MUSHROOM PEPPER MOZZARELLA QUICHE

Before going into the oven

MUSHROOM PEPPER MOZZARELLA QUICHE

A lovely veggie quiche with a tender crust that you will enjoy so much. This quiche is packed with veggies. If you want to add some meat, bits of ham, sausage or bacon would be good. It is a keeper recipe. It is rich-tasting and the texture is moist; just amazing!

I find you can serve quiche for breakfast, brunch or lunch or even supper and no one will complain or think it is out of place. I remember quiche was all the rage in the seventies and eighties, and they still are so well received to this day, but are much less of a fad now. There is a reason for that. They are so satisfying and the number of different quiches one can come up with are endless.

If you like you could use Gruyere cheese instead of Mozzarella cheese.

Quiches can be made without a crust, so if you prefer, you could skip the crust, but remember it is really special with this crust. You can also use your own favorite crust instead, but I hope you will give this one a try, as it is very good. I also have a favorite pie crust recipe that I hope you will try one day. It holds up to all kinds of moist fillings without becoming soft and soggy - even days later!!

Quiches can be quite heavy on the calories and in the Helpful Hints I give an idea or two to lower the calories. I never find quiche a problem when it comes to weight gain. I used heavy cream but you could use half and half or a low-carb milk or even go half cream and half water. All these ideas will reduce calories if you are concerned about that.

I used a red bell pepper and that added such lovely color contrasted with the green flat-leaf parsley and mushrooms. However, you can use whatever you have on hand. You could reduce some of the veggies and use frozen, drained, chopped spinach (squeeze moisture out as much as possible before chopping). If using fresh spinach, you will need to sauté the spinach until it wilts before chopping it. However, you will need to reduce the other veggies, otherwise it will be veggie overload for the quiche. Quiche typically has a custard-like filling - so good!

Keep the quiche in the refrigerator. Cover with plastic and then aluminum foil to keep it fresh.

INGREDIENTS:

Single Pie Crust (recipe below)

2 tbsp butter (15 mL)

¹/₄cup diced red onion ( 60 mL)

¹/₂cup diced red pepper (125 mL)

1 lb sliced fresh mushrooms (0.45 kg)

1 tsp salt, OR use half No Salt^® (5 mL)

¹/₄tsp black pepper (1 mL)

1¹/₄cups grated Mozzarella cheese (300 mL)

4 eggs

1 cup whipping cream* (250 mL)

Flat leaf parsley for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

Prepare crust of choice, but only bake the Single Pie Crust, not the Almond Parmesan Crust - about 10 minutes. If you bake it longer than that, it has a tendency to become too dark (if that begins to happen, just cover the whole pie lightly with a foil tent...if it touches the quiche, it will still remove very easily)

In nonstick pan, in butter over medium heat, stir fry onion until turning brown. Add mushrooms and red pepper (reserve some for top of quiche). Stir fry 2 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Place lid on pan and simmer over low heat until moisture evaporates. Stir in Mozzarella cheese.

In large bowl, beat eggs with fork and stir in whipping cream. Add vegetable mixture. Pour over baked crust. Sprinkle reserved red pepper on top and bits of flat leaf parsley. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until set.

Helpful Hint: *To reduce calories, use half and half cream or half cream and half water. You may need a little more bake mix for the Single Pie Crust, because the powdered erythritol did contribute to the structure of the crust.

Redo Analysis

Yield: 8 servings

1 serving

368.3 calories

12.9 g protein

31.4 g fat

0.2 g fiber

8.3 g net carbs

SINGLE PIE CRUST

I worked on an easier-to-roll-out recipe for the revised version of volume 1. Actually just made it at the ninth hour!

1¹/₄cups Gluten-free Bake Mix 1, (click for recipe) (300 mL)

You can use Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2 (no gelatin) and 1/2 tsp

glucomannan powder (optional) - I use this option lately

3 oz cream cheese, softened (90 g)

2 tbsp powdered erythritol, optional - for sweet applications (30 mL)

1 tbsp butter, softened (15 mL)

¹/₄tsp baking soda (1 mL)

¹/₈tsp salt (0.5 mL)

In food processor or in bowl with electric mixer, process Gluten-Free Bake Mix 1, OR Gluten-Free Bake Mix 2, cream cheese, powdered erythritol (if using), butter, glucomannan powder (if using), baking soda and salt until mixed. Form a ball with dough using your hands and cover with plastic wrap. Chill dough about 1 hour or freeze for quicker chilling.

Roll dough out (if crumbly, chill longer) between two sheets of plastic wrap to fit shallow 9-inch (23 cm) glass pie dish. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Pick up sheet with dough and invert over pie dish. Remove plastic wrap. Use small rolling pin or small cylindrical object in pie dish, if necessary, to further roll dough. Patch dough where required. A straight edge up the sides is practical. Push down slightly from edge onto dough with thumbs and this will make a slightly thicker border for the crust. Bake in 350°F (180°C) oven 10 minutes.

Yield: 10 servings

1 serving

101.3 calories

3.1 g protein

8.3 g fat

3.2 g net carbs