Mini Quiches

 

All my little boy will eat these days is eggs. Which has me scrambling, pardon the pun, for new ways to serve them to him. My mother is the Mistress of Quiches, making melt-in-your-mouth, flaky pie crust and hearty, delicious fillings. I've learned at her knees how to make fantastic pie crust; this wheat-free diet is just not conducive to good crust.

But I decided to give it a try. What's the worst that could happen? Surprisingly, I've got a crunchy, satisfying crust that, while it definitely doesn't have the flaky layers that cutting cold butter into flour will give you, makes a good enough container for whatever delicious tidbits nestle inside. Huzzah!

So don't run away. This is a simple recipe. Easy. Fantastic for hors d'oeuvres, just right for a lunch box. Try an infinite variety of combinations: roasted red pepper and chevre, bacon and cheddar cheese, whatever your imagination can come up with!

Mini Spinach and Emmantal Quiche

For the crust:

50g. sticky rice flour
50g. Doves Farm Plain Flour
50g. Cold butter
2 Tbs. of cold water, more or less.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the two flours together. Cut the butter into small squares and drop into the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the flour into the butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add water a tablespoon at a time, pressing the mixture together until it just forms a crumbly ball. Press the dough into a disc shape between two pieces of wax or parchment paper, and refrigerate for at least two hours, and up to two days.

For the filling:

1 large egg, lightly scrambled
1/2 cup heavy cream
Pinch salt
pinch nutmeg

1/2 cup frozen spinach, defrosted and well drained.
Shredded emmantal cheese, or shredded Swiss

Whip the cream into the egg until well blended, then add seasonings, and mix well. Set aside.

Assembly:

Using miniature tart pans, press a small amount of the dough into the pans, working quickly so as to keep the dough cool. A wooden dowel, floured with extra rice flour and just smaller than the bottom of the tart pan, works well. Push the dough up the sides of the pan and cut off any excess with a knife. When all the tartlet pans are done, take a small (2 tsp. maximum) amount of spinach and press it into a flat disc, placing this on the bottom of the prepared tartlets pans. Add a small amount, perhaps 1 tsp. of the cheese and fill with the egg mixture. Place tartlets on a baking sheet or baking pan and cook for 15 minutes, or until crust is done and egg mixture is golden brown. Remove from tartlets cups as soon as possible and set to cool on a rack.

Crust secrets:

• For a large quiche, triple the crust recipe and follow your favorite quiche recipe.


• For a large batch of crust, set a bowl of ice water to the side as you cut the butter into the flour. Use a tablespoon to sprinkle this ice water into the mixture, and quickly work into a ball


• The secret to great crust is to handle it as little as possible. This is very delicate dough; before you put it into the fridge to rest, flatten the ball out into a thin disk. You'll have less rolling to do.


• If you have a marble or metal rolling pin, put it into the fridge.


• The dough is going to break and tear when you put it into the pie pan. To minimize the damage, roll the flattened dough around your rolling pin, then unroll it over the pie pan. Repair any breaks by gently overlapping the tear, run a bit of ice water alone a seam, and pat back together. Larger holes and tears can be patched, in the same basic manner, by using a piece of scrap dough over the hole.


• Experiment... try using cream cheese instead of butter, or adding a bit of corn meal in place of the plain flour.