Easter morning comfort

Sarah McIntosh, the chef/owner behind Epicerie, serves a variety of quiches at her Rosewood eatery, including a classic confit tuna tomato quiche that is one of her favorites and a roasted mushroom quiche with Comté cheese, which is a favorite at brunch.

“I love quiche because you can eat it for any meal and put any filling you want in it,” says the Louisiana native, who trained with Thomas Keller in California before working at Olivia in Austin, Texas, and opening her cafe in 2012. “It’s just rich, good comfort food.”

Quiche is built on three pillars: crust, egg batter and filling ingredients.

Let’s start from the bottom. Any crust will do, including store-bought, but if you’re making it from scratch from one of your go-to recipes, omit the sugar and don’t roll it too thin or else the batter could leak into the bottom of the pan. The dough should hang over the edge of the pan, and you can cut off the excess after it has baked.

For a baking vessel, McIntosh uses an 8-inch springform pan so her quiche stands tall on a plate, but if you’re not familiar with those clasp-release pans, a deep-dish pie plate works, too. (And if you’re using a prepared crust, buy one that you can put into your own deep dish. Otherwise, the quiche won’t hold as much filling and will be on the thin side, making it easy to overbake.)

Parbaking the crust is important because it prevents the pastry from getting soggy when you bake the egg filling. Use pie weights or dried beans to keep the bottom of the crust from puffing up, and 10 to 15 minutes at 400 degrees should do it.

Not eating gluten or making a quiche for Passover? Consider a shredded potato crust, like the one Arielle Arizpe made for her blog, Arielle Clementine (arielleclementine.blogspot.com).

You can bake a crustless quiche or an egg-only quiche, but without a milky egg batter, you’re not making a quiche. That egg batter can use as few as five or as many as a dozen eggs, depending on the size of your pie pan. The better quality eggs, the better the quiche, and some cooks like to add a few extra yolks to brighten the color.

The fat quantity of the milk and cream makes a noticeable difference in the taste and texture of the final dish. This means skip the skim milk and use at least 2 percent; a mixture of half milk and half heavy cream is preferred.

We often think of quiches as a relatively simple baked egg pie, but McIntosh loves quiches that have an almost creme brulee-like filling.

To achieve that custard consistency, she scalds the milk and cream before tempering the eggs with the hot dairy mixture. Then she pours the liquid in a high-powered blender to fully emulsify and aerate the ingredients, adding lift and an unbelievably even creaminess when the filling is baked.

“You don’t necessarily want scrambled eggs in a pie crust,” she says.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the hand-whisked eggs we’ve been filling our quiches with for years. Hers is just a different technique if you’re looking for something new.

And now the really fun part: What else to add to the eggs to make your quiche unique? With the right prep technique, you could add any combination of cheese, meat and vegetables. The key is getting the proportion right and cooking the meats and some of the vegetables first.

The quiche won’t get hot enough to safely cook meats, which could include everything from ham and bacon to salmon or pepperoni, on their own. Most vegetables, including spinach, eggplant, mushrooms, asparagus, peppers, onions and zucchini, should be lightly cooked first to release the water stored inside, boost their flavors and/or soften the texture.

Shredded cheese packs even more flavor into a quiche, and it also helps firm up the filling. (Swiss, though traditional, might not please every palate at your table, so consider a mild Cheddar, provolone or mozzarella if in doubt.)

McIntosh fills her mushroom quiche with equal parts roasted baby cremini mushrooms and Comté cheese, pouring the batter over the ingredients that have been layered in the pre-baked crust. This technique allows the cheese to rise to the top, which gives the quiche a delectable crispy top when baked, but you can mix together all the ingredients with the egg batter before pouring in the crust.

Most quiche recipes call for baking at 350 to 400 degrees, and the amount of time depends on the temperature of the egg batter and the size of the pan.

How to tell when the quiche is done? When you shake the pan, it should jiggle like Jell-O, not like water, McIntosh says. Don’t wait until it’s firm all the way across the top or else it might burn on the bottom. The eggs will continue to cook after it’s removed from the oven.

If you’re unsure about the baking time, check the quiche every 10 minutes after about 40 minutes.

Always let your quiche rest for at least 30 minutes before serving; McIntosh prefers to let hers cool all the way down and then refrigerate overnight to meld all the flavors. Cooling the quiche also allows you to cut cleaner slices, but if you’re not concerned about appearance, slice away after a shorter rest time.

