This quiche celebrates the flavors of New Mexico - its chile and pinon. A crunchy pinon crust yields great texture and flavor to a a cheesy, chile quiche.
"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
Chop fine. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
If you're adding bacon, heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until brown and crispy. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a papertowel to drain. Pour out all but 1 Tbsp. of the bacon drippings. Reduce heat to medium low. (Skip the next step)
Place dollops of ricotta across the bottom of the crust and spread it out a little.
Flours – If you don’t have spelt flour, just use all unbleached AP flour. If you are on a gluten-free diet, then use whatever GF flours you normally use for crusts.
Making the crust – Chop the pinon as fine as possible. After mixing the dry ingredients with the liquid, you might find the dough too dry or too wet. This is determined by the types of flours you use and environmental factors. If the dough is too dry, add water 1 Tbsp. at a time until it forms a texture that can be pressed into the pie pan. If too wet, add 1 Tbsp. of flour at a time for the right consistency. (NOTE: The pie crust shown in the instructions is from another quiche and does not have the pinon, but you can see how well it pressed into the pie pan.)
Bacon – Cubed slab bacon or crumbled thick cut bacon work best. Crumbled thin bacon gets too soggy during the cooking process. You can usually get slab bacon at a butcher shop.
Roasted chile – For this green chile quiche I used roasted medium hot chile and mild fresh red chile. This combination yielded a spicy, but not “hot” quiche. You can use any type of roasted chile or even roasted sweet bell peppers for a very mild, sweet quiche. If your chiles are mild, feel free to add as much as one cup chile. Just be sure that you drain your roasted chile or peppers. Too much moisture leads to a watery quiche.
Cilantro – If you have the soap gene, then fresh parsley is a good substitute. You could also use dried Mexican oregano, just reduce the amount to 1 tsp.
Ricotta - If you don't have ricotta, increase the cheese to 1 cup.
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen