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Just back from the JP Morgan Healthcare conference and I have house guests arriving late morning tomorrow. Not much time to shop before their arrival. What to fix in a hurry? I always have eggs in the house and I usually have cheese of some type. This week Gary picked up a great cheese at Costco called Piave Vecchio, a nutty, aged pasteurized cow’s milk cheese. I also have some fresh asparagus spears (about 15). So I plan put together the following asparagus Quiche.
Asparagus Quiche
1 pie crust (recipe follows)
15 roasted asparagus spears (see below) cut into thirds
5 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 ½ cups grated Piave Vecchio cheese (or whatever you happen to have at home)
Mix these 5 ingredients into a large bowl.
Pie Crust
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 egg separated
Several tablespoons of ice water
In bowl of food processor, process flour, salt and vegetable shortening until crumbly texture forms. Add egg yolk and process until well combined. Through the tube in the food processor, add one tablespoon of ice water at a time until dough forms a ball. Form into two balls and wrap each in parchment paper and chill for 15 minutes. Save one for another time. Can be frozen. Simply thaw before using.
Roll dough into circle to fit into your pie pan (on parchment paper). I use another piece of parchment paper over the top of the dough. Place into pan and make a border. Brush with beaten egg white and bake in 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and add the filling.
Bake at 400° for 12 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until knife inserted into Quiche comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, cut into six or eight pieces and serve.
Roasted asparagus
Wash asparagus. Cut off the hard ends of the asparagus – about 2″. (If delegating this task, be sure to give proper instructions to any young cooks. Kristina’s former boyfriend wanted to help when preparing asparagus during one of his visits and proceeded to cut off all the beautiful green tips of the asparagus and threw them into the trash. ) Place in 9 x 13″ baking dish and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt or kosher salt. Roast for 10 minutes at 400 degrees or until the stalks are no longer hard, but still firm. Cool.