Chicken and Mushroom Quiche

The first time I tried a quiche was when I was studying in Australia. The first quiche I tried was quiche Lorraine, simply because I had read about it in passing. According to Julia Child, a traditional quiche Lorraine contains no cheese. However, I distinctly remember biting into a thick layer of cheese when I ate my first quiche. No complains here! I go by the philosophy that any dish is made better by cheese. Later, I discovered that there is a variety of quiches that one can get one's paws on; tons and tons of combination, as many as you can think of.

In Malaysia, cheese is rather expensive and the variety leaves a lot to be desired. So for my first quiche, I decided to make a cheeseless one. It was good and makes a rather light lunch. The filling can be anything you'd like it to be. My custard dripped out though because I probably did not form the crust properly. The next time, I would use less filling as the custard barely covers it.

The recipe is from Kuali and makes 2 small quiches.

Ingredients
- 255g plain flour, sifted
- 150g butter, diced
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp iced water, approximately

Filling
- 100g chicken fillet, shredded
- 100g button mushrooms, sliced
- 50g straw mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tbsp butter or margarine
- 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
- 2 tbsp diced green capsicum

Custard filling
- 120ml UHT milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste

Method
To make the pastry, put sifted flour into a mixing bowl and rub in butter (or process flour and butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs). Add egg yolk and enough water to make ingredients cling together (or process until ingredients just come together).

Press the dough into a ball and knead lightly on a floured surface until smooth. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll out the pastry dough between 2 sheets of baking paper until large enough to line a lightly greased loose base flan tin. Trim the edges and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cover pastry with baking paper and fill with dried beans or rice. Bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 10 minutes. Remove beans or rice and paper; bake further for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.

To prepare the filling, heat butter or margarine, add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add chicken and button mushrooms and fry until cooked through.

Dish out and mix with straw mushrooms and capsicum. Drain on a colander and leave aside to cool. Spread this mixture onto the pastry case.

For the custard filling, combine egg, milk, pepper and salt well together. Pour into the pastry case to cover the mushroom filling. Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 25–30 minutes or until mixture is set and cooked. Serve quiche hot.