Sweet onion, marinated artichoke hearts and Gruyère – what’s not to love?
This recipe comes to us courtesy of Mary Louise Lever and the good folks at the Pillsbury Bake-Off; and I have to say it made for a lovely dinner with the apple galette I tossed together with the leftover dough.
I have to say that I’m a little torn – I love my classic quiche, filled with cream and ham and cheese, poured into butter-laden pastry, and baked to a golden perfection – but this little beauty was a snap to throw together, and much better for our collective arteries.
Coming from the Bake-Off as it does, this recipe calls for using a refrigerated pie crust. Feel free to do that; but I’m including my take on the classic Crisco pie crust recipe at the end of this post.
INGREDIENTS
•1 tbsp oil
•2 cups thinly sliced sweet onion; about 1 large
•2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
•1/2 tsp garlic powder
•1 single pie crust*
•1-1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
•4 oz Gruyère cheese, shredded (1 cup)
•1 jar (6 oz) marinated artichoke hearts, drained & chopped
•1/4 cup chopped well-drained fire-roasted red bell peppers OR you could use some of your left over balsamic roasted peppers, as I did
•1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
•1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves – my thyme never did take this year, and I didn’t have any from the market, so used Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute – worked a treat
•1 egg white, beaten
•Fresh thyme sprigs (or not)
Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft and golden brown. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in vinegar and seasoning blend; cook 3 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently, until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat.
Heat oven to 375°F.
Place pie crust on ungreased nonstick cookie sheet (I did use parchment paper). Lightly 
brush mustard over crust.
Sprinkle 2/3 cup of the cheese over center of crust to within 1 1/4 inches of edge of crust. Spread onion evenly over cheese; top with artichokes and red peppers. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon chopped thyme and remaining 1/3 cup cheese. Fold 1 1/4-inch edge of crust over filling, pleating crust as necessary.
Bake 10 to 15 minutes, brush the crust with the egg white and return to the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Cool 15 minutes.
Garnish with thyme sprigs. Serve warm.
*Crisco Pie Crust
This recipe has been around forever, and I’ve made it before with good result; but this time something wasn’t working – maybe because I cut the shortening into the flour in the mixer instead of my more usual food processor method – when I added the paste into the flour and shortening, it wasn’t coming together. Well, it was only JUST coming together, crumbling apart after I formed it into a ball. What to do? I went back to pastry 101 and gathered a bowl of ice cold water, which I added by the tablespoon to the mixer (on low) until the dough has gathered itself together in the bowl.
Single crust: Paste
1-1/2 cup flour 1/4 cup flour (from the 1-1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp salt 3 tbsp flour
1/2 cup Crisco
Double crust: Paste
2-1/2 cups flour 1/3 cup flour (from the 2-1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup water
3/4 cup Crisco
Ice Water (as needed)
Measure flour, and take out flour to make paste, set aside.
Add salt to the remaining flour, then cut Crisco in until crumbly. Add paste and mix until smooth ball forms. If this doesn’t happen, add ice water (it NEEDS to be icy-cold for best results) by the tablespoon until it does. I used 4 tbsp for a double crust recipe.
Roll out immediately. Can be frozen in pie shells. I made mine in the afternoon, rolled it out and stashed both discs on wax paper in the fridge until time to fill the galettes and pop ‘em in the oven for dinner.