Last week’s theme for the GBBO was the 1980’s. For the signature challenge, contestants had to bake quiche with their choice of fillings. For the technical challenge, they had to bake finger doughnuts filled with raspberry and custard. Maybe this is a British thing? I don’t think I’ve seen finger doughnuts before. They reminded me of eclairs in their look. For the showstopper challenge, contestants had to bake an ice cream cake … on one of the hottest days of the year! Needless to say, there were a couple of melted messes!
I wanted to get a start on some Christmas baking this weekend, so I opted to do just the quiche challenge. I’ve made quiche many times before but generally just Quiche Lorraine, which is filled with bacon and Gruyere cheese. I used to call it bacon and egg pie when I served it to my kids and they would gobble it up!
Generally when I bake quiche, I bake it in a pie plate and serve it from there as you would a traditional pie. On the show, the contestants had to unmold their quiches and serve them free-standing. Since I have baked a few tarts lately, I decided not to go the tart pan route, but instead make a deep-dish quiche using a springform pan.
For the crust, I used a shortcrust pastry, that has an egg in it as I thought that would be more sturdy than a traditional pie crust. I decided to go vegetarian for the filling. I kept the Gruyere that I usually use and paired it with caramelized onions and some roasted red pepper for colour. I think caramelized onion and Gruyere cheese are a match made in heaven! I also added a tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme for a herby kick.
We gobbled up this quiche! The pastry stood up well to being removed from the pan and was nice and crumbly. The filling ingredients made for a lovely savory pie. Delicious!
Deep-Dish Roasted Red Pepper and Caramelized Onion Quiche
This flavour-packed deep-dish quiche combines roasted red peppers, caramelized onions and gruyere cheese for a vibrant mouthful of flavour in every bite.
Ingredients
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For the Crust
- For the Filling
Instructions
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For the Crust
- Place the flour, salt, butter, and shortening in a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse sand.
- Add the egg and 1 tablespoon of ice water, then pulse until you have a clumpy dough, about 10 -15 pulses. It will not have formed a ball yet.
- Turn out the dough onto the work surface and bring it together into a ball. Press into a disc, cover, and chill for 30 minutes.
- Cover the bottom round of a 9-inch/23 cm springform pan with aluminum foil to make it easier to lift out the quiche after it is cooked. Attach the side of the pan over top.
- Lightly flour your counter and flour the top of your dough. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough to an approximate 15 inch/38 cm circle that is 1/4 inch/1/2 cm thick. Roll the dough loosely around your rolling pin and lift the dough into your springform pan, pushing it into the corners and up the sides of the dough. Patch any cracks or holes with dough scraps as needed. Refrigerate the extra scraps for later use. Trim the extra dough so that you have a straight edge to the sides of the quiche. Using a fork, poke holes over the bottom and sides of the dough.
- Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes until firm and then freeze for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare your onions. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-low heat. Add onions and 1/4 tsp of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are very soft and golden brown, about 45 minutes. Add 1 tsp balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp water and cook for 2 more minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and set aside until needed.
- Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat your oven to 375 F/190 C.
- Line the dough with aluminum foil and fill completely with pie weights, gently pressing the weights into the corner of the shell. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If any cracks have formed in the dough, patch them with reserved pie scraps. Return the shell to the oven and bake until the bottom is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Remove the shell from the oven and brush the interior with egg white.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F/180 C.
- Whisk the cornstarch with 3 tbsp of milk to dissolve. Whisk in the remaining milk, cream, eggs, egg yolk, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne, and thyme. Whisk until smooth.
- Scatter the onions, cheese, and roasted rep pepper over the bottom of the tart shell. Gently pour the egg mixture over the filling. Using a fork, push the filling ingredients through the custard to disperse evenly.
- Bake until the top of the quiche is lightly browned and the centre registers 170 F/76 C. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let stand at room temperature until cool to the touch, 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
- When ready to serve, remove the sides of the springform pan, then run a metal spatula between the bottom of the tart and the pan. Carefully lift the tart onto a serving plate.
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I love caramelised onions!
Me too!