Not to be confused with quiche Lorraine, the classic French dish. Essentially, it is an egg custard baked in a pie crust named after the region in France it was created. Well, the region was actually part of Germany when quiche was originated, and the word quiche actually comes from the German word for cake. But whatever, I’m calling it a French egg pie! And whatever the origin or meaning of the word, it’s still delicious. Most of my cooking is done for my awesome wife, Lauren, so inevitably some dishes are made with her preferences in mind. So this one, being named after her, is essentially whatever she likes thrown into a quiche. Quiche is one of my personal favorites to serve a large group for brunch, because it’s easy and can be made a day before and reheated or even served cold. This is really important because after a long Saturday night, there is nothing worse than waking up Sunday fumbling through the kitchen, banging pots and pans around, while rocking a serious hangover just to make eggs benedict for 7 people who are probably too out of it to fully appreciate it (from personal experience, it was rough!)

Let’s start with the crust

There’s nothing really wrong with store bought pie crust- it’s a time saver, it’s going to taste the same every time, and there are some decent ones out there. But you can make a much better one at home. And it’s not that hard! Another benefit to making homemade pie crust is that you can personalize your crust for your pie. For instance, if you’re making an apple pie you can add a little bit of corn meal to make a heartier crust that will stand up to the filling. If you want a really thin crust, I find substituting a little of the butter for lard, your crust will hold together better and you can roll it even thinner. I’ve even seen some weirdos calling for coconut oil instead of butter (you should use butter) but today I’m looking for a light, flakey, buttery crust (I’ll be using butter).

A few important things to remember about basic pie dough making

• Keep everything super cold, especially if you’re using butter (you should be using butter). Any heat transferred from your hands will melt whatever fat you are using (butter) and it won’t be able to achieve flakey perfection. The flakiness comes from small layers of fat (butter) in between layers of dough. So to achieve this I’ve found that using a food processor works best. The blades will cut the butter into chunks without smashing it into the flour and the machine won’t have the same heat as your hands. But you still need make sure you don’t overdo it even with the food processor cause the heat from the motor of the machine or even the friction of the blade can make for a less than stellar crust
• Let it rest in the fridge at least 30 minutes, but preferably over night. The resting will allow you to roll out the dough without it snapping back like a rubber band. Anytime you add water to flour, you create gluten (oh no! the devil!), and when you let it rest the strands of gluten will relax and allow you to stretch out your dough. For that matter, it’s a good idea to let the dough rest after you place it in the pie dish so it doesn’t shrink up when cooking.
• Don’t add too much moisture. If it looks like your dough is coming together while mixing, it’s too wet! It should look like crumbs, and only stick together when you squeeze with your fingertips. One thing I find that will help with keeping your dough from getting too soggy is using vodka instead of water (good advice for life too…). In the pie dough, vodka will add moisture but some will evaporate off to keep it dry.

Then you’ll want to form it into a ball touching it as little as possible then cover, after its rested roll it to desired thickness, place in your pie dish and trim the edges. Don’t be afraid if it cracks a little just use some of the trimmings to fill in any cracks. Now, you get to be a little fancy with the edge. I always just pinch little crimps with my fingers but you could use a fork and make a design or anything else your creative heart desires. After you let it rest again, you’ll want to par bake (partially bake) it for just about 15 minutes– but to make sure it doesn’t puff up use a fork to poke a few small holes in the bottom of the crust and pour some dry beans in to weigh it down.

The custard

Super simple- eggs, cream or milk, and salt and pepper. This is not where you want to get artistic.

The other stuff

This is where you can go freaking crazy! Just about anything you want can go in here. I always like to have some type of meat, cheese, and veg, but the exact ingredients change quite a bit. The traditional meat is pork fat (who doesn’t love pork fat). So today I’m going with bacon (cause who doesn’t like bacon) but other favorites are ham, or even sausage but again, anything goes. As for the cheese, I’ve tried everything from the basic cheddar, to combinations of fancy French cheeses, to getting weird with some goat cheese chunks, and they’ve all been good. But for this one a I want a nice smooth melt and a mild earthy cheese, so I’m using gruyere and then adding some cheddar to the top to give it some color and a little extra flavor. There are not many things you can mess up by adding some cheese. The only thing I’ll say about the vegetables is sometimes you can elevate your dish through simplicity, you might be tempted to throw all your favorite things in, but when there’s too much going on you can lose the simple flavors that made you want to add it in the first place. I say stick to a theme, and limit yourself to 3. Again, this is paying homage to my wife, so I went with things she likes spinach, mushrooms and onions. Other favorites are broccoli, tomato slices, and asparagus tips, but you could get weird and do some leeks, sundried tomatoes, zucchini, or you could even throw some anchovies. Just be sure if you are using anything with a high water content that it is as dry as possible– especially spinach– too much water and you’ll end up cutting your first slice and a sloppy pool of spinach water will make that beautiful crust you worked so hard on a soggy mess. But get creative here, the options are endless.

Quiche Lauren

Special equipment

• Food processor
• Pie dish
• Rolling pin

Pie Crust

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 -4 tbsp. vodka

Quiche filling

• 6 eggs (or more depending on how big the pie dish is)
• ½ cup half and half
• Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup grated gruyere cheese
• ½ cup cheddar cheese
• ½ cup frozen spinach (thawed and thoroughly dried)
• 1 cup chopped shitake mushrooms
• ½ cup chopped onion
• ½ lb. bacon

To make the pie dough, cut the butter into cubes and lightly flower so they don’t stick together, wrap in parchment and stick in freezer, be sure the butter is super cold so you get chunks of butter in final crust. Add flour, salt, and sugar to a food processer and pulse once to mix it all up. Then add the butter 1/3 at a time, pulsing twice between each addition. Make sure not to run the food processor for too long as the heat from the motor can melt the butter. Add the vodka a tablespoon at a time and pulse once or twice between each add until it looks like crumbs and it will stick when squeezed with fingertips.

Dump contents on onto a lightly floured surface, and work into a ball using hands a little as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Pull out of fridge and roll out ¼ inch thick, place in pie dish and trim the excess. Pinch the edge and use a fork to poke holes in the bottom so it won’t bubble up while cooking. Add dry beans to crust and bake for 15 minutes, then let cool.

While the crust is cooling, cut the bacon into small pieces and cook on medium heat until crispy, remove from heat and wipe the pan dry. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until browned and remove. Then in the same pan cook onions in a little but of bacon fat just until translucent about 3 minutes. Separately, beat the eggs and half and half until well blended.

Layer the spinach bacon and mushrooms with the gruyere cheese, then put the egg mixture on top. Mix up just a little so the ingredients are well distributed and top with the cheddar cheese.

Bake in a 300 degree oven until set for about an hour depending on your pie dish.