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Wild Mushroom Bacon Quiche

One of the guys had been out foraging in the mountains, and he came back with these strange looking mushrooms. He suggested putting these in this weekends quiche. Being careful, I watched him eat some of them to see if he’d get sick. He didn’t so I guess they are safe to eat. We worked together to come up with this combination to make this Wild Mushroom Bacon Quiche.

Wild Mushroom and Bacon Quiche
Wild Mushroom and Bacon Quiche
This would taste good with just about any kind of mushrooms, but these particular ones that we used were something that I hadn’t seen before. These are wild Chanterelles and they need to be dried out a bit to be useful in a quiche.

Wild Chanterelle Mushrooms
Wild Chanterelle Mushrooms
As you dry sauté them, drain the liquid that boils off. You can use this as a mushroom stock to add a little extra flavor either to the eggs or some other dish. After extracting this extra moisture, they will be ready for final cooking and you can use either the Bacon grease or simply butter to finish off the sauté of the mushrooms. Or if you want to try this without the bacon, it will still be quite tasty.

Serves 8-10 (one Quiche)

Ingredients

  • 1 – 1/2 cup Wild Mushrooms
  • 1/2 pkg Sliced Pecan Wood Smoked Bacon
  • 1/2 cup Sliced Shallots (about 2 – 3 bulbs)
  • 1 tsp Olive Oil
  • 2 Tbsp Butter
  • 2 tsp Pepper
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 3 oz Plain Greek Yogurt
  • 4 oz Heavy Whipping Creame
  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 1/2 cup Shredded Asiago Cheese
  • 1 Tbsp Honey Glazed Pecans (Optional)
  • 9 inch prepared Pie Crust

Preparation

To properly prepare the wild mushrooms, first wash then and then in a skillet sauté them dry to extract the liquids over medium high heat. You’ll want to drain the liquids as it boils out of the mushrooms to speed up this process. But you should be done in about 10 minutes. You don’t want to brown them yet, just dry them out. When all the liquids appear to be boiled out, remove from the skillet and allow to cool.

Prebake your pie crust according to the instructions on the package.

Take the chopped and sliced shallots and sauté them over medium high heat with a dash of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper, just to sweat them down for about 5 minutes. Remove from the skillet and allow to cool. Then store properly until final assembly.

Then cut the bacon up into 1/2 inch long pieces and cook them in the skillet until brown. Remove and place on a paper towel to absorb the grease. When cooled and drained, properly store until final assembly. If you want you can reserve the grease and use it for the final cook of the mushrooms, but I think butter helps keep the flavors separated.

The final cooking of the mushrooms is done by sautéing them in a skillet over medium high heat with the butter and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. This should go until most of the butter has been absorbed into the mushrooms. It should take about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and properly store until final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Combine all of the ingredients prepared above into the pre-baked pie crusts and loosely mix so that there is room for the egg mixture. In a large mixing bowl, combine together the Eggs, Yogurt, Cream and mix together with a whisk. Beat for about 4 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste about halfway through the beating. Pour this mixture slowly over the ingreadents in the pie crusts to allow the eggs to work their way into all of the filling. Top this with the shredded Cheese and let it set for about a half minute. Optionally, top with the Honey Glased Pecans and pop it right into the oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes or until a the top is a full golden brown. Remove and serve or pack it up for the rink.

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Lasagna Frittata

Lasagna Frittata
Lasagna Frittata

Almost every hockey player knows that one of the best recovery foods is comprised of either beef or chicken, tomatoes and pasta.  If you’ve ever been around a game that goes to multiple overtime periods, you’ll find trays of meaty lasagna or other meaty pastas being devoured by the players in the overtime intermissions.  So why not make a quiche.  Here is and update to the original Lasagna Quiche from the Real Men DO Eat Quiche cookbook.  This actually makes mini-lasagna in each pie pan, instead of what we came up with before.

Serves: 16 – 22 (2 Quiches)

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Hamburger
  • 1 lb Italian Sausage
  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 large Onion, finely chopped
  • 1 Shallot, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp Pepper
  • 1 Tbsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 2 cups Porcini Mushrooms (chopped)
  • 1 cup Spaghetti or Bolognese Sauce (pick your favorite)
  • 12 pieces of Lasagne Pasta
  • Base Quiche Mix
  • 6 tsp Butter
  • 2 Pie Pans
  • 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded

Preparation

In a large skillet or pot over medium-high heat add the Olive Oil.  When the oil is hot, add in the Onions, Shallots and Garlic and stir.  After about 2 minutes add in the Pepper, Salt and Cinnamon and continue to stir until the onions are soft and translucent, about 2 minutes more.  Add in the Beef and Sausage and raise the heat to high.  Continue cooking this until the meat is just starting to brown, about 5 – 10 minutes.  Add in the mushrooms and continue cooking for another 5 – 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  You’ll know your done, when the meat is starting to get a crisp browning and the mushrooms have soaked up most of the grease.  Remove and stain to reduce the grease.  If you want you can use the grease later in the Spaghetti Sauce and Base Quiche Mix to add flavor, I don’t because this makes a greasy quiche.  Put the strained mixture in a container and refrigerate until final assembly.

