Southwest Quiche

I figured it was time to do another recipe how-to. This makes two quiches, I like to go ahead and do two when I'm making this so that I can put one in the freezer to have on one of those days when I'm really busy or don't feel like cooking.



Southwest Quiche
For the crusts you will need :
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 sticks of butter
2 egg yolks
4 tbsp. ice water
I'm going to show you can make your own pastry crust for this, but if you're not into making the crust, 2 pie shells will work just fine.

For the filling you will need:
1 can of chicken (or you can cook one chicken breast and cut it into little pieces)
1/2 an onion, chopped and sauted
1 can of cream corn
1 can of tomatoes with chilies (like Rotel)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 or 4 eggs (start with 3, if your quiche dish or pie plate is large, add another egg)
1/2 tsp. salt

We'll start with the crust.
Before you start, put some ice in water so it can get really cold. Turn your oven to 375 so it can preheat while you work.
Put the flour in a bowl and add the butter. You'll want to incorporate the butter well. You can do this with a pastry blender, or hold two knives together, or just use your (very clean) fingers.


When the butter and flour are well mixed, add the two egg yolks and 4 tbsp. of ice water.


Save the whites for later to use in the quiche filling. Use the pastry blender to mix everything together well.Divide the dough into two equal sized balls.


This is the easiest way I have found to roll out pastry or cookie dough. Tear off a two foot long piece of waxed paper and fold it in half. Open it back up and dust it with flour. Put one of the balls of dough on the flour, smash it down a little and put a little more flour on top of it. Fold the waxed paper over the dough so the dough is sandwiched between the pieces of waxed paper; use a rolling pin or a glass to roll the dough out. It'll look like this.


Now dust the top with a little more flour, then fold the paper back over it. Pick up the two corners farthest away from you and flip the whole thing over; the bottom is now on top. Dust this side with a little flour. Now carefully pick up the dough and lay it over the top of your quiche dish. Press it down onto the bottom and up the sides, trim off the excess. Prick the bottom and the sides with a fork. It'll look like this:


Repeat the process with the other ball of dough. Bake the crust for 10 minutes. While the crusts are cooking, prepare the filling. Saute the onion, drain the can of chicken and smash it into smaller pieces, drain the tomatoes with chilies, and drain some of the liquid off of the creamed corn. Mix all of this together, then add the cheese, salt, egg whites you saved from earlier, 3 or 4 whole eggs, and a couple of ounces of milk. Pour the mixture into the crusts.


Bake the quiches for 45 minutes at 375. Let it cool for a few minutes before you cut it. Cut it into wedges to serve. I like to serve it warm but you can serve it cold as well.


When I was cooking this, I had a little bit of dough and filling left so I decided to try something a little different. I found these adorable tartlet tins at a thrift store a while back and figured they would be good for making mini quiches.
This was the first time I used these so I wasn't sure how well it would work, but I was pretty pleased with the result. I think next time I make this recipe, I'll just do one big quiche and make a bunch of mini ones.I think these would be cute for a wedding or baby shower or as appetizers when entertaining. Not that I entertain that much, but maybe I should.



Hope you enjoyed it!