Shiifuudo no kisshu / seafood quiche

My favorite quiche for cold seasons. Great for parties and potlucks, too.

<Ingredients>

(11"/28 cm tart pan)

1 pâte brisée salée crust (not in photo)

For seafood
Handful (8-10) prawns
5-6 sea scallops
1 calamari steak
Potato starch (to clean prawns; not in photo)
1-2 tbsp white wine (not in photo)
2 tsp olive oil (for sauteing; not in photo)

For spinach saute layer
1/2-2/3 bunch spinach
1/4 medium onion
Tiny handful (6-7 g) dried porcini mushrooms
1 clove garlic
Salt & pepper, to taste (not in photo)
1-2 tsp olive oil (for sauteing; not in photo)

For custard
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
250 cc milk and heavy cream in combination (I prefer equal parts)
Salt & pepper, to taste (not in photo)

Approx 30 g Gruyère cheese


<Directions>
1.
Preheat oven to 180C/375F.

2.

Rehydrate dried porcini mushrooms by microwaving with a small amount of water for 1 minute.
Let cool.

3.

Clean prawns with potato starch, and rinse with cold water.

4.

Blanch spinach. Put spinach (always stem ends first) in boiling water with pinch of salt, and immediately transfer to ice water when color brightens.

When cool, squeeze out extra water.

5.

Squeeze out extra water from spinach once again, and chop. Thinly slice onion. Chop rehydrated porcini mushrooms (save rehydrating liquid). Finely chop garlic.

Sogigiri slice prawns on a slant into 2-3 pieces. Diagonally cut scallops into 4-5 pieces. Thickly slice calamari.

6.

Prepare spinach saute.
In a frying pan, heat olive oil, put garlic, and saute on low heat until fragrant.

When fragrant, add onion, raise heat to medium low, and saute until somewhat translucent.

Add spinach, stir, add porcini mushrooms, and  saute another minute or two.

Salt and pepper to taste, add porcini rehydration liquid, and saute until liquid in frying pan is almost gone.

Set aside.

7.

Prepare seafood.
In a frying pan, heat olive oil, put prawns, scallops and calamari, and saute on medium heat.

When seafood starts to turn opaque, pour white wine, and continue sauteing another few minutes until all seafood is more or less opaque.

Remove from heat to prevent seafood from continuing to cook.

8.

In the crust, evenly spread spinach saute.
If there is any liquid in the pan, try not to put it in the crust.

Evenly scatter seafood bits.
Try not to put any liquid from the frying pan.

9.

Beat two eggs and one egg yolk, pour milk and heavy cream, salt and pepper to taste, and mix well.

Pour custard mix.

Grate Gruyere cheese and sprinkle on top.

10.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the top is slightly golden.

<Notes>

• Adding porcini mushrooms to the spinach is optional. It adds depth to the overall creamy taste of this quiche.
• White wine is to eliminate the fishy smell. If all seafood is really fresh, the wine can be omitted. Do not overuse wine, as it could impart a fruity note to seafood.
• Make sure not to cook seafood too long after it turns opaque. Overcooked prawns, scallops and calamari have a rubbery, unpleasant texture. Because the seafood will be baked in custard later, it does not need to be completely opaque at the prep saute stage.
• There is no rule regarding the proportion of heavy cream and milk. Adjust it as you like.
• When I make the crust on the same day as the quiche, I have 1/2 egg left from the crust egg wash, and I use it in place of 1 egg yolk. For me, the flavor is rich enough.
• When warming up leftovers, heating in the oven is recommended. Microwaving makes the crust moist.