Now you’re ready to eat your quiche for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or, if you cut smaller slices and serve with a salad, all three.

Bacon and Spinach Quiche with Latke Crust

Even though Austinite Arielle Arizpe says she was a picky kid, she was always fascinated by food. She watched cooking shows and even food infomercials from a young age, and as she got older, her interest turned to cookbooks. “I followed recipes precisely and very rarely cooked without one,” she says. “But then I heard about Food52,” the recipe swapping website started by former New York Times writer Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs that features weekly contests.

Arizpe was a lurker at first, but when they announced a polenta contest, the idea for a polenta cake with fried goat cheese, onion jam and honey popped into her head. She wrote up the recipe, photographed the dish and was chosen as a finalist. Although she lost that contest, she was inspired to create even more recipes, and in the past few years, she’s shared more than 30 invented dishes on the site and been featured in the Food52 print books.

She started a blog (arielleclementine.blogspot.com) to share her creations, such as this Bacon and Spinach Quiche with Latke Crust, a gluten- and dairy-free spin on a traditional quiche. If making this for Passover, Arizpe suggests gribenes instead of the bacon and to cook the spinach in the leftover schmaltz.

The original idea for a potato crust came from a Martha Stewart hash brown-crusted quiche, and instead of using frozen store-bought potatoes, she used a technique from fellow blogger Cathy Barrow, who writes Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Kitchen (mrswheelbarrow.com). You could use half heavy cream and milk for the filling instead of coconut milk, but the coconut milk is Arizpe’s favorite.

2 medium-large russet potatoes

1/2 large white onion

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Lots of kosher salt and black pepper

1 Tbsp. canola oil

4 oz. bacon

1 small bunch spinach, washed and chopped into rough 1-inch pieces

More kosher salt and black pepper

2 large eggs, plus two egg yolks

1 (14-oz.) can full-fat coconut milk

Still more kosher salt and black pepper

For the crust: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the potatoes and onion half and grate them, by hand or with the grater attachment of your food processor if you have one. Put the grated potatoes and onion in a colander set in the sink, and let sit for a few minutes. Grab one small handful at a time and squeeze as much water out as possible, until you’ve squeezed it all, then let sit for another 5 minutes or so and squeeze all the water out again. The more water you’re able to squeeze out, the better your final product will be — it’s worth being meticulous here! Transfer the squeezed-out vegetables to a medium bowl, and toss with the two beaten eggs and plenty of salt and pepper. Press the potato mixture into a pie pan or a springform pan, pushing the mixture up the sides. Bake the crust for 40 minutes. Then take the crust out of the oven, brush all over with the canola oil, and put back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

For the filling: Meanwhile, dice the bacon into roughly 1/2 inch pieces and put in a cast iron skillet set over medium heat. Cook, tossing occasionally, until most of the bacon is crisp, 5-7 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Pour off all but about a tablespoon of the bacon fat into a small bowl for another day and add the washed and chopped spinach to the bacon-greased skillet. Cook until the spinach has wilted and much of the water has evaporated, about 3 minutes, and season with salt and pepper.

For the quiche: When the crust is done, lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Sprinkle the bacon in the bottom of the crust and distribute the sauteed spinach on top of that, as evenly as possible. Put two whole eggs and two egg yolks in a medium bowl. Whisk gently and then add the can of coconut milk and a good amount of salt and pepper (at least a teaspoon of kosher salt) and whisk again so that the ingredients are well blended. Pour the egg mixture over the bacon and spinach and put the quiche in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the center of the quiche is set when you jiggle the pan. Let cool a bit and eat warm or at room temperature. Serves 8.

— From Arielle Arizpe of Arielle Clementine, arielleclementine.blogspot.com

Mushroom Quiche

At her restaurant, Epicerie, chef/owner Sarah McIntosh makes several kinds of quiche, and this is one of the most popular. The technique for making the filling is more labor-intensive than most, but the creme brulee-like results are unlike any quiche you’ve probably made at home.

2 cups baby cremini mushrooms

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. fresh thyme, roughly minced

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 cups all-purpose flour

5 tsp. kosher salt, divided

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into cubes and frozen

4-5 Tbsp. ice water

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

6 large eggs

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded Comté, Gruyère or Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss mushrooms in a bowl with olive oil, thyme and a little salt and pepper, to taste. Place on a roasting sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Set aside and let cool.

