The title of this post may be misleading. This is more of combination frittata/quiche thing. See, frittatas don’t have dairy and quiches do. Frittatas don’t have crust, and quiches do. So this is my take on a frittuiche/quichetata that you may or may not want to eat with a crust.
If you decide to bake a frittata/quichetata with crust it will take a little bit longer, as there are more steps involved. Throughout this past semester of grad school, I made crustless frittata/quichetatas every week in a 12″ cast iron skillet because it was quick and easy
Frittata/Quichetata with Crust
For a quiche with crust, you will be using a deep dish pie pan. The recipe for the pie crust is below. You will need to blind bake the crust before adding the egg filling. Blind baking bakes the crust first because once you add any type of custard filling, the crust won’t be able to bake further. For the crust recipe, you will be using 8 eggs.
Crustless Frittata/Quichetata
For the crustless quichetata, you will need a 12″ cast iron (or any oven safe) skillet. This recipe uses 12 eggs.
Mix Ins
There are endless combinations of mix ins you can use. You’re pretty much just limited by the size of your pan. For this quichetata I use spinach, bell peppers, and onions. I love keeping around frozen spinach to use for this. Some other mix ins:
Vegetables:
- spinach
- bell peppers
- onions
- mushrooms
Meats:
- bacon
- ham
- sausage
- pancetta
- steak
Frittata (Crustless and with Crust)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- kosher salt, to taste
- 1/2 lb spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 12 eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Heat the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a 12″ cast iron skillet on medium-high heat.
- Saute the spinach for about 3 minutes, sprinkling kosher salt about halfway through cooking. No need to stir that often, just stir occasionally.
- Remove the spinach from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the diced bell pepper. Cook for about 4 minutes, sprinkling about 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) kosher salt about halfway through cooking.
- While the bell pepper is cooking, beat the eggs in a medium bowl until the yolks and whites are homogenous. Add the milk and whisk until fully incorporated. Add the parsley and black pepper.
- Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion and saute for another 4 minutes, again sprinkling about 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) of kosher salt about halfway through cooking.
- Add the spinach back to the skillet. Mix briefly to incorporate with the peppers and onions.
- Add the egg mixture to the skillet and place skillet in oven. Cook for 25 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the egg comes out clean. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
If Baking with Crust
- Omit the spinach. Use 8 eggs with 1/2 cup of milk. Add the mixture to the pie crust after it has finished blind baking. Bake for 25 minutes, but it may need longer time. Just keep checking it with a toothpick after the top of the eggs appears set.
Notes
Single Deep Dish Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (325 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, cold and cut into tablespoon sized pieces
- 1/4 cup shortening, cold and cut into tablespoon sized pieces
- 1/2 cup ice cold water
Instructions
- Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a medium sized bowl.
- I like to stick this bowl, along with my pastry cutter in the freezer while I’m cutting up the butter and shortening.
- Using a pastry cutter* or fork, cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. The largest chunk of butter should be the size of a small pea.
- Drizzle ice water one tablespoon at a time in the the mixture, using a fork to gently moisten the flour until it starts to clump*.
- Gently form the dough into a disc about 1 1/2 inches tall. Double wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for two hours.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 15″ circle. You may lightly flour over and under the dough as you go.
- Fold the dough in half, the in half one more so the dough is now folded into quarters. Gently place in pie pan and unfold, easing the dough inwards as you press it against the insides of the pie pan. Trim any excess dough that’s beyond 1/2 an inch from the edge of the pie pan. Save it in case you need to patch up any thing spots.
- Fold the 1/2 of dough overhang under so it creates a thick edge. Using your thumb and index finger, make scalloped edges in the dough.
- If blind baking, preheat oven to 400°F. Place a sheet of parchment paper over the crust and fill with pie weights, rice, or beans. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and weights and bake for another 5 minutes.
