Quiche

This dish represents my first hired food job! My sister-in-law, Tori, owns TWO art schools and wanted to thank her support team. What began as a question about where to buy quiches for that thank you became a request for me to make them. I do a lot of work for the schools' flyers, calendars, banners, etc, so I was more than happy to make them some food. Having never cooked it before, I did a test run...

Over the Top Mushroom Quiche
Quiche, a pastry crust filled with egg and cream, is considered French, but original variations date back to Italy and the word is thought to have come from German, "kuchen," meaning cake. The most popular quiche is arguably Quiche Lorraine, which adds lardons (a French version of fatty bacon), but you can put pretty much anything in it that you want. For this project, I'm staying vegetarian so I made a quiche with wild mushrooms from the farmer's market (oyster and white button) and layers of Jarlsberg cheese (similar to Swiss). You can see the layers clearly in the picture. I also made the pie crust myself in a tall springform pan, but I don't know that I'll do that again—it's a pain and I really don't like baking! We happened to be spending the day with our niece, so she was a test subject, but I think it came out very well. We all ate a full serving and I shared leftovers with my mother the next day. It's very rich, but sort of light at the same time, so you feel like you've indulged, but you don't feel heavy after eating it. This particular recipe is deep dish quiche and the star chef who created it insists that quiche has to be several inches high. (I think it might be easier to make AND eat when a little smaller.)