I made this the first weekend back to school before classes
started for my roommates. Their highly discriminating palettes approved, so
that’s a good sign. My family also had this for breakfast on Christmas morning
(it’s my mom’s recipe). The nice thing is that I actually made the pastry ahead
of time, put it in the pie pan and froze it. Then I pulled it out and by the
time I was done prepping the veggies (I used red peppers, green onions, and
baby tomatoes) and mixing up the filling it was thawed. I’m really sorry that I
haven’t posted anything for a couple weeks, I’ve been distracted lately but I’m
hoping to settle into a routine and get back to regular posting.
Ingredients
Single crust pie
shell, unbaked
1 ½ cups unbleached flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter (softened)
1/3-cup (or less) ice cold water
Filling
8 oz. cheese, grated
2 oz. butter or olive oil
Small amount unbleached flour
5 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
Salt
Pepper
Optional toppings
(herbs/seasonings, thin sliced veggies)
Preparation
Piecrust
-Cut together all ingredients
except water with fork or pastry blender
-Quickly stir in ice water (just enough-too much will cause pastry shrinkage) and form pastry
into two flattened balls. Add more water if needed for consistency, but do not
overwork or it will be tough.
-Flour board and rolling pin
-Roll out into one circle about 1/8
inch
-Line pie pan with pastry
-Fill pie crust to depth of ~1” with grated cheese (I used
Colby jack because that is what I grabbed in the grocery store but I recommend
cheddar, gouda and Swiss as well. Strong cheeses are good)
-Arrange veggies (I used red pepper, green onion, and baby
tomatoes but feel free to be creative)
-Season with desired herbs (I used dried oregano and some
Chachere’s seasoning but this is very flexible as well)
Filling
-Preheat oven to 400F
-Preheat oven to 400F
-Make a white sauce with 2oz olive
oil or melted butter and flour (it should be the consistency of soft cookie dough
-Separately, mix together eggs,
milk, salt and pepper
-Add egg/milk mixture to white
sauce and whisk
-Pour over cheese and veggies to
fill pastry shell
-Reduce heat to 350F and bake for 40 min or until a knife
comes out clean when inserted
Shopping list
Unbleached flour
Baking powder
Unsalted butter
8 oz. cheese, grated
Olive oil
Eggs
Milk
Salt
Pepper
Optional toppings (herbs/seasonings, veggies)
