STARTERS: This version of the famous quiche is a nice first course to serve. It can be made in advance, refrigerated then warmed up again at serving time.

ITALIAN-STYLE QUICHE:

1 quantity of short-crust pastry                       

½ lb. sweet Italian sausage                                          

2 tbsp. olive oil                                                           

½ cup each grated mozzarella & Fontana cheese

½ lb. Prosciutto ham, thinly sliced & julienne 

4 eggs, lightly beaten

3 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese                       

1 tbsp. flour

1 ½ tbsp. butter, melted                                              

½ tsp. salt + pepper and freshly grated nutmeg & ¼ tsp. oregano                               

2 cups 18% cream

1 small onion, thinly sliced                                         

Roll out pastry to 1/8-inch thickness and fit it into a 9-inch pie plate. Crimp the edge decoratively.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove casing from sausages and crumble the meat. In a heavy skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and cook sausage meat until no longer pink. Add onion and cook until softened. Transfer sausage and onion with a slotted spoon to the pastry shell. Sprinkle over with mozzarella and Fontana cheese, and top it with prosciutto strips.

In a bowl, combine eggs with Parmesan cheese, flour, salt, nutmeg and pepper to taste. Beat in cream and melted butter. Strain this mixture over the sausage mixture in the pastry shell. Bake the quiche for 40 minutes, or until set. Sprinkle with oregano and serve at once.

BASIC SHORT CRUST PASTRY:

1 lb cold lard cut into cubes                                        

5-5 ½ cups all purpose flour

3 tsp. salt                                                                    

1 egg

1 tbsp. vinegar                                                            

¾+ cup ice water

Beat egg and vinegar into ice water to make up 1 cup liquid. Refrigerate until use.

Place flour and salt in work-bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Process on/off to mix.  Add lard into work bowl and process a few seconds until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.  With machine running, add ice water mixture in a steady stream through the feed-tube. Process with on/off pulses a few times, until mixture is just coming together into a ball. Do not over process.

Turn dough out onto a large piece of waxed paper. Bring the edges of paper together and pressing through the paper to make dough into a ball.  Knead gently once or twice to distribute the fat evenly. Flatten the ball out to a large flat round. Wrap well and refrigerate 10 minutes before using.

Dough may be frozen for up to 1 month. Defrost in fridge before using.

This recipe is sufficient for a double-crusted pie. If only a top or bottom pie crust is needed, make dough with half the amount of ingredients.