Torta Salata (Italian Quiche)

Crust:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water

Filling:

3 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 yellow onions, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried thyme

Custard:

3 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
6 oz low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
Dried thyme (for top)

Hey guys, I got a good one for you. This is a tortois salada. Let’s get started. So, the first thing we’re going to do is make our dough. And I’m going to do a olive oil dough here. Now, if you remember a couple years ago, I did actually make something called an Italian kiche. And I wasn’t aware that a tortois halada is well kind of an Italian kiche. It’s basically Italian for a savory pie or a salty pie. So, that’s what we’re making here. But, this one’s slightly different from the one that I made a couple years ago. I am still making a olive oil dough. I think with that one I used a little too much olive oil. This one holds back a bit, which means a less greasy dough, but I literally just added flour, salt, olive oil, and some water. I threw all of my ingredients into a bowl, mixed it up with a wooden spoon, and I just kept mixing until a dough formed basically, and I just kneaded it a little bit. You don’t need to really work on this thing as much as a butterbased dough. This is actually a lot easier and more forgiving. I wrapped my dough in some plastic wrap and I’m just going to stick that in the fridge for half an hour while I prep my other ingredients. I’m going to chop up a onion, actually two onions. Going to put that in a bowl and then in a saucepan I’m going to melt some butter, unsalted butter to be exact. I like to be in control of the salt. And when that’s completely melted, I’m going to put all my onions in there. And I’m going to cook them for about 10 minutes. You can go a little further if you’d like, but I’m not going to caramelize these. I’m just going to sauté them. That’s really all I want. And then after they’re done cooking and it looks like they’re tender, I’m going to add all of my herbs and spices, which I pre-measured. This is a mix of salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and dried thyme. I lowered the heat a bit because I don’t want this to burn, but I do want to cook my spices a little bit just to really bring out the flavor. And this is looking really good. I let this cook for about 3 or 4 minutes. And then we’re going to take this off the heat. Next, I’m going to preheat my oven to 350° F. I’m flouring my work surface with some allpurpose flour. And I’m going to take my dough out. And what I like about the olive oil dough is that it’s very easy to work with. You’re going to be able to press it down and roll it very easily. A lot easier than a butter-based dough. And not to knock butter-based dough at all. I actually love the taste of a butterbased pie dough, but the olive oil one is something that you definitely have to try. Sometimes you just got to be adventurous. I’m flowerouring this very generously because you do not want it to stick to your rolling pin or the countertop. And then once this is rolled out to the length that you would like, you want it to be slightly bigger than your pie dish. Mine is 9 in, so I’m just measuring it well by eyeballing it. I’m not getting a ruler out for this. And then I’m just going to fold this up because it’s a lot easier to get it into the pie dish this way. And then I’m just going to unfold it. And then I’m going to shape it into my pie dish. And you just want to make sure that there’s nothing sticking out and that there’s no bubbles. And you just want the top of the dough to reach a little bit because this is going to shrink in the oven. And then I’m just going to crimp the edges like a regular pie. And you’ve seen me do this before. This isn’t anything new. And you’re going to treat this like any other pie dough. And this is looking pretty good to me. So now we’re going to poke the bottom of our pie dough with a fork because you do not want this to bubble up in the oven. And even though I’m blind baking this, which means I’m not putting anything in there, but I’m also not going to put in any parchment or any pie weights. And this is going to go into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 15 to 20 minutes. While that’s in the oven, I’m going to make my custard. I got some eggs and some heavy cream. And I’m just going to mix that up. And for some reason, I didn’t film myself adding salt to this, but please do add salt. You want this to be seasoned very well. And I will put the measurements in the description box down below, so you do not have to worry about that. All right, so now this is done, and I’m going to lower my temperature to 325° F. And then I’m going to add some mozzarella cheese. I’m just going to put this on the bottom here. And then I’m going to add my onions. And I know they look caramelized, right? But because of our herbs and spices, they give off that appearance. But I swear to you, these are sauteed, not caramelized. And once all of your onions are in there, and as you can see, they shrunk very, very much. I’m going to add the rest of my cheese. This is 6 oz of parts low moisture mozzarella cheese. And then I’m going to pour in all of my custard. As you can see, it didn’t take very many ingredients to make this. It’s a pretty simple dish to make and you are going to have to be patient though because this is going to go into a 325° Fahrenheit oven for 50 to 55 minutes. I suggest starting early if you want to have this for dinner today. But time t is what makes this dish great because after you let it come out of the oven, you’re going to have to let this sit for about an hour. Like I said, patience. But this would be the time to add any dried herbs that you’d like. If you want to add fresh herbs, you were going to have to wait until this is completely cooled off. I’m now adding dried thyme to the top of this. That’s t h y m e. Not only does it look nice, but it’s going to taste terrific, too. And it gives off a great aroma. This is completely cooled off now, so that means it’s time to actually dig in. All right, it smells terrific in here. Let’s try this thing out, shall we? And the result is terrific. I absolutely love this. It’s I just love kiche in general, so another version of it is just exciting for me. I know that sounds weird, but I feel that a tort salata or just kiche is a very underrated dish and you should try it out because some people think it’s a very complicated thing to achieve, but it’s not. It’s very easy and like I said, doesn’t take very many ingredients. And I feel like if you’ve never made a pie crust before, the olive oil dough is a great one to start with because of how much easier it is. So guys, make a tortois salada today. You will not be disappointed and your family is going to be very impressed. All right, guys. I hope you all enjoyed this one. Please remember to like and subscribe and I will see you all next time.