Gonna be very honest right now, I generally don’t like quiche. But my mind was totally changed when I was in Chicago this past spring and had a slice at Cellar Door Provisions.
It wasn’t sponge-y and gross; it was silky smooth, like a custard, with a crispy crust—so good!
I googled near and far for their recipe and never found one but I did find that Thomas Keller pretty much mastered the silky smooth quiche a long time ago and I’m pretty sure people just use his base recipe. The ratio that I found most frequently was 1:1 cream to milk with about 4 times as many eggs.
I wanted to make something that could be served on Christmas morning but that required no work. This is something you can make entirely the day before and then slice up. I think it’s a-ok to keep at room temperature overnight but if that freaks you out then feel free to put it in the fridge.
I chose to go the vegetarian route with just herbs (Italian parsley and dill), Gruyere cheese and a bit of bite from a shallot that’s blended with the milk in a blender.
The crust I made the night before I rolled it out but it isn’t necessarily and dare I say, I think it’s totally ok to use a store-bought crust.
It’s the holiday season. I feel like we all deserve a bit of a break, don’t you think.
Oh! I almost forgot to talk about the Pie Box. I’ve been wanting one for so long and the people at Pie Box were nice enough to send me one. I’ve been using it the past couple days to transport all sorts of edible foods like cookies and a cake (that’s short) and of course this quiche AND pie.
Check out the hashtag #pieitforward on Insta 'cuz a ton of my favorite bloggers are baking up my favorite food: pie.
Ingredients
- 1 double pie crust (rolled out into one very large pie crust)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups whole milk (2% would work too)
- 6 large eggs
- 1 shallot peeled and roughly chopped
- ⅓ cup minced fresh Italian parsley
- ¼ cup minced fresh dill
- 4 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ cup micro greens, optional
Instructions
- Remove the pie crust from the fridge. Heavily flour your rolling pin and work surface and roll the double pie crust out into a 17-inch circle. Roll the pie crust around your rolling pin and lay it over a 10-cup/9-inch spring form pan. Make sure it's flat on the bottom and flush to the sides of the spring form pan. You may need to overlap some of the parts of the pie crust since it the sides go straight up rather than fan out (like a traditional pie tin). One thing you need to be sure of is that the pie crust goes over the edge of the spring form pan by at least 2 inches. Don't bother trimming the edges (see photo), we'll do that later!)
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a sheet of foil or parchment with cooking spray and place it inside the pie crust and fill it with pie weights (or dried beans or dried rice). Transfer the pan to a baking sheet and transfer the entire thing to the oven to bake for about 12 minutes. At the 12-minute mark, gently remove the sheet of foil with the pie weights and place it back in the oven to bake for an additional 12 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a blender, add about half (you can eyeball this) of the heavy cream, whole milk, eggs and shallot. Blend until the shallot is completely broken up and combined. Add the mixture to a very large bowl (ideally with a spout for easy pouring) and add the remaining heavy cream, milk, Italian parsley, dill, cheese, salt, crushed red pepper and black pepper. Mix until totally combined.
- When the pie crust is done par-baking, remove it from the oven and decrease the heat to 325 degrees F. Pour the filling into the pie crust and return it to the oven when the temperature has decreased. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the center has puffed slightly and is still wiggly. Allow to cool completely about 4 to 6 hours, ideally overnight, before slicing. Using a serrated knife, slice the pie crust edges off, making it nice and even. Remove it from the spring form pan carefully and slice it up and enjoy. Top each slice for microgreens, if you like.
Tammy says
I can't wait to try this! There is a French bakery that comes to our farmer's market that sells quiche that is silky smooth and I've been dying to make mine that way but wasn't sure how. Would adding some roasted veggies and or mushrooms make the custard too loose?
Paddy says
Cellar door recipe for comparison
https://www.instagram.com/p/ChSweRuPPKa/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Gabi says
I tried making this... but, I didn’t listen very well. I don’t have a springform pan and decided I would use a pie pan, which doesn’t fit the whole recipe. I’m going to buy a proper pan to make this.
I too am not a huge fan of quiche, but when I tried a custardy, silky quiche like this one at a cute bakery in Boulder, CO called Shamane’s, I was immediately obsessed.
So anyway. Basically... I ended up with a wet quiche, I probably overcooked it because I was cooking a lot less mass. Maybe you could suggest some other ways to tell if it’s done? Temp when inserted with cooking thermometer? Is it ok to use half and half for the whole recipe instead of combining the two types of milk? Are you supposed to cool the crust after blind baking? So many questions. Do you suggest keeping the fillings minimal? Or should it be fine when baked correctly if there’s substantial filling in there?
Thanks for the great recipe! I can’t wait to do it properly when I get a pan!
Randi l coffman says
This yields two very full premade crust so keep that in mind or half it for 1 pie crust.
I also would cut the milk down by a cup because I had too much for a premade pie crust. Had to go buy another one so I didn't waste the left over filling.
it is silky, I will tweek it a bit as I go,
the flavor is amazing. It is a lot of heavy whipping cream, that is for sure!
Tom M. says
Wow!! I thought it was my lack of chef’’s skills that has yielded me spongy, watery, unremarkable results with every quiche recipe I have tried in over 40 years of cooking. They always turned out to be more of a breakfast casserole than what I had hoped for, and not very good ones at that. Today, your recipe changed my experience completely! Thank you for giving me, and others, the opportunity to bake and serve high-end, restaurant-quality quiche during a time when we are staying home, instead of dining out. For me, having celiac disease actually means I never get to eat quiche unless I bake it myself, either crustless, which is sad, or in a gluten-free crust, which sometimes is sadder yet. But, I have good memories of what quiche was like before my diagnosis, I found your recipe, I’ve recently found decent gluten-free pie crusts to buy and I am close to being able to make a good gluten-free crust myself. I look forward to perfecting that skill in the near future so I can bake this fantastic quiche in a springform pan and enjoy it as pictured. 5+ stars from someone who is seldom inspired to write a review!
Adrianna Adarme says
wow love hearing this! thanks so much!
Sandra Kofler says
I can't tell you how long I've been looking for a Cellar Door Provisions-style recipe and BOOM, here you are. Gonna get some cream and try this. Your pictures make me SO excited. Thanks for making the exact recipe I was looking for.
Adrianna Adarme says
Ahh amazing. I love Cellar Door 🙂