Gavin's Cooking: Goose Egg Quiche

This week’s theme is local ingredients, so I hit up a store which has nothing but local/organic ingredients in search of emu eggs, which they’ve carried before. I guess it’s not emu egg-laying season, because they were all out, but I settled on goose eggs from Newberry, Pa. and proceeded to fork out as much for 2 of these bad boys as 2 cartons of chicken eggs would cost. Luckily, the always fantastic Iovine Brothers produce also had local ingredients, so I was able to get some local squash, mushrooms, and bok choy to add to the proceedings.

The gruyere is the secret ingredient here – this was the best tasting quiche I’ve ever had and the cheese is the reason why. The goose eggs taste like chicken eggs, so don’t waste the money on them unless you’re looking for a novelty post for your food blog…

Tart Shell (Pate brisée):

6 oz. all purpose flour

1 stick (4 oz.) butter

1 to 2 oz. ice water

¼ teaspoon salt

Add the flour, butter and salt to a food processor and pulse. With the processor running, pour in the water – start with 1 oz. (about 1/8 cup) and go from there until a dough forms.

Remove the dough from the processor, wrap it in wax paper, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Flour a working surface and roll the dough out into a circle big enough to fit in a 9.5” pan. Butter and flour a 9.5” pie pan, and lay the dough into it. Cut off any excess overhang. Place the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Place a piece of tin foil over the dough and weigh down with beans or small stones. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and pie weights, and bake for 5 minutes more.


I forgot to take a picture of the tart shell after blind baking it, so this will have to do

Filling:

2 goose eggs (or 4 chicken eggs)

½ green squash, quartered lengthwise then sliced thin

5 crimini mushrooms, chopped into chunks

1 bunch of bok choy – separate the leaves from the stems, chop the stems into pieces similar sized to the squash, and the leafy bits into a few pieces each

1 clove garlic, diced

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 cup gruyere cheese

Salt and pepper

Cut your veggies, then preheat a 12” pan over medium heat. Add in 1 tablespoon olive oil and add in the mushrooms, squash, and bok choy stems. Season lightly with salt. Sautee over medium for 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and bok choy leaves and cook for 2 minutes longer.

Add the cooked ingredients to a bowl along with the heavy cream and gruyere. Beat your eggs until all the yolks/whites are incorporated and add to the bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake at 425°F for 25 to 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it at around the 20 minute mark – if you notice the top starts to brown, lay a piece of tin foil over the quiche so the top doesn’t get too dark.