Wild Spring Quiche with Morels and Ramps

This quiche has been on my mind for a while and the stars finally aligned - morels (sautéed in duck fat), ramps, fontina, and some sweet/mild Chimayo chili flakes that I just brought back from New Mexico, all cradled in a flaky pie crust. It was better than I even expected and works as breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Video of the whole process below.

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Ingredients

6 eggs

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup finely diced fontina cheese

1/2 cup fresh ramp leaves (sliced into strips)

1 cup fresh morels (or other mushroom of choice) thinly sliced

1 tbsp dry chili flakes (I’m using a mild Chimayo chili for this but modify according to how spicy you like)

Duck fat (or butter)

Directions

Set the oven to 375F.
Chop/dice your fresh mushrooms and ramp leaves.
Bring a medium sized pan to medium heat.
Drop in about two tablespoons of duck fat or butter.
Saute the morels for about 5 minutes.
Add the dried chili flakes and continue to simmer on medium/low for a few more minutes.
Add the ramp slivers and turn the heat off. It will smell fragrant and amazing. Allow to come to room temperature.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and heavy cream.
Add the finely diced fontina (grated works here too) into the egg mixture.
Add the mushroom & ramps mixture and mix well. The oil from the chili flakes will mix with the eggs and make a wonderful orange color.
Season with salt and pepper.
Pour the egg mixture into your prepared/parbaked pie crust. (see below for more details about how I made it, but feel free to use whatever pie dough recipe you prefer. The recipe I am using requires you to pre-bake the crust for 20 minutes before you add the filling.)
Bake at 375F for about 40 minutes until the eggs are set and the crust is a golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about ten minutes before eating.
Enjoy.

The Pie Crust

I’m using a Smitten Kitchen recipe for my pie dough which uses the following ingredients.

Ingredients

8 tbsp butter

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/3 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup cold water

1/2 tbsp granulated sugar

I followed her recipe and was very satisfied with the results - a recipe with very similar proportions as many other pie dough recipes you’ll find online.