Recipe: how to make Ici Bistro chef J.P. Challet’s blissfully buttery mushroom quiche

PREP TIME: 40 minutes
REFRIGERATION TIME: 30 minutes
BAKE TIME: 42 minutes
Serves 6 to 8

PASTRY

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks custard filling

CUSTARD FILLING

2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
¼ tsp salt
⅛ tsp pepper

MUSHROOMS

6 chanterelles
12 shiitakes, stemmed
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 sprig fresh thyme
2-3 generous pinches salt and pepper
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 oz chèvre, crumbled
1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1. To prepare pastry, whirl flour and salt in a food processor. When mixed, add butter. Process for 30 seconds until coarse crumbs form. Add egg and yolks. Pulse until dough begins to come together. Remove dough and press it into the base and sides of a greased 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate for 30 minutes until chilled.

2. Whisk custard ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate.

3. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add chanterelles. Blanch for 30 seconds. Heat a little vegetable oil in a frying pan set on medium. Add shiitakes. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until soft. Place shiitakes on a plate. Drizzle with ½ tsp lemon juice. Let cool. Melt a little butter in the frying pan. Add chanterelles. Sprinkle with thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until soft. Place chanterelles on the plate with shiitakes. Drizzle with ½ tsp lemon juice. Add a little oil to the pan. Cook shallot for 2 to 3 minutes until soft.

4. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place a layer of parchment paper on top of the pastry in the tart pan and fill the pan partway with pie weights or dried beans. Set tart pan on a baking sheet. Bake in centre of oven for 12 to 15 minutes until crust begins to dry. Remove weights.

5. Stir together ½ of the shallots with ½ of the chèvre and ½ of the parsley. Divide mixture into 3 portions. Sandwich 2 shiitake mushrooms around each portion. Thinly slice remaining mushrooms and set aside for garnish. Sprinkle remaining shallots, mushrooms and goat cheese in tart shell. Arrange shiitake sandwiches on top. Place tart pan on a baking sheet; place on the centre oven rack. Carefully pour in custard mixture and slide rack back into oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the mixture sets. Let cool slightly. Garnish with remaining ingredients.

TIP
You can use bacon or sliced beets (cooked first) instead of mushrooms, and brie or Swiss instead of chèvre. Layer onions at the bottom, then cheese, then meat or vegetables on top.

J.P. CHALLET
ICI BISTRO
J. P. Challet says quiche should taste nothing like “an omelette in a pie crust.” It needs a certain egginess, yes, but it should also have a voluptuous custardy texture that lets the featured ingredients shine. Challet would know. He was raised in Lyons, the birthplace of French cuisine, and he’s made hundreds of buttery quiches since graduating from culinary school in Nice 31 years ago. This recipe is for the finest chèvre and mushroom combination this city has ever tasted.

Recipes developed by Victoria Walsh. Recipe photography by Raina and Wilson. Illustrations by Aleksandar Janicijevic. Interviews by Meaghan Binstock, Chantal Braganza, Matthew Hague, Peter Saltsman, Courtney Shea and Caroline Youdan.