swiss chard & gruyere quiche

I think this quiche makes a perfect foil to the last quiche I posted. That one was made in the early summer, filled with herbs–especially our prolific chives–and fiddleheads. This quiche I made in November with the last, somewhat withered, leaves of Swiss chard packed in the back of the fridge and then grocery store parsley and some of our sturdy and resilient sage. I prefer the spring quiche–all the herbs make for a fresh and lovely well-packed tart. However this quiche was a good use of the Swiss chard (though it felt quite lacking with only the parsley and green onions to brighten it up).

I struggled a bit with the pastry in this tart (sorry for all these comparisons–I’m really going to give this poor quiche an inferiority complex–but the spring quiche had a considerably better pastry). It ended up baking up very soggy and not very appetizing, and as I had already overcooked the filling, I didn’t dare bake it any longer. However, I did end up finding a solution. To reheat them, I cooked a quiche directly on a nonstick pan on the stovetop. This provided the directed heat to crisp up the bottoms beautifully (and it managed to gift the slightest bit of flake to the bottom crust) without cooking the filling any more than necessary.

I have done just about no holiday-specific baking yet, apart from two (failed) stollens. (I may try again, but I’m not sure anyone is still up for more questionable breads…!) Otherwise, I would love to post something more festive and thematically appropriate–but for now, I’ll bring quiche to Fiesta Friday, hosted by Angie, the Novice Gardener and this week cohosted by Caroline of Caroline’s Cooking and Linda of La Petite Paniere.

swiss chard and gruyere quiche

whole wheat pastry

100 g cold butter

100 g all purpose flour

100 g whole wheat flour

good pinch of salt

cold water, as needed

Cut the butter into small pieces. Whisk together the flours and salt, toss the butter in the flour until coated. Then rub into the flour until in small flakes. Add cold water and mix until it just forms a cohesive dough. Wrap in plastic, chill.

filling & assembly

~250 g swiss chard leaves

1 clove garlic

olive oil

1 shallot

1 handful parsley

3 green onions

1 small block gruyere

1 very small chunk of pecorino romano

a generous slice of soft unripened goat cheese

1 radish

some sage leaves and some additional parsley leaves

150 mL milk

150 mL heavy cream

6 eggs

1 tbsp dijon mustard

grated nutmeg

salt, pepper

Wash, trim and chop the swiss chard. Finely chop the garlic. Heat some olive oil in a pan and cook the garlic and chopped chard stems until the chard stems are a bit softened, then add the leaves and cook until just wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Set side to cool.

Finely chop the shallots and green onions and set aside. Pick the parsley leaves and chop. Thinly slice the radish.

Grate the hard cheeses on the fine holes of a box grater. Crumble the goat cheese into pieces.

Whisk together the milk, cream, eggs, dijon, and grated nutmeg. Season with a pinch of salt, a generous grind of pepper.

At this point, preheat the oven to 375F.

On a floured surface, roll out the pastry until very thin. Line the tart pans.

Sprinkle some shallots, green onions, and parsley on the bottom of each tart. Top with cheeses and then the swiss chard. Cover with the custard, and top with some additional sage and parsley leaves and radish slices.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until nicely browned on top.