The Olive Oil Pie

Alright, so it's not really an olive oil pie, but it was an olive oil pie crust and it was shockingly awesome, so I wanted to get your attention.

I am on a constant plight for good foods to bring for lunch. I am not much of a sandwich person and it seems there are only so many days in a row you can eat sesame noodles. Actually, for me, about three days is my top out for the number of days I can eat the same thing in a row. I've always envied people who have a regular. But, I digress. The latest idea I had in my "things I can bring for lunch" mission, is quiche. I like quiche, you can eat it cold, warm, it's got stuff in it and, if made with Sarah-magic (i.e. translate anything that says cream into something non-fat), can be reasonably health conscious.

But then there's the crust and as with all pie-type things, crust is out to get me. How can I put two sticks of butter into a crust? I mean, if I'm not going to go to the gym (and it seems I'm not), I just can't rationalize putting two sticks of butter in anything I'm going to eat. So I went on a hunt for healthy crust. What I found wasn't necessarily "healthy" but it was definitely "healthier". Olive oil crust. It's weird, you have to freeze the olive oil until it solidifies, kind of, and then cut it in like you would normal crust. To be honest, I was pretty sure I was going to end up with a pile of egg and flour goo in the oven because all the oil was just going to melt away. I was pleasantly surprised though. It really is delicious and flakier than a normal butter crust.

I didn't take pics of the crust because I didn't think of it in time, but I took pictures of the after. I made six mini quiches and one large. The mini's were better, I think because I handled the dough less. The dough in the large was a bit more rubbery.

I got the dough recipe here (don't ask me about the vinegar, I have no idea). It made enough for the six mini's (in muffin tins) and one large and I tossed a little at the end. The quiche recipe is after the pics for those who want it. Note, this crust recipe takes forever, so starting the night before you want to use it is recommended.


half-eaten piece of the large pie

mini pie (yum)

Mushroom and Shallot Quiche
(this recipe is originally from Epicurious.com, but what they "recommended" and what I did ended up being quite different (shockingly), so here's what I used:

olive oil
2 medium shallots- chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms- sliced
3 eggs
1 c milk (I used 1%)
salt and pepper
Blue cheese (how do you measure "whatever was left in the block that I didn't eat yesterday"?)- crumbled
olive oil crust- blind baked and cooled

Preheat oven to 350

I sauteed the shallots in olive oil until soft, then added the mushrooms and kept cooking until they were soft. Pop the mushroom mixture in the fridge to cool.
Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together.
When the mushroom mixture is kind of cool (enough to not burn your fingers at least), spread it on the bottom of the crust or mini crusts, cover with egg mixture and then spread cheese in. I might make sure the cheese is a bit more mixed in next time.

The recipe called to cook the quiche for 25 minutes and the minis were pretty much done by then, I think I left them in for an extra 3 minutes, but I like my quiche dry. The large pie wasn't quite done after the 28 minutes. At this point I had to leave so I just turned the oven off and let of keep cooking figuring it might end up a little dry (really, quiche can't be too dry for me), but it ended up just perfect, still moist, so I'd say closer to 30-35 minutes for the big one.

Chill for a bit and then eat (yum)