Herb-Crusted Sun Dried Tomato and Mushroom Quiche

In Orange County, California, the availability of kosher-certified hard cheeses are limited to speciality stores and are not always available in the average supermarket. And as my mom recovered from surgery today, I asked her to tell me what she felt like eating and assured myself that whatever she said, I could whip it up. After all, what good is a daughter who went to culinary school if she can't produce delectable morsels for her mom when she is recovering her strength?

The first thing my mom asked for early in the day was a cheese soufle. But before I expressed my intense fear and consternation at being asked to make something that requires finesse when the last time I cooked in this kitchen was circa 1992, she broke in that she thought we didn't have the materials in the house and instead asked for scrambled eggs with cheese grated on top. As late afternoon approached though, and she expressed interest in only light and cheesy foods, we decided a quiche would be perfect. But since we had next to no cheese left in the house, I had to go out to forage for materials.

Unfortunately, there was no hard cheese to be had with a hechsher in the two supermarkets I tried. I am so spoiled to live in Teaneck! Often, my mom said that one can find the kosher run of Tillamook Chedder in local California stores, but the only kosher cheeses I found were Alouette, Philadelphia and various brands of ricotta. I decided to go with the ricotta and the very small bit of chedder I had left over from my mom's earlier scrambled egg lunch.

I also didn't want to use milk or cream in the quiche because it adds excess fat and the dish would pack a large lactose punch, which I am not that excited about. (My whole raison d'etre of Classically Kosher is to modernize Jewish recipes and update them with ingredients that will help us live more healthfully). Of course, you will achieve the same delicious result with low-fat milk, whole milk or cream. So I used unsweetened Blue Diamond almond milk (O-U), which is an excellent cream substitute, very similar in fact to MimicCreme, which is an almond and cashew milk mixture that I wrote about last week here. Almond milk and almond milk blends is probably the next big trend in kosher cooking and baking. It was discovered by Chef Mark Hellermann as he developed pareve recipes for the first time in preparation to teach the first kosher/professional baking and pastry course in the United States, at the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts.

Anyway, on to the recipe:

This makes two quiches.

Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
5 tbsp water
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dehydrated or granulated garlic

Filling:

8 eggs, beaten (or the same amount egg substitute)
1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (or milk)
1 box white mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 clove fresh garlic
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, minced
3 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
15 oz. part skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup (or more) chedder, colby or monterey jack cheese, grated
fresh ground pepper
1 tsp salt

For the crust, combine the ingredients and mix with a fork. Form the dough into two balls of the same size, about the size of baseballs, and place each between two sheets of waxed paper. Roll them out with a rolling pin and place in pie pans. The crust patches really easily so just flatten it enough to crawl up the sides a bit. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in a 375 degree oven until slightly browned. Remove from oven.

In a bowl, beat the eggs and combine with almond milk and ricotta and mix with a fork until smooth. Separately, saute the mushrooms in the olive oil with the garlic until browned. Add this and the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and pour into the crusts. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour until firm on top.

Garnish with more chopped chives and minced sun dried tomatoes. Slice thin for hors d'oeuvres or thickly for lunch, brunch or dinner. These would be great in ramekins for mini-quiches... Yum!