I love quiche but not enough to jeopardize my diet. Cooking the third quiche recipe (after Spinach & Pancetta and Apple Leek Goat Cheese) from Around My French Table got me thinking. What makes a quiche fattening? The flakey pastry shell and the cream of course. Eggs, cheese, and savoury fillings are heartily endorsed by my health-conscious mind. I was inspired to create an egg dish based on Dorie Greenspan’s Mushroom Shallot Quiche.
The pastry shell provides structure and the cream thickens with rich velvety texture. Making a crustless quiche using milk would only result in all the filling sinking to the bottom. However, a custard made with milk and eggs immediately calls to mind bread pudding. Stale cubes of bread add bulk to the custard and prop up the sautéed mushrooms. That was how my version of Savoury Mushroom Shallot Bread Pudding came about.
I started with a buttered baking dish filled with scant layer of stale flaxseed bread. Sautéed crimini mushrooms, thyme, and shallots were piled on with additional thyme sprinkled throughout. I poured a custard of eggs and milk in the baking dish and let it soak for an hour in the fridge. When I was ready to bake, I topped the dish with chopped scallions and a small handful of shredded gruyere cheese. The bread pudding was baked at 350F for about an hour until the centre was set. It puffed up like a pillow fresh out of the oven!
I was tremendously pleased with my savoury bread pudding. It would be an obvious choice for brunch but I ate it for dinner just because. The umami from mushroom gave it such meaty taste and I did not miss the cream at all. I felt good knowing that it leveraged the delicious combination of mushroom, shallot, and egg without the guilt and decadence of quiche. And did I mention I did not have to make any pastry dough!
Read on to see how other French Fridays with Dorie bloggers like the quiche recipe this week. I have a feeling there’ll be plenty of praise!
