Quiche with caramelized onion, mushrooms and Gruyere

I'm a huge fan of quiche. What's not to love? Crust, check. Egg, check. Cheese, double check. So when I came across a recipe that threw more of my favourite things into the mix, like mushrooms and caramelized onions, I was sold.

Recipe

adapted from Foodnetwork.com

4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced into half moons
8 oz mushrooms
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
4 tsp chopped fresh thyme
4 tsp chopped fresh sage
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup evaporated fat-free milk
⅔ cup grated Gruyere cheese (about 1 oz)
pie dough

Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll out pie dough and place in 9" pie plate. Trim and fold edges under. Fit a sheet of aluminum foil over the dough and fill with rice or beans. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until edges start to colour. Remove weight and continue baking until dough is cooked through. Let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 F.

To prepare filling, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized, about 20 minutes. Transfer onions to a bowl. Add remaining oil to the pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until they've released their water and begin to brown, about 6 minutes. Add onions back to the pan, stir in salt, pepper and herbs.In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, yolks and evaporated milk. Stir in cheese. Add mushroom-onion mixture to the crust and pour egg mixture over top. Bake for 35 minutes or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Musings

Absolutely scrumptious. Caramelizing onions is a laborious process, but totally worth it. The ratio of onion/mushroom to egg filling was definitely skewed in the former's favour, but I didn't mind. It had a great earthy, complex flavour. I didn't really taste the herbs, as the mushrooms and onion flavours were quite powerful, so I could probably up their amounts next time. Otherwise, a deliciously delightful dish that made for tasty leftovers the next day!