Updated 6/29/2025
Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s all get started on a more hopeful, peaceful, and substantially less moronic 2017. (Why is that last one always the most difficult for some people?!)
So… how’s your post-holiday bank account doing? Credit card statements looking a little bloated? You could probably benefit from a pretty inexpensive meal that will last awhile, huh?
I bring you… quiche!
Quiches are definitely big players in the “take whatever’s in your fridge and throw it all in here” game. With an egg base, it basically becomes a giant baked omelette in a pie crust, and there is nothing about that that’s undesirable unless you don’t like eggs. In which case, get out of my house. I decided one night to set out on a journey to make a pie/omelette hybrid of my very own. And what a journey it was!
Substitutions in Mushroom, Bacon, and Gruyere Quiche
The original recipe from Renee’s Kitchen Adventures calls for shredded Swiss cheese. I didn’t know that was a thing, but my local store didn’t have it. While standing in the store frantically Googling decent substitutes, I learned that “Swiss cheese” is actually an umbrella term for several varieties of cheeses, like Emmental, or one of my favorites… Gruyere! I picked up a box of that and never looked back. Gruyere goes well with almost everything, but especially mushrooms.
My signature “oh shit!” moment came when I realized we didn’t have sherry in our house. I used some sauvignon blanc we had in our fridge because I’m alcohol-illiterate and had no idea if it’d make a huge impact. Truthfully, with only a tablespoon and a half of it in there, I didn’t taste it at all.
The original recipe makes enough to fill two pre-made pie shells. I halved it because we had no room in our freezer for an extra quiche, and we still had plenty for all three of us. It’s hearty, cheesy, and delicious… just make sure you layer it carefully so no one ingredient winds up clumped together. Like this:
Enjoy this for breakfast, lunch, OR dinner (or all three). There’s plenty and a small slice goes a long way. Serve it with a side salad or just eat it on its own…guess which one I did?
Mushroom, Bacon, and Gruyere Quiche
This recipe fills one pie shell, leaning towards the deep dish end of things!
Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon
- 1 pie shell, baked according to package directions
- 1 TBSP unsalted butter
- 8 oz. white mushrooms, sliced
- 1/4 TSP dried thyme
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1 1/2 TBSP wine or sherry
- 4 large eggs
- 1 C milk
- 1/2 TBSP flour
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 C shredded Gruyere cheese
- 1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Turn oven to 350 degrees F (be especially conscious of this if you par-baked the pie shells and the oven is still warm!)
- Once the oven is up to temperature, put the bacon on a baking sheet and toss it in there to cook through, but not to the point where it’s crispy/crunchy.
- When the bacon is properly cooked, set it aside and chop it into pieces once it’s cool.
- While the bacon is in the oven, do the following:
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and thyme. Stir and cook until mushrooms are no longer raw and most of the moisture is absorbed, 5 minutes or so.
- Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt.
- Add in the wine and stir to combine.
- When the wine is absorbed a little, add in the bacon.
- Once the bacon has crisped more and the wine is fully absorbed, take the skillet off the heat.
- Whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, another pinch of salt, ground pepper, and Dijon mustard in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, combine the cheeses.
- Assemble the quiche: spread a layer of the mushroom mixture onto the bottom of the pie shell (do not use all of it). Follow with a layer of the cheese, then some egg mixture. Repeat the layers until everything is used up.
- Place the filled pie shell in its foil lining on a baking pan.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until set.
- Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
I used sauvignon blanc in this because I'm alcohol illiterate, but the original recipe called for sherry. Nothing about it was offensive which leads me to believe it doesn't REALLY matter.
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