Although I’m told that some Lasagne Pasta doesn’t need to be cooked first, I cook it by the instructions anyway.  Instead of cooking these in a large pot with a lot of water, I’ve taken to using a skillet or large pot with just enough water to cover the pasta.  To the water I add a dash of Olive Oil and Salt.  Then when the water is boiling, add in the pasta and cook for about 6 – 8 minutes.  This is a little faster and uses a whole lot less water.  Strain the water out and put the pasta back in the hot pot and add in 4 teaspoons of butter and make sure this is all melted and fully coating the pasta.  If you need to add a little heat to get this done.  Transfer the pasta to a container and refrigerate until final assembly.  If you want to you can line your pie pans with 1 teaspoon of butter each and refrigerate.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare the Base Quiche Mix in a large mixing bowl as you normally would.  Add in the Spaghetti or Bolognese Sauce and continue to whisk for an additional 3 minutes.

Place one layer of pasta in the bottom of each pie pan.  Then spoon in a layer of the meat mixture.  Slowly add the eggs/sauce mixture to form a layer.  Top this is a thin layer of the shredded cheeses.  And repeat this step until almost to the top edge of the pie pans.  Three layers is usually enough.  Top the last layer with all of the remaining cheese.

Place in the oven and cook for 30 – 40 minutes.  Keep an eye on the cheese so that you don’t burn it, but a little browning makes for a good flavor.  Remove from the oven and either serve or pack it up for the rink.

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Bacon with Spinach and Shiitakes

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This is an attempt to be kind of healthy, but we just can’t resist keeping bacon in it.  It is just a matter of moderation.  We use the Spinach and Shiitake Mushrooms to tell ourselves that this one is healthy and good for us.  We use the smaller than normal helping of Bacon to make it taste extra good.  And unfortunately, this is one that didn’t make it’s photo shoot before it went to the rink and was consumed before a picture could be taken.

Ingredients

  • 8 slices of good quality Bacon
  • 2 Tbsp Butter
  • 1/4 cup Green Onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves Garlic, chopped
  • 16 oz fresh Spinach
  • 1/2 lb fresh Shiitake Mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup Asiago Cheese, shredded
  • Base Quiche Mix
  • 2 pie crusts

Preparation

Either bake your bacon in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes (10 minutes per side) or in a skillet over medium high heat until just starting to get crispy.  Remove and drain on a paper towel.  When cooled chop up into 1/2 inch pieces and refrigerate until final assembly.

In a large skillet or pot over medium heat, melt the butter.  Put in the chopped green onions and garlic.  Cook while stirring until the green onions start to soften, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the spinach and shiitake mushrooms and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften.  This should take about 5 – 7 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Refrigerate until final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together the two kinds of cheese.  In another large mixing bowl, add the bacon chunks, vegetables, mushrooms and 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture together and mix thoroughly.  When thoroughly mixed, half into the two pie crusts.  Prepare the base quiche mix and pour over the ingredients in the pie crusts.  Top this with the remaining cheese mixture and sprinkle with some extra salt and pepper to taste.  The pies then go into the oven for 30 -40 minutes or until the cheese on top is a golden brown.  Remove from the oven and either serve or transport to the rink.

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Halloween Frittata

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Halloween Frittata with Zombie Chunks and Cheesy Maggots
Halloween Frittata with Zombie Chunks and Cheesy Maggots

Here is an early Halloween themed frittata.  The ingredients include a whole bunch of Zombie Chunks, everything from random body parts to eyeballs.  And somehow it’s been infected with a small colony of Cheesy Maggots.  Just what you want to eat around Halloween.  In spite of the way it looks and whats in it can be eaten.  Only because its cooked enough to finally destroy all the Zombie and Maggot power.

Serves: 16 – 22 (2 frittatas)

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb Hamburger
  • 1/2 lb spicy Italian Sausage
  • 1/2 Yellow Onion, chopped
  • 4 tsp Olive Oil
  • 6 extra Eggs
  • 3 Green Olives with Pimento
  • 1/4 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 cup Orzo Pasta
  • 1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup Gruyere Cheese, shredded
  • 2 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper
  • 1 Tbsp Salt
  • 2 pie pans

Preparation

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix together the Hamburger, Sausage and chopped Onion  Chill these in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  While these are cooling, hard boil the Eggs in boiling water for 8 – 10 minutes.  While these are cooking, take the olives and cut them in half through the middle so that the pimento is in the center of each piece of olive.  Remove the eggs from the bowl and place in cold water.  When cooled enough to handle, peel them and halve them.  Then carefully using a knife hollow out the end of each egg half to the diameter of each cut olive.  Place the cut olives into the hollow of the eggs.  These will look like eye balls sliced in half.  Put these in the refrigerator until ready for final assembly.

