

Pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor until combine (about 4 pulses). Scatter the butter pieces on top and pulse until it looks like coarse sand (about 15 pulses). Add 2 T of the water and process until large clumps of dough form and no powdery bits remain (about 5 seconds). If it doesn't clump, add the remaining T of water.


Tear the dough into walnut sized pieces and spread in the tart pan. Starting in the center, press the dough into an even layer, pushing some of the dough up the sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes.

Make the filling (directions and ingredients below) while this chills.

Preheat the oven to 375º. Place tart pan on a baking sheet and line the tart with aluminum foil. Fill the tart with pie weights and then bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, returning the tart to the oven to brown: another 5 to 10 minutes or so. Let cool while finishing the filling.

The ingredients/recipe is partially inspired by this spinach quiche recipe, this multipurpose quiche recipe and a pasta recipe that I read recently (sorry, no link).

3 eggs
½ c cream
2 oz pancetta (or you may use thick bacon or leave this out)
1 leek, thinly sliced
½ c cheddar cheese, shredded
3 oz cream cheese, room temperature
5 to 6 spears of asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces
s & p (but go easy on the salt)

Fry up the pancetta (if using) until somewhat crispy and drain, leaving some of the drippings in the pan for the leeks. With the heat on medium, cover and cook leeks until soft, stirring occasionally (if sticking, or you skipped the meat, add a knob of butter).

Whisk eggs and cream together, adding s & p. Whisk in cream cheese (it may be somewhat lumpy, hence room temp is a must!) and then cheddar cheese. Add leeks, pancetta and asparagus. Pour into tart shell.

Bump the temperature up to 400º and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

We wanted to have a little white wine with this, but were out, so I made a pot of tea instead~equally delicious!

I still want to tinker with this a bit: adding herbs, etc.

Book recommendation: Paper Towns by John Green
Recipe recommendation: Tarty Quiche
Wine recommendation: Filus Malbec