(Not) Tyler's (Not Deep-Dish or Ham) Quiche with Tyler's Herb and Asparagus Salad

April's Tyler Florence optional challenge, selected by our co-host Megan at My Baking Adventures is his Deep Dish Ham Quiche with Herb and Asparagus Salad. Although I like quiche, it is something that I will have maybe once or twice a year for lunch and be perfectly happy. I am also a bit picky about my quiche, it needs to be mostly meat or veggies and crust and not too "eggy" so "deep-dish" doesn't quite work for me, (I had visions of inches upon inches of egg). Actually given the choice between deep-dish pizza and thin crust or deep-dish apple pie and regular, I will take the regular over deep dish every time, I needs me a high crust ratio I guess. Also deep-dish and healthy just don't seem like they go together very well. Originally I was just going to cut Tyler's quiche down and try to make it a bit healthier, but not being a quiche expert, I thought I should call in the big guns, and look to one of my healthy cooking gurus, Ellie Krieger. I saw she had a recipe at Food Network, for a healthier quiche with onions, mushrooms and Gruyere cheese, made with non-fat evaporated milk and decided to look to her for the milk-egg part of the filling. I was going to use Tyler's crust and switch out the white flour but I got to reading about Ellie's, with its rolled oats and use of less butter and couldn't resist. (I did change it up a bit and use a white-wheat flour in place of the all-purpose flour). For the non-egg filling ingredients, I did my own thing, keeping the caramelized onions that are in both recipes, adding some asparagus and in order to get some of the savory-smokiness of Tyler's with ham, I decided to add a bit of smoked Gouda cheese. Finally because I don't need a whole quiche around here, I made a half recipe and used my mini-tart pans to make two small, individual quiches. 

So I may have "adapted" a bit too much, since it isn't actually Tyler's quiche but I did make quiche and Tyler's Herb and Asparagus Salad recipe to accompany it. In the end, I think Tyler is a collaborative kind of guy, so he won't mind! I kept it within the Food Network family, and I ended up with a delicious quiche that fits into my goals. I am posting both quiche recipes and my changes are noted above and in the Notes/Results section. 

(Tyler's quiche recipe can be found at the Food Network site here)

Deep-Dish Ham Quiche with Herb and Asparagus Salad

Tyler Florence

(Makes 10-12 servings)
Pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup (1 & 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small chunks
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed

Filling:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin-olive oil
2 large Vidalia onions, sliced
3/4 pound smoked ham, cubed
8 large eggs
1 quart heavy cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
2 bunches asparagus (about 1 pound each), stems trimmed
4 ounces Parmesan, shaved with a peeler
2 handfuls fresh flat-leaf parsley, hand-torn
1 handful fresh mint, hand-torn
1 handful fresh dill, hand-torn
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the pastry: combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix with a pastry blender or your hands until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat the egg yolk and ice water in a small bowl to blend, add it to the pastry. Work it in to bind the dough until it holds together without being too wet or sticky. Squeeze a small amount together, if it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the counter and a rolling pin lightly with flour. Roll the dough out into a 14-inch circle about 1/4-inch thick. Carefully roll the dough up onto the pin (this may take a little practice) and lay it inside a 9-inch springform pan. Press the dough firmly into the bottom and sides so it fits tightly; trim the excess dough around the rim. Place the pan on a sturdy cookie sheet so it will be easier to move in and out of the oven, this quiche is pretty heavy.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

To make the filling: Heat a skillet over medium-low heat, coat the pan with oil, and add the onions. Slowly cook the onions, stirring, until they caramelize and release their natural sugars. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to help the onions break down, if needed. Toss in the ham, cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes to get some color on it. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy, pour in the cream; season with salt and pepper. Arrange the caramelized onions and ham over the bottom of the crust and carefully pour in the cream and egg mixture; the filling should be about 1-inch from the top of the pan. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes or until the quiche is set, puffy, and jiggles slightly. Remove to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes. In the meantime make the asparagus salad.

To make the asparagus salad: In a large pot of boiling salted water, blanch the asparagus for 4 minutes, or until they are just crisp-tender. Drain the asparagus, transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking, and drain well. Slice the asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces and put them in a mixing bowl. Add the Parmesan and herbs, drizzle the herb and asparagus salad with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine.

Loosen the quiche from the sides of the pan by running a thin metal spatula around the inside rim. Carefully unmold the ring, and transfer the quiche (with the bottom base) to a serving plate. Cut it into wedges, drizzle with a little olive oil, and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with the asparagus salad on top.

(Ellie's quiche recipe can be found at the Food Network site here).
Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Gruyere Quiche with Oat Crust
Ellie Krieger
(Makes 6 servings)

For the crust:
Cooking spray
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons cold, low-fat buttermilk

For the filling:
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced thinly into half moons
8 ounces sliced mixed mushrooms, such as cremini, oyster, shiitake
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dry)
3 large eggs
3 egg whites
1 cup evaporated fat-free milk (not condensed milk)
2/3 cup grated Gruyere cheese (about 1-ounce)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch pie dish with cooking spray.

To prepare the crust, put the oats, flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse 3 times to combine. Add the butter and pulse about 12 times, until you get a pebbly course texture. Add the buttermilk and pulse 3 to 5 times more to combine. Form the mixture into a ball and place it between 2 large pieces of waxed paper. Roll out into a circle about 10 inches in diameter. Remove the top sheet of waxed paper. Transfer the crust, still on the other piece of waxed paper to the pie dish, then remove the waxed paper from the top. Press the crust gently into the dish. Bake for 9 minutes, then let cool.

To prepare the filling, heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large nonstick pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized, about 20 minutes. Transfer the onions to a bowl. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to the pan and heat over a medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they have released their water and begin to brown, about 6 minutes. Add the onions back to the pan, stir in the salt, pepper, mustard and thyme. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, egg whites and evaporated milk.

Sprinkle the cheese into the pie crust. Top with the mushroom-onion mixture and pour the egg mixture on top. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake for 35 minutes or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into 6 wedges and serving.

Notes/Results: Really good, and even better reheated the next day. The smoked Gouda, grated and sprinkled on the crust before the filling was added, was perfect with the caramelized onions and the asparagus. I really liked the crust with the oats and it was tender, (I thought I might be struggling to cut it). The filling was good, I think the mustard really adds a nice touch. Halving it, I did have a bit of crust and some egg mixture left over but not quite enough crust for a third tart. Tyler's salad has all of my favorite herbs in it and is crisp and refreshing, perfect to accompany the quiche for a light lunch or dinner. I did add a bit of baby arugula to the salad and serve it on the side. I would make both recipes again. 

Thanks Megan for a fun pick! You can see who "took the challenge" and made a quiche at the challenge round-up at the beginning of May on the Tyler Florence Friday site here.