Remove the Hamburger and Sausage mixture from the refrigerator and form into patties that shouldn’t be thicker than 3/4 inch or 3 inches in diameter.  In a skillet over medium high heat, use 2 teaspoons of Olive Oil and allow it to get to full heat.  When ready, cook the patties in the skillet until the each side is starting to char, about 5 minutes per side.  Remove and place on paper towels to drain and cool.  When cooled tear the patties up into random sized chucks.  Chop up the Sun Dried Tomatoes and mix them in with the meat chunks.  Put these away until ready for final assembly.

Prepare the Orzo Pasta as directed on the package and when done and drained, transfer to a container and add 2 teaspoons and mix thoroughly.  Place in the refrigerator until ready for final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Oil or butter the bottom of your pie pans.  Them take the Egg eye balls and arrange them equally into each pie pan, Olive iris side up.  Then equally arrange the meat and tomato mixture around them in the pans.  Prepare the usual base quiche mix, and add to this the Pepper and Salt.  For an extra flavor add 1 tablespoon of Truffle Oil.  Whisk this up until fluffy.  Pour this over the ingredients in the pans and sprinkle about half of the Orzo Pasta over the top.  Then add on the mixture of the two cheeses.  Then finish topping with the remaining pasta.  Sprinkle a little more pepper over the top and pop them into the oven.  Cook for 30 – 40 minutes or until the cheese is just starting to turn golden brown.  Remove from the oven is either serve or pack up for the rink.

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Spicy Corn and Corned Beef Quiche

Corned Beef with Spicy Roasted Corn Shiitake with Pepper Jack Quiche
Corned Beef with Spicy Roasted Corn Shiitake with Pepper Jack Quiche

Corned Beef is one of our favorite meats.  If you can get a good cut from your store, it’s even better.  Adding the Sun Dried Tomatoes and Spicy Corn to this dish, just makes it that much better.  The Shiitakes are there for their health benefits and to add a little extra flavor.  There isn’t much to say about this quiche except that it is supposedly in the top 10 of all of these recipes.

Serves 16 – 22 (2 quiches)

Ingredients

  • 1 – 1/2 lb Sliced Corned Beef, roughly chopped

Spicy Corn

  • 3 ears of Sweet Corn
  • 3 Tbsp Peruvian Chile Lime Seasoning
  • 2 Tbsp Pepper
  • 2 Tbsp Salt
  • 3 pats of Butter
  • Optionally you can skip the above by using 1 11 oz can of Green Giant Chipotle White Corn and 1 tsp of Lime Juice

The Rest

  • 1/2 cup of sliced Shiitake Mushrooms
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1/2 cup of Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp Peruvian Chile Lime Seasoning
  • 1 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper
  • 1/2 Tbsp Sea Salt
  • 2 Pie Crusts
  • 1 – 1/2 cup of Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

Preparation

Preparing Corned Beef is very time consuming and you can usually buy it in most stores, so that’s what I do.  But if you want to make your own, here is a good recipe.  Simply chop up the sliced corned beef into 1/2 inch chunks.  And set aside or refrigerate until ready for final assembly

Spicy Corn

Preparing the Spicy Corn can either take a little work, or almost not work, your choice.  The working way is to take 3 ears of sweet corn with the husks at least covering 1/2 of the ears.  Open them up by folding back the husks and removing the silk.  Sprinkle the Salt, Pepper and Seasoning all over the corn and add a pat of Butter to the side where the husk is still attached.  Fold the husk back over the ear and wrap in foil.  Heat up your grill to at least 400 degrees.  When ready, place the wrapped ears of corn on the grill for 15 – 20 minutes per side.  When done, remove and allow to cool until you can easily handle them.  Cut the kernels off and store them until ready for final assembly.

The easy way is to simply get the Chipotle White Corn can and drain.  Then add in the Lime Juice and mix well.  Store this in a container until ready for final assembly.

The Rest

To prepare the rest, the only thing that you need to properly prepare the Mushrooms.  Assuming you’ve picked up these dried you’ll need to re-hydrate them.  Put them in salted water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove and drain them.  If you’ve got fresh ones, start with this next step.  In a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, cook the mushrooms for 2 -3 minutes per side over medium high heat.  Throwing a dash of salt on as your stirring them.  When done, remove from heat and allow to cool enough to chop into 1/4 – 1/2 inch chunks and place into a container.  In another container, place the loosely chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes.  Refrigerate these until ready for final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Take the Corned Beef, Spicy Corn, Shiitakes and Sun Dried Tomatoes and thoroughly mix them together in a large mixing bowl.  Taking care to fully mix all the ingredients together evenly,  split these evenly into each of your pie crusts.  Prepare the usual base quiche mix and add the Chile Lime Seasoning, Pepper and Salt into the egg mixture.  When fully mixed pour over the ingredients in the pie crusts.  Top with the shredded Pepper Jack Cheese and place in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes.  When the cheese starts to get golden brown it’s ready to go.  Remove from the oven and either serve or pack it up to take to the rink.