A Taste of Santa Fe

Alex and I just got back from a trip to Santa Fe.  Oh GOODNESS, do I LOVE that town!  I think it is most appropriate for cities to put in place ordinances requiring builders to stay with the same general design when constructing buildings.  It gives the location a unified feel.  I dig it! 

While we were in Santa Fe we hit several FABULOUS restaurants, museums, shops, cathedrals, art galleries, ancient indian dwellings and a SWEET outdoor concert featuring Cuban music.  I wanna move to Santa Fe!  Since I can't do that right now, I'll settle on a reminder of the yummy food we had.

On our first day cruising around Santa Fe we visited a restaurant called, Cafe Pasqual.  The main dining room was a decent size and they were able to fit an inordinate number of people for the lunch service.  They offer organic soda's, organic food AND a kick ass cookbook so you don't have to miss out on the experience. 

The first recipe that caught my eye in Cafe Pasqual's cook book was the Chorizo Quiche with Cornmeal Crust.  I LOVE chorizo.  And if this cook book isn't cool enough, they have a recipe to make your OWN chorizo!!!  SWEET!!!!!

Chorizo Quiche with Cornmeal Crust:
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
1 large organic egg - you can use the straight up hormoned eggs if you don't have organic. :)
1 teaspoon ice water, plus more if needed

Chorizo Filling:
3 large organic eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
8 oz chorizo sausage, crumbled and uncooked - I JUST BARELY noticed this says to use uncooked chorizo.  I cooked mine up because I didn't think it would cook fully in the quiche otherwise.
1/2 cup chopped green onions, green and white parts
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

To Make the Crust:
Lightly butter a glass baking dish 9 inches in diameter by 2 1/2 inches high.  Put the flour, cornmeal and butter into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.  Process in short bursts until it has the consistency of small peas.  Add in the egg and egg yolk and process again for a moment.  Turn this mixture out onto a work surface and add in just as much ice water as it takes to work the dough into a firm ball....I didn't need to add any additional water because it was pretty warm when I made the dough and the butter was all the moisture I needed. :)

Flour your work surface and a rolling pin.  Roll out the dough until it is 1/8 inch thick and fit it into the glass dish.  Crimp th edges of the dough and refrigerate the crust for at least 20 minutes before baking to allow the gluten in th edough to relax.  Prepare the filling while the crust chills.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Filling:
Put the eggs and the heavy cream into a bowl and which together.  Add the chorizo and green onions and which again.  (I highly suggest cooking the chorizo before hand - I think it is weird it doesn't require it.)

Preheat the crust for 5 minutes (it is funny to have to re-type a recipe after I have made it, because I TOTALLY missed this step when I was making it), then sprinkle the bottom of the shell with half of the cheese.  Pour the filling mixture over it and top with the rest of the cheese.  Sprinkler the top with the cayenne pepper.  Bake for about 40 minutes, until the custard is set, the top is a light golden color, and a knife inserted into the center comes out cleen.  Allow for about 30 minutes of cooling time.  Serve while warm.  DON'T SKIMP ON THE COOLING TIME.  When mine came out of the oven it was all puffed up.  It needed the full 30 minutes to sink and set completely.

I was kind of surprised this recipe didn't have any salt and pepper in it.  I added a tiny bit while I was cooking it.  I LOVED the cornmeal crust on this quiche.  What an ingenious idea!  The ingredients for this dish are so simple, I was a little surprised at the burst of flavor when I tasted it.  This is DEFINITELY going into my repetoire of recipes for future use!