Sour Cream Chicken Quiche

Continuing along on Clean Out the Coffers March, I had a bag of chicken breasts from the live chickens I had butchered two weeks ago. I don't care so much for chicken breasts. They are my least favorite part of a chicken. They dry out easily. They don't absorb flavors as nicely as dark meat. What to do with them?

Cook them to almost fully cooked and put them in a quiche you'll bake!

I have to admit that I didn't like the crust texture when I was making it. I let it get too soft when using the food processor and should have chilled it slightly before rolling. It didn't look like my usual pretty work... but with this much butter... it tasted GOOD! I'd have used a sour cream crust like this crust if I'd had some cream cheese in the fridge.

Printable version of Recipe

Serves 6-8 depending on how large you cut the slices.

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie crust (recipe below)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup yellow, red or green bell pepper, finely chopped

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup cooked chicken, stripped from bones, fat and skin removed and chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon iodized salt)

1/4-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup of shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend containing Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Asadero & Quesadilla cheeses.)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

3/4 cup milk (lowfat milk is fine)

3/4 cup sour cream (you can use low fat sour cream)

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in your favorite medium-sized frying pan. I love my 12" cast iron pan for this. Add onion and peppers and cook, stirring as needed, until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the flour and stir for 2 minutes. Add chicken, salt, pepper and nutmeg and heat through.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix the eggs, milk and sour cream until smooth.

Pour the chicken mixture into the pie crust and spread evenly across the bottom. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the chicken in an even layer. Pour the egg mixture over the shredded cheese layer carefully.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400°F.

Reduce heat to 350°F and continue baking for another 30 to 35 minutes. (Do not take the quiche out of the oven as the temperature reduces.) Quiche is finished when a knife inserted near the middle comes out clean.

Let cool for 10 minutes prior to cutting. Serve.

Basic Crust I Used:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon chilled butter, cut into cubes

1/2 tsp salt

1 to 2 tablespoons of ice water

Can be mixed by hand, but I mixed in my food processor. In the bowl of the food processor, pour the flour and salt. With the blade spinning, drop in cubes of butter one at a time until the flour resembles cornmeal.

Slowly add the ice water as needed until the dough is moistened. Turn out into a bowl and press together firmly into a ball with your hands. If the dough doesn't hold together, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of additional ice water.

Turn out the crust on a flour rubbed surface and flatten into a disc.

Using a flour rubbed rolling pin, roll from center outwards until the dough is about 1 1/2" larger than the inverted 9" pie plate.

Lift up the pie crust half way onto your rolling pin for assistance in transferring crust into the pie plate. Crimp your edges (better than I did. I was in a rush, boy did my crust edges look sad here!) Refrigerate until ready to use.

I served the Quiche along side the Quinoa Asparagus & Black Bean Salad. Delicious!

Printable version of Recipe