green tomato, prosciutto & fresh cheese curd quiche

This may just be one of our favorite things we’ve made lately.

green tomato, prosciutto & fresh cheese curd quiche

With tomatoes ripening on the vines, we’ve had plenty of opportunities for green tomatoes in our CSA box, but beyond frying them (so good!) we tend to draw a blank. Then, I thought back to a quiche I had last year at Early Girl Eatery in Asheville, a quiche with diced green tomatoes & fresh, local cheese curds, both available through our CSA & decided we should try to give it a shot.

green tomato, prosciutto & fresh cheese curd quiche 1

For the crust, we looked to our trusty Food Bible, The Joy of Cooking, & chose the buttery, flaky Pat-in-the-Pan dough & a custard-like 1:3 cream to egg ratio as the base for this quiche. We added a little chopped prosciutto for a salty bite, but the real stars of the dish are the bright & tangy bites of green tomato & pockets of gooey, but still firm curds of cheddar cheese*.

GREEN TOMATO, PROSCIUTTO & FRESH CHEESE CURD QUICHE
serves 6

1 Pat-in-the-Pan Butter Crust (recipe below)
1/2 green tomato, diced
1 oz thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped
1 cup cheese curds
1 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Scatter the green tomato, prosciutto & cheese curds evenly in the bottom of the quiche crust. Whisk the heavy cream, eggs & salt & pepper together in a small bowl, then pour over the top of the tomato, prosciutto & cheese curds. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown & puffy & a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Resist temptation & let the quiche rest for 10 minutes before digging in.

 

PAT-IN-THE-PAN BUTTER CRUST
makes one 9 inch crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2-4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425°F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour & salt. Add the butter & using the back of a fork, or a pastry cutter, mash the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse, shaggy crumbs. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of the cream over the dough & continue to mix until the crumbs look damp & hold together when pinched, adding more cream if necessary.

Transfer the dough to a 9 inch pie or tart pan. Firmly & evenly press the dough in the bottom & sides of the pan. Prick the bottom & sides thoroughly with a fork, place in the preheated oven & bake for 18-22 minutes, until golden brown. Check a few times while baking for bubbles, & if they appear, simply prick them with a fork.

While the crust bakes, whisk together egg yolk & pinch of salt. When the crust is finished baking, let it cool a few minutes, then brush with the egg mixture. It’s now ready for filling!

adapted very slightly from The Joy of Cooking 

*At this time of year, green tomatoes are readily available at most Farmers’ Markets. If you’re having a hard time finding cheese curds (although, Farmers’ Markets are a good place to look, too), you could probably get by with substituting chunks of Mozzarella.

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3 Responses to green tomato, prosciutto & fresh cheese curd quiche

  1. Laura Case says:

    I had bookmarked this to make when I got back from SF and Jon ate all the cheese curds while I was gone! Hoping Papa Spud’s has them again today!

  2. Your food photography is getting great. This looks good.

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