mini series: homemade kitchen

Well, we have come to the end of this little mini series.  It has been fun making things from scratch and sharing them with you!  
Last week I decided to make a quiche in honor of Pi Day and so I made a pie crust from scratch.  The crust didn't come together quite as easily as I thought it would but with a little tweaking I was able to get it all together.  I think pie crust is one of those things that you get better at making over time. I'm planning to make another quiche this week so I'm hoping the crust will work out a little better this time around.  I also made up my very own quiche recipe.  I know this isn't super impressive but it turned out tasting so great that I thought I'd share both the crust recipe and the quiche recipe with you here.

For the crust:
I used this recipe but adapted it a little bit to make it work for me.
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 TBSP cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
5 TBSP cold water

To begin, cut the butter into small cubes and return it to the fridge until you are ready for it - it needs to be really cold when you add it.  
Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.  Add in the butter and use either a pastry cutter or two forks to cut the butter into the flour mixture.  The butter pieces should be no larger than small peas and the mixture should look like cornmeal when it is ready.  Next, add in the water and stir the mixture until the dough comes together. 

Once the dough comes together, transfer to your floured work surface and pat the dough down into a small circle.  Flour your rolling pin and roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch in thickness and about 12 inches in diameter.
Now find your prettiest pie plate  . . .

and add your pie crust.

Next, follow the instructions below to make your quiche!

Sausage, Spinach and Cheese Quiche:
6 large eggs
1/4 - 1/2lb. loose sausage
1 small onion diced small
handful of spinach chopped
1 TBSP flour
about 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Start by sauteing the onion with some olive oil until translucent, add in the sausage and cook until nice and brown.  I like to let the sausage go for quite a while so it gets a little crusty on the pan. When you scrape the crust off the bottom of the pan it adds extra flavor.
While the sausage is cooking, crack your eggs  in a medium sized mixing bowl and whisk them up; add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix the flour and shredded cheese in a separate bowl and then add the cheese and the chopped spinach to the eggs.  

Once the sausage is cooked, let cool briefly and then add that to the egg mixture.
Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Dig in!!

I served this with sweet potato fries and salad with a light dressing (this homemade honey dijon vinaigrette would be great!).

Enjoy!