Quiche with Seafood
Description
This is a really wonderful quiche, which can be served for brunch, lunch, or dinner. We enjoy this quiche with Pickled Red Onions on the side, a drizzle of delicious Lemon Basil Sauce on the top, and a wonderful Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing on an Arugula Salad (and you can easily access these recipes by clicking on each of the recipe titles).
At a Glance
Equipment
It is important to have a deep-dish, ceramic pie dish to prepare this deep quiche.
Ingredients
For the Crust and Seafood Filling:
1 frozen Pie Crust, thawed and at room temperature (Admission: we use frozen pie crusts periodically, but you can also make your own pie crust). We use Trader Joe's Pie Crust:
¼ cup of Flour (to roll out the pie dough)
5-6 baby Lobster Tails about 2 ounces each (or 1 or 2 larger lobster tails) to produce 1 cup of cooked, Lobster Meat, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon of Lemon Pepper
¾ cup of Jumbo Lump Crab Meat, coarsely chopped
¾ cup of Shrimp, cooked, deveined, and coarsely chopped (note: it doesn’t matter what size of shrimp is used, since the shrimp will be chopped down)
3 tablespoons of Butter
2 ounces of Pancetta, diced
2 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped
1 clove of Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of Sherry
1 cup of fresh Baby Spinach, coarsely chopped
8 leaves of Basil, finely chopped
1 cup of Gruyere Cheese, shredded
1 cup of Swiss Cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon of Chives, finely chopped
Cooking Spray for Baking
For the Quiche Custard:
4 Eggs
1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream
1 cup of Half and Half
¼ teaspoon of Nutmeg, freshly grated
½ teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning
Dash of Cayenne Pepper
½ teaspoon of Salt
¼ teaspoon of White Pepper
Directions
In a small, non-stick sauté pan, cook the pancetta over a medium heat until it is crisp. (Note there is generally enough fat in the pancetta, so oil or butter are not normally needed in the pan to cook the pancetta.) Remove the pancetta from the sauté pan and set it aside. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the same sauté pan and bring it to a medium heat. Add the shallots and the garlic to the sauté pan and cook them until they are translucent. Remove the sauté pan from the heat and add the sherry. Put the sauté pan back on a medium-low heat, stir the mixture, and let it reduce down slightly for about 2-3 more minutes before removing it from the heat.
Clean the lobster and prepare your lobster tails. Cut the lobster shell in half, lengthwise, and split open the lobster. Turn your oven on broil. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a microwave. Line a broiling pan with foil, and place your lobsters on the pan with the lobster meat facing up. Pour the melted butter over the lobster tails, and sprinkle the lemon pepper over the top. Put the pan in the middle of the oven and cook the lobster tails until they are fully cooked. The amount of cooking time will depend on the size of your lobster tails. Our lobster tails were quite small (2 oz.), so it took only about 5-7 minutes to cook the lobster tails fully. Once the lobster tails are cooked, remove them from the oven, and set them aside to let them cool. In a large bowl, add the shrimp and crab meat, stir in the cooled pancetta, shallots and garlic. Once the lobster has cooled, remove the tail meat from the lobster shells, chop the lobster meat, and add it to the bowl. Add the spinach and basil to the bowl and stir it all until it is fully mixed and then set it aside.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Take the quarter-cup of flour and spread it on the countertop to prepare to roll out the pie crust. Take the defrosted pie crust and make it into a ball, then using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a size that will fit into the deep-dish ceramic pie dish. Spray the pie dish with baking cooking spray and gently place the pie dough into the dish. Melt the last tablespoon of butter and brush the melted butter on the inside of the pie crust.
In a large bowl, beat the 4 eggs, and then add the cream and the half and half. Whisk the mixture and then add the nutmeg, the Old Bay Seasoning, the cayenne pepper, the salt, as well as the white pepper, and continue whisking it until it is fully integrated.
Add half the seafood and spinach mixture to the bottom of the pie dish. Put half of the cheese over the seafood mixture, and then add the remainder of the seafood and top it with the rest of the cheese. Whisk the egg mixture again, and then slowly pour it over the quiche. It will “seep” in and around the seafood and cheese.
Put the quiche into the middle of the oven at 425 degrees F and cook it for about 15 minutes. Then turn the heat down to 350 degrees F and cook it until the custard sets for about another 45 minutes. Since this recipe uses a deep-dish, ceramic pie dish, it takes longer than if a more-shallow dish is used; as a result, shorten the cooking if a deep-dish pie dish is not being used. Once the quiche has set, remove it from the oven and let rest for about 5-10 minutes to set further.
Once the quiche has rested, slice the quiche, top the slices of quiche with a sprinkle of chives, and then serve them.
Serving Suggestions:
We enjoy this quiche with this delicious Lemon Basil Sauce drizzled over the top, and with Pickled Red Onions on the side (and you easily access those recipes by clicking on those recipe titles).
Wine Pairings
Related Recipes
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CondimentsPickled Red Onions
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SaucesLemon Basil Sauce