Mile-High Alpine Quiche

Directions

1. Quiche Filling
2. Preheat the oven to 325. Cook bacon in a large skillet over moderately high heat until crisp; remove bacon to paper towel. Keep heat at moderately high and cook mushrooms in bacon fat about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium; add onions and thyme and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms are tender, about 10 minutes. Season vegetables with salt and pepper; cool.
3. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the cheese over bottom of the Pastry Shell. Combine half and half and eggs; season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in bacon, remaining cheese and vegetable mixture into eggs. Pour egg mixture into pastry shell.
4. Bake the quiche for about 1 1/2 hours, or until brown on top and the custard is just barely set in the center. I wiggle it in oven and there is a slight jiggle to the middle section; this will finish cooking upon cooling. Let cool slightly in the pan to be able to carve nicely. Run a small spatula between the pan and the baked crust to make sure it releases from pan before removing springform pan latch. Cut quiche into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.
5. Make Ahead The quiche can be cooled and refrigerated overnight. To serve, first cut quiche into serving size wedges, place pieces on a baking sheet and bake 350 oven about 12-15 minutes until warm.

1. *Pastry Shell
2. 1. In bowl of Standing Mixer or a Food Processor mix flour and salt. While machine running, add butter til mixed in. Add water, half at a time just until thoroughly incorporated. Flatten the pastry into an 8-inch disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour or overnight.
3. 2. Set a 9-inch springform pan on a baking pan with sides, lined with parchment paper or foil. Spray the inside of the pan with cooking spray.
4. 3. On floured board, roll out pastry into a 16-inch round; transfer to the springform pan and press it firmly up to the top of pan, trimming as necessary. Refrigerate the pastry for 15 minutes to firm up.
5. 4. Preheat the oven to 375°. Line the pastry shell plastic wrap or parchment paper; fill the shell with dried beans or rice. (I save a whole bag of this stuff and reuse it all the time) Bake the crust for about 40 minutes, or until lightly browned. Grab the plastic wrap or parchment paper and remove the beans. Bake crust for another 15 minutes until nicely browned. Cool Pastry shell. The pastry shell can be covered and held at room temperature overnight.