It seems that I haven’t written about food in a while – time to catch up! I made this quiche twice this season, and served the second on Easter. But I will be making it again… and again… through the summer. I’ve always been fond of making quiches, pies, tortes, and tarts, because who can resist a buttery crust. I was very happy to learn this new way to make a pie crust that defied the rigorous steps of all other recipes, including Julia Child’s adaptation from the French. The recipe comes from my dear step-mother-in-law, Patti, who is a wonderful baker with LOTS of experience making pies. I’ve tweaked the recipe to include spelt flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, and have a user-friendly way of rolling the dough.
For the filling, I decided to go traditional with eggs, gruyere and heavy cream, but used the abundant rainbow swiss chard from our garden and a ton of caramelized onions. It was hearty, savory and creamy at once.
Spelt Quiche Crust – adapted from Patti’s recipe
1 cup King Arthur white flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick SOFT butter
1. Sift 3/4 cup white flour, all of the spelt flour, and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Throw in soft butter and ‘fork it in’… meaning, start mashing the butter around until you have flour and butter coming together in a large crumbs. This takes 3-5 minutes.
3. Mix remaining 1/4 flour with 3 tbsp room temperature water to make a paste. Mix this into the butter / flour to make a fine dough.
4. Roll dough with you hands into a ball, wrap in plastic and put in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes to firm up. Remove and flatten dough, then place another sheet of plastic wrap on top. Roll dough with skinny rolling pin to a thin 14″ round circle.
5. Lay dough over glass pie dish so that the edges overhang a little. Cut the dough 1/4″ beyond the pie dish so that when it shrinks it doesn’t fall into the form.
6. Create a pretty edge detail with a fork, and poke several holes in the bottom. The crust is ready to be filled (note: do not pre-bake!)
Rainbow Chard and Gruyere filling:
1 bunch swiss chard, washed and de-stemmed
1 1/2 red onions, quartered and thinly sliced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt & pepper
6-7 eggs
1 cup gruyere cheese, shredded
1 cup whipping cream
pinch nutmeg
1. Bring a large shallow pan of water to boil – add swiss chard and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and chop fine on a cutting board.
2. In the same pan, melt butter and olive oil. Add onions and sautee over low-medium heat for 15 minutes. If they are singing, cover the pan and let steam a bit.
3. Preheat oven to 350.
3. In a large bowl, whisk eggs together with salt & pepper. Add cheese, cream, nutmeg and chopped chard. Pour into quiche crust and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until just browned on the top.
Enjoy!




