In a food processor, pulse together flour and 1 tsp. salt, and then add butter, pulsing to form a rough crumble. Add ice water a little at a time until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal and will stick together when pinched between your fingers.

Pour the dough mixture on the counter and, using your hands, form into two balls with your hands. Flatten into one disc and wrap in plastic. Place in freezer until ready to roll, at least 30 minutes.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough and place it in an 8- or 9-inch springform pan or extra deep pie plate, making sure there is enough dough to hang over the edge so the sides don’t sink down when the quiche bakes.

Place parchment paper and pie weights in the shell and bake at 450 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and remove the pie weights. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

In the meantime, scald the milk and cream in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. (Do not bring to a boil, but just shy of that point.) Let rest for about 10 minutes.

While the milk is heating, whisk the eggs together in a large bowl. Once the milk is hot, slowly pour a few tablespoons at a time of the hot milk and cream into the eggs, whisking as you pour to temper the eggs. If you don’t slowly bring up the temperature of the eggs, the hot milk will cook the eggs.

Place the egg and milk mixture in a blender, add remaining salt and black pepper, and blend to fully combine the ingredients. This will also aerate the liquid, giving the quiche a lighter texture.

Place the mushrooms in the bottom of the pie and then top with cheese. Pour the still-warm egg batter over the ingredients until the liquid has almost reached the top.

Place the quiche in the oven and bake for an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half. The middle will still jiggle a little, but it should have the consistency of set Jell-O, not water. Remove from the oven and let cool at least 30 minutes before serving. You can let the quiche cool completely and then warm up when it’s time to serve. Serves 8 to 10.

— Adapted from a recipe by Sarah McIntosh, chef/owner of Epicerie

Leek and Feta Quiche

Washing the leeks, which are almost always sandy between the layers, is the only fussy part of this recipe. To clean them, cut off the bottom just above the roots, and cut off the top where the color changes to a darker green. Slice down the length of the leek to the center, but not all the way through. Hold the leek upright under running water, fanning it open, and rinse thoroughly. To dice, slice lengthwise all the way through several times, then turn the leeks and slice horizontally.

For the crust, all-butter pastry dough can be too soft for a quiche, so I buy solid shortening made without hydrogenated fats, but you can make this dough with one stick of butter and no shortening.

— Terry Golson

For the crust:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and frozen (not just chilled)

5-6 Tbsp. ice water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/3 cup solid shortening, chilled

For the filling:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup chopped leeks

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

5 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup (4 oz.) crumbled feta cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Put the flour, salt and butter in the processor bowl. Pulse until all is crumbly, not running the machine for more than 3 seconds at a time. Add the solid shortening. Pulse in brief spurts until the fats are in small pieces and evenly distributed throughout the flour.

Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing the machine in 3-second bursts after each addition. The dough should start to ball up. At this point, remove it from the machine.

Pat the dough into a solid ball. Divide it in half and shape each half into a flattened round. If the dough is still very cold, then it can be rolled out immediately. But on a warm day, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out. The dough can be frozen, wrapped in plastic and then in aluminum foil, for up to 2 months. If frozen through, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using. This crust recipe makes two single crusts for 9- to 10-inch pie plates, so save one for later.

To roll out the dough, dust your countertop with flour. Using a rolling pin, push down on the dough, starting at the center and using outward strokes, lifting and turning the dough after every few pushes to make sure it doesn’t stick and to keep it even all around.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees to parbake the crust. When the dough is about 11 inches in diameter, fold it in half and then in half again so that it looks like a quarter of a pie. Place this in the pie plate and unfold. Trim off the ragged excess so that about 1 inch overhangs the edge of the pie plate. Tuck the overhanging dough under itself all the way around the edge so it just extends past the edge. Next, flute or press with a fork to decorate the edges.

Place a piece of nonstick aluminum foil on the crust, loosely covering the edges of the pie. Weight down with pie weights or dry uncooked beans. Bake until golden and the edges begin to brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Sauté the leeks and red bell pepper until softened. Let cool to lukewarm.

Whisk together the eggs and milk in a medium bowl. Stir in the cheese and the sautéed vegetables. Season with the salt and pepper.

Pour the egg mixture into the crust. Bake for 40 minutes or until set and beginning to brown. Serves 8.

— From “The Farmstead Egg Guide & Cookbook” by Terry Golson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $19.99)