I am obsessed with Throwdown with Bobby Flay as I have said before in the chicken tikka masala post. Over time my attitude has definitely changed regarding this show. Originally, I never ever wanted Flay to win. I have always thought Flay a bit cocky and actually a bit condescending. But, you know, whenever he does win, he is super gracious to the loser and it appears genuine. So now, when I watch the program and I can tell that his recipe does look better, I am not too disappointed anymore.

And often he does present a superior recipe. I took particular notice to the quiche throwdown. Both recipes looked spectacular. And guess what? If you can believe it, both recipes were on the entirely awful Food Network website.

As an aside, do you know what one of my pet peeves is? When a person rates a recipe that one, they haven’t even tried yet, but, what really bugs me, is when a person rates a recipe and they have substituted half the ingredients, so the recipe is so far from the original that it isn’t even the same thing anymore.

So without further ado, I made Bobby Flay’s recipe to a tee, except I changed the crust recipe to my own, the one with vodka that you can find here. Then I did not have chorizo, so I used bacon, I did not have fontina cheese, so I substituted gruyere. I did not have cotija cheese, I thought parmesan would work well. No green onions in the house, so a nice fresh onion from the garden was used. Oops, I only had nine eggs instead of ten, so I had to make due.

A roasted jalapeno pesto was to accompany the quiche, but, I didn’t have jalapenos in the pantry nor was I going to use cilantro which the recipe called for, so I made a basic basil pesto, except, pine nuts are a no no at the moment and I used pistachio nuts as a replacement. But, otherwise than that I followed the recipe EXACTLY.  I rate the recipe in “final thoughts.”

The Recipe:

Chorizo and Goat Cheese Quiche adapted from Bobby Flay at Food Network, but, seriously, folks this is my own recipe

Tart Shell:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 sticks cold butter, cut into cubes

5 tablespoons cold lard, cut into cubes

2/3 cup ice water

I used my own crust recipe which you can find here. It is a superior recipe that has never failed me.

Roasted Jalapeno Pesto:

6 jalapenos, roasted and seeded (do not remove blistered skin)

1 1/2 cups tightly packed cilantro leaves

1 clove garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons pine nuts

Extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

I made basil pesto and since pine nuts are no where to be found I substituted pistachio nuts and it was great. In fact, you don’t even have to use any sort of pesto, but, it does add a nice dimension. I have a feeling this jalapeno pesto is dynamite sans the cilantro.

Tart Filling:

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 pound Mexican chorizo, casings removed

1 1/2 cups grated fontina cheese

1/4 cup finely grated Cotija cheese

2 to 3 green onions, (dark and pale green part) thinly sliced

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

10 large eggs

1 3/4 cups milk

1 3/4 cups heavy cream

4 ounces soft goat cheese, frozen for 10 minutes and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

I used bacon instead of choizo, I used gruyere instead of fontina and parmesan for the cotija. I used a white onion from the garden for the green onion and I only had nine eggs.

Directions

Combine the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times. Scatter the butter and lard over the top of the flour and pulse until the mixture forms large crumbs. Add the water, a few tablespoons at a time, and pulse until the dough just comes together. Divide into 2 equal pieces, flatten each half into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until chilled through, at least 1 hour.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll 1 of the disks into a 16-inch round. Fit the dough into a 2-inch deep-dish tart pan with a removable bottom, gently pressing it into the sides. Okay, I just want to editorialize for a moment here. Who seriously has a tart pan with 2 inch sides? I have a regular tart pan and a spring form pan. But a 2 inch tart pan? No way, Jose. So I just used two regular old pie plates. Worked fine. Using a sharp knife, trim the dough evenly with the edge of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap; and chill until firm, about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the tart pan on a baking sheet, line the dough with parchment and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove the weights and paper and continue baking until golden brown, about 10 minutes longer. Let cool slightly (not all the way) on a baking rack.

Put the jalapenos, cilantro, garlic, pine nuts and oil in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until the mixture has a pesto-like consistency; you want a bit of texture. Add the cheese and salt and pepper, to taste, and pulse a few times to distribute the cheese.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the chorizo and cook until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Let cool slightly.

Scatter the fontina, Cotija, green onions, chorizo and thyme over the warm tart shell. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl.

Final Thoughts:

Since I feel I can comment with accuracy on this recipe, I shall!!!  LOLOL  Obviously, I can’t make any comment on Bobby Flay’s recipe because I didn’t follow it to a tee. I made too many substitutions. But, it is basically the same sort of recipe and my quiche was a 10 out of 10. It was brilliant. I think the thing that is so cool about quiche, is you can do what ever you want. You can leave meat out altogether, you can add more veggies if you want, you can substitute whatever cheese you have in the fridge and it will all taste great.

Having said that, there are some classic combos that you might want to stick with, and I wouldn’t overload with ingredients, either. I think that roasted peppers would be an excellent choice as would sun dried tomatoes. Putting in sauted mushrooms would definitely be a winner as would green pepper, leeks and even sweet corn, which as you know is my favorite food ever. Love sweet corn. Love it.

The cheeses I used worked superbly. Don’t skip the goat cheese, that was a special treat. Biting into the creamy smoothness of the goat cheese made this recipe. I would definitely not skip this part.

Would I recommend this recipe? Without question. Once the crust is done, the rest is really easy. If you don’t have confidence to make your own crust buy a premade one. But, seriously, folks, it is time for you to master a home made pie crust. If I can do it, anyone can. Enjoy!