Saturday, August 15, 2009

Carrot and Chantarelle Quiche

Carrot and chantarelle quiche / Porgandi-kukeseenepirukas

Decisions, decisions.

A week or two ago I was staring at a pile of yellow chantarelle mushrooms and a bunch of young orange carrots in my fridge, trying to decide which one should become the centrepiece of our dinner table. Earthy wild mushrooms or succulent sweet carrots? Which one to take, and which one to leave? I couldn't choose (which one would you have chosen?), and combined them both in a quiche instead. The resulting carrot and chantarelle quiche could be my favourite wild mushroom tart of all times.

Here's the recipe. Do try it, if you have a chance.

Carrot and Chantarelle Quiche
(Porgandi-kukeseenepirukas)
Serves 6 to 8

Carrot and chantarelle quiche / Porgandi-kukeseenepirukas

Pastry:
175 g plain/all-purpose flour
0.25 tsp salt
100 g cold butter, cut into cubes
1 egg

Filling:
200 g carrots
300 g fresh chantarelle mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
about 100 ml /half a cup/ of finely chopped fresh parsley
2 large eggs
200 ml single cream
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Combine flour and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse 8-10 times, until mixture is crumbly. Add the egg, pulse again until the mixture begins to come together. Press the mixture into a dough ball, flatten it into a disk. Using your fingers, press the dough to the bottom and sides of a 24 cm pie dish (alternatively, roll out on a lightly floured surface and line the pie form with the pastry.
Place to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Pierce the pastry base with fork, then blind bake in a pre-heated 200 C oven for 10-15 minutes, until the base looks dry.

To make the filling, grate the carrots coarsely. Rinse the mushrooms quickly, if necessary, and drain very thoroughly. If the mushrooms are large, then cut them into smaller pieces.
Heat butter on a saucepan, add mushrooms and carrots. Season with a bit of salt and then sauté on a low heat for 5-7 minutes, until the carrots begin to soften. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the parsley.
Whisk eggs with cream, season with a bit of salt and with some black pepper.

Scatter the mushroom and carrot mixture on the pre-baked pastry case, then pour over the egg and cream mixture.
Cook for another 25-30 minutes, until the filling is set and the pie is light golden brown on top.

Carrot and chantarelle quiche / Porgandi-kukeseenepirukas

9 comments:

Pity said...

Hi there! I just found your blog, and I really like it, I will be coming back for more recipes, your photos are very good as well, please visit mine if you have the time, i'm a spanish living in london...

cheers,

pity
www.pityinthekitchen.blogspot.com

Wendy said...

Oooh, stunning! It looks like my perfect quiche - not too eggy. And I have plenty of chanterelles at the moment. Shall be making this!

Anonymous said...

I like the sound of this combination. Delicious!

Paz

Kat said...

super idee! paistab väga maitsev.

ChichaJo said...

Chanterelles! Oh this sounds wonderful to me Pille! :)

Tony le frenchy said...

Hi there!
this quiche is a typical French dish!
I'm a French guy living in California and making those delicious dishes missed me a lot.
I've found a shop on-line for you guys (if you missed gourmet food or if you want to put a little French touch in your life), it's called straightfromfrance.com
It's cheap, a lot of choice, and deliver right to your door!
check it out!!

Hedgehog said...

Another great recipe - thanks! I tried it this weekend (even fed it to Estonian friends). :)

Kristopher said...

The mushroom and vegetable highest in vitamin A...nice.

Chanterelles are said to taste like apricots, I've never really understood that one, but I wonder if there are any successful pairings of mushrooms and fruit...

Pille said...

Pity - welcome :)

Wnedy - no, I don't like quiches that are too eggy either.

Paz - thank you!

Kat - pole paha, pole paha ;)

Joey - I knew it!

Kris - you've made me curious now. I'll get back to you if I come across a fruit-mushroom combination!