Shrimp quiche

No philosophy today. Just a recipe I made up and enjoyed. In part it was necessitated by the presence of an extra Pillsbury pie crust in the fridge. Waste not, want not.

Shrimp quiche
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of paprika
2 scallions, chopped
½ medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
10 oz. peeled, deveined shrimp
2 Hatch chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded
1 Pillsbury pie crust dough, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (375 for a non-glass pie plate).

Before starting, be sure to have all ingredients at room temperature.

Whisk one egg lightly with a tablespoon of water. Cut a circle of parchment paper to the size of the base of your pie plate.

Place the dough in the pie plate. Place the disk of parchment paper on the bottom and put in pie weights, either beans or regular marble-shaped pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the pie weights and the parchment paper. Apply an egg wash with the egg you whisked. Allow the crust to cool nearly to room temperature.

Place the shrimp in a food processor and pulse until fairly finely chopped.

While the crust is blind baking, sauté onion and bell pepper until softened but not colored. Lightly salt and pepper. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove to a bowl and allow to cool completely.

Meanwhile make your filling. Whisk together the eggs, parsley and cream, including the egg used for the wash. Season with salt and pepper and paprika.

Combine shrimp mixture with egg mixture. When the crust is cool pour the filling into it. Top with scallions.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, removing the quiche from the oven when the top is set and lightly browned. Allow to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature with addition parsley as a garnish if you wish.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.