Smoked Salmon, Dill, and Goat Cheese Quiche

Quiche with all-butter pastry crust, filled with custard baked with smoked salmon, fresh dill, shallots, and goat cheese.

Smoked Salmon Quiche
Elise Bauer

One of my favorite recipes on this site is the smoked salmon and goat cheese toasts; I just love the blending of flavors of the herbed goat cheese, the salmon, and lemon zest on crunchy buttered toasts.

When trying to come up with a good quiche to serve for a Mother's Day brunch, I spied some smoked salmon in the fridge and here you have it - an appetizer morphed into a quiche!

I've added fresh dill because, well, dill just tastes good with salmon. But feel free to use another favorite herb if dill's not your thing.

For the filling, I followed Michael Ruhlman's basic ratio for quiche filling, which is essentially 1/2 cup of milk or cream for every large egg. This produces a delicate, creamy custard for your quiche.

If you want something sturdier, feel free to add another egg. We like it as is. In fact, when I asked if my mother or father thought it could use another egg, I got a clear "it's perfect as it is, don't mess with it." High praise from those two!

Do you have any particularly favorite quiche combinations? If so, please let us know about it in the comments.

Smoked Salmon, Dill, and Goat Cheese Quiche

Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 60 mins
Total Time 90 mins
Servings 6 servings

The filling recipe makes enough filling for a tall quiche in a 9-inch wide by 2-inch tall tart pan. If you are using a commercial frozen crust, you may find you have enough filling for 2 quiche pies.

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick, 5 ouncesbutter

  • 2 to 2 1/2 tablespoons water

Filling:

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

  •  4 medium shallots, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)

  • 6 ounces smoked salmon, chopped

  • 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

  • 6 large eggs

  • 2 cups milk

  • 1 cup cream

  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest

  • 2 1/2 teaspoons salt

  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Make the dough:

    Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the flour. Use your clean hands to work the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that a coarse meal with pieces of butter no bigger than the size of a pea.

    Add the water a tablespoon at a time, working it into the dough with your hands until the dough can be formed into a ball.

    Flatten the ball into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 1 to 2 hours.

    smoked-salmon-quiche-method-600-1
    Elise Bauer
    smoked-salmon-quiche-method-600-2
    Elise Bauer
  2. Roll out the dough:

    When ready to roll out, remove the disk from the refrigerator and let sit for 10 minutes to come closer to room temperature.

    Simple Tip!

    You'll need a 9 x 2-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. You can also use a 10-inch pie pan.

    Roll out on a lightly floured clean, flat surface to 1/8-inch thickness to 1 to 2 inches wider than your pie or tart pan. Drape over the tart or pie pan and press the dough into the sides of the pan.

    smoked-salmon-quiche-method-600-3
    Elise Bauer
    smoked-salmon-quiche-method-600-4
    Elise Bauer

    Use a rolling pin over the top to remove the excess dough and level the dough with the top of the pan. Place in freezer for 30 minutes to an hour.

    smoked-salmon-quiche-method-600-5
    Elise Bauer
    smoked-salmon-quiche-method-600-6
    Elise Bauer

    If you want, at this point you can "blind bake" the frozen crust. Blind baking it will help you have a well browned crust on the bottom. I often skip this step because it takes extra time and I don't mind having the bottom crust not browned.

    But, if that is what you want, then line the inside of the frozen crust with aluminum foil and fill to the top with "pie weights", which can be beans, sugar, or rice. The weights are to keep the sides of the pie crust from sliding down when baking.

    Bake for 45 minutes at 350°F, then remove the weights and foil, and let cool a bit before adding the filling. (See our detailed instructions on blind baking.)

  3. Prepare the filling:

    Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat oil in a small skillet on medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until translucent, a couple minutes, remove from heat.

    Whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Whisk in goat cheese. Whisk in milk, cream, dill, lemon zest, salt, and black pepper. Whisk in the shallots.

  4. Layer the salmon and filling into the quiche crust:

    Line the bottom of the quiche crust with half of the smoked salmon. Pour half of the egg/cheese/milk/cream mixture over the salmon in the quiche shell.

    Layer down the remaining salmon, and pour the remaining egg/milk/cream mixture over it.

    smoked-salmon-quiche-method-600-7
    Elise Bauer
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    Elise Bauer
  5. Bake:

    Place the quiche pan on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to oven. Bake at 375°F for 15 minutes.

    Then lower the heat to 350°F and bake until just set in the center, about 30 to 40 minutes.

    smoked-salmon-quiche-method-600-9
    Elise Bauer

    Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
618 Calories
47g Fat
28g Carbs
22g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 618
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 47g 60%
Saturated Fat 27g 134%
Cholesterol 301mg 100%
Sodium 1983mg 86%
Total Carbohydrate 28g 10%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 7g
Protein 22g
Vitamin C 2mg 9%
Calcium 202mg 16%
Iron 3mg 16%
Potassium 364mg 8%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.