Rustic Caramelized Onion and Chanterelle Quiche

This morning I woke up to the warm memory of a dream that I had from a distant past. At the time, my current husband was just a promise, someone who I had met less than two months before. In the dream I was sitting in his sun swept living room looking out into a rare clear blue sky over the San Francisco bay.  While it was the same house Keefer was living in at that time, in the dream we were just moving in, the place was bare, furnished with only a white twill sofa. Situated next to me was an infant roughly six months old.  I wondered who this little stranger was, so calm and peaceful in his carrier.  Then all of the sudden, Keefer walks into the room from playing a game of catch with a five year old boy. Who are these kids? I remember asking myself.  They were two people who I had never met before... and yet, they were so familiar.



If you guessed that they were our sons, you could be at least half right. We found out recently that our first baby is a boy! I often think back to that dream and wonder whether it was a vision.  More and more it seems like it. At the time we had no plans to leave the bay area, which explains why in the dream we were moving back. And when we did move to New York, we convinced ourselves we would be away for only two years, perhaps to give us enough courage to actually do it. We're running up against that two-year mark with no plans in the foreseeable future to move back. So we'll be enjoying these next few years raising a New Yorker, a future Yankees fan and getting an up and close personal lesson on why this city never sleeps. Who knows, years from now that dream might come to fruition and we'll find ourselves back where it all got started.

This rustic quiche is a lofty layering of savory peppery Comté cheese, caramelized onions, and buttery herby sauteed wild chanterelles. It's a heavenly melding that ensures all of the goodies are nicely distributed throughout the silky egg custard. This recipe does require some planning, as the quiche needs at least an hour to cool down once out of the oven. Although torturous to inhale the wondrous aromas while cooling on the kitchen counter, it's worth the wait and makes excellent leftovers.

Caramelized Onion and Chanterelle Quiche
adapted from Good Food Matters
The pie crust can be must a day ahead of time. While the original recipe does not call for it, I may try to pre-bake the crust next time to achieve a crisper and flakier shell prior to adding the layer of grain mustard, which Nancy from Good Food Matters says is the secret to this recipe.

Pie crust:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoon butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3-4 tablespoon ice water
• 1 tablespoon coarse grain mustard, to coat crust

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons butter, halved
• 4 medium onions, sliced lengthwise
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cups shredded gruyere cheese, halved (I used Comté)
• sea salt and black pepper
• 1/4 lb. chanterelle mushrooms, sliced lengthwise

Method

Pie crust

This portion of the recipe can be made ahead of time.

1. In a food processor fitted with the pastry swivel, pulse together the flour, salt, and butter. Add water–3 tablespoons to start–and pulse until the dough gathers into a ball. Add another tablespoon of water if necessary.
2. Wrap the dough ball in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour, but does well to make in advance, and refrigerate overnight. Roll out dough on a lightly flour-dusted surface until round, thin and pliable. Place into tart dish and press onto the sides.
3. Coat surface with 1 tablespoon coarse grain mustard. Refrigerate until ready to fill.

Filling

1. Melt butter in a deep skillet on medium heat and slowly saute onions until soft, slightly browned, and very sweet. This may take 15 minutes.
2. Season with salt and black pepper. When cooked, stir in the fresh thyme leaves, and place into a small bowl. In the same skillet, melt another tablespoon of butter and gently stir the sliced chanterelles until they are butter-coated, soft, and golden. Remove from heat.
3. Beat eggs and half-and-half together until well blended or no trace of egg yolk remain.
4. Bring out the tart shell. Sprinkle a layer of shredded gruyere on the bottom.
5. (about half of what you have) Spoon in all the onions. Pour in the egg mixture. Place pieces of cooked chanterelle all over the top, along with the remaining gruyere.
6. Place into a 375 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown, and mixture is set.
7. Allow the quiche to cool down and solidify for an hour. Delicious warm, or room temperature.