Easy, Basic Quiche Recipe
Have you ever come home from work, and really (I mean really) not wanted to make dinner? That happens to me any time I don’t have a plan for dinner.One of my favorite go-to dinners when I don’t have a plan, and I don’t want to spend much time thinking of a plan is quiche and a salad. It’s easy and delicious, and chances are you have most, if not all, the ingredients you need to make it happen.
Quiche can be made with or without a crust. If you choose to go the store-bought pie crust route, that’s your choice, but please read the ingredients…a lot of store bought pie crusts have food dyes (yellow) and trans fats (partially hydrogenated oil) in them. If you do not want to buy a crust, and you don’t want to take the time to make one, quiche is delicious crust-less, too.
Lately, I’ve been making a crust based on the Poor Girl Gourmet’s savory pie crust recipe, but I altered it some to be gluten free.
Gluten Free Zucchini Spinach Quiche
Gluten Free Pie Crust
Yield: 1 pie crust
Materials needed: Food processor
Ingredients:
- 1 cup quinoa flour
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 1/2 cup cold butter (or vegan substitute)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- Ice water
Directions:
- In a food processor, mix together the dry ingredients.
- Cut the very cold butter into about 1×0.5 inch chunks, and add to the dry ingredients in the food processor.
- Pulse the food processor until the butter has been cut down to pea-sized chunks.
- Add about 1/4 cup of very cold water to the mix, and pulse. The flour mixture should be forming dough balls. If there is a lot of flour left in the food processor, add cold water 1 tbsp at a time until the dough balls up.
- Remove the dough from the food processor, squish it into a ball, and wrap it in plastic wrap.
- Optional, but recommended: let dough chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- This crust isn’t easy to roll out, so I just squish it into a pre-greased tart or pie pan.
- For a quiche, poke a few fork holes in the crust, and bake it at 400 degrees for 10 minutes before adding the filling.
Basic Quiche
Yield: 1 9″ quiche
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup milk (cow, soy, almond, whatever your preference)
- Optional: 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese of your choice
- 1/2 to 1 cup sliced or shredded vegetables of your choice
- Salt to taste
- Optional: 1 prepared pie crust
Directions:
- Beat together the 4 eggs.
- Add in the milk and sour cream, and mix thoroughly.
- Layer the cheese and vegetables in the prepared pie crust or in a greased pie pan (a square, glass baking dish will work if you don’t have a pie pan).
- Place the pie pan on the center rack of an oven preheated to 400 degrees.
- While the pie pan is on the center rack, pour the egg mixture into the pie pan (this prevents spillage that can otherwise occur when you transfer the uncooked quiche into the oven).
- Close the oven, and bake for 40 minutes, or until the center is set.
- Let the quiche cool, and then enjoy!
Flavor Combination Ideas:
- Goat cheese and sorrel or arugula
- Swiss cheese, bacon, and broccoli and/or spinach
- Mozzarella, basil, and shredded or spiralized zucchini
- Swiss cheese, asparagus, turkey
Hi Gina!
This post is so timely. I’m supposed to bring gluten free pie to Easter. I have so many questions!!!
1. Is this recipe appropriate for sweet pies too?
2. Can I get away without the almond meal if I up the quinoa flour? (Trying to keep the shopping list to a minimum.)
3. Where can I buy quinoa flour and almond meal?
4. Do all gluten free crust tend to be press in or is this unique to this recipe? (I’m vainly worried about not being able to shape a pretty edge on the crust.)
5. What’s with the baking powder, I’ve never seen that in a pie crust recipe before?
Polly, I’m glad I can help with your GF Easter pie! Wanna make an extra for me? Just kidding…maybe.
You could probably roll it, but make sure you chill it in the plastic wrapped ball first. But you knew that.
1) Yes and No. Like I said, I adapted this from the Poor Girl Gourmet cookbook, and this was her savory pie recipe. She makes two crusts at a time (3 c. flour, 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp baking powder, 8 tbsp butter, 8 tbsp shortening*, 1/2 to 3/4 c. ice water), and I just use one. The first time I made it, I thought it too salty, so I already use less salt…and *I only use butter, not shortening.
For sweet, she recommends reducing the salt to 1 tsp from 1.5, and add 2 tbsp of sugar to the mix. I don’t think the sugar is completely necessary, but to each his own. I say reduce the salt, add sugar if you want, and make it your own (as Tim Gunn would say).
2 and 3) Yeah, probably. I’m not sure, having only made it this way before. Keep in mind, though, the quinoa flour is right next to the almond meal in the bulk bins at Whole Foods. In fact, for a sweet crust, I might try coconut flour instead of quinoa flour which has a distinctly quinoa taste. The almond will help keep it sweet, too.
4) I’m a cheap-o, and quinoa flour is expensive. I didn’t want to use extra to keep it from sticking to my rolling pin/pastry board.
5) Don’t know. This is the first pie crust recipe I’ve ever used (PGG’s), so I don’t know why she includes baking powder.