Friday, June 1, 2012

I'm bringing quiche back

When you hear the word quiche, what do you think of? Is it a dated dish to you? Do you picture it only served at third rate breakfast joint's as their special of the day? Or do you see it as an old lady's staple for potlucks? Well folks....I am bringing quiche back! Once I am finished with you everytime you hear the word quiche your mouth will start watering as you picture having a slice of cheesy egg delight on a savory buttery crust.  

Quiche is wonderful for those of us on a tighter meal budget because it is cheap, has standard ingredients, and is even better reheated! I love that you can throw whatever ingredients you want into a good quiche base and it works. (let me know if you find an ingredient that does not work...so that I never use it) Now, a quiche is like an omelet in the sense that really anything goes when you are putting stuff into it. Whatever you love to eat is worth giving a try in a quiche. I am serious...I love salami (judge me if you will) but I bet you that it would be a home-run hitter in a quiche. But, since most of you know how to be creative when adding ingredients, I am going to give you the straight-forward recipe. Alright, maybe a little of my own flair, but nothing too outrageous!

First step, get all your ingredients out. This will make the whole preparation time flow a lot smoother. If you hate to get everything out and prefer to hunt down every item as you read it, potentially forgetting something or realizing you do not have all you need...go right ahead.
 Crack those eggs, melt that butter, add the milk and cream and you are off to a good start. I then microwave my bacon, yes microwave. I do this because it is faster and cleaner when you are only cooking a few strips of it. Then I grate my cheese. Confession: I use the WHOLE block of cheese because cheese is one of my favorite things and because it makes the quiche really rich and decadent....feel free to only use half of it if you want. I then chop up my "extras" which today were yellow peppers and Roma tomatoes.
For the crust I use a store bought pie crust. I have made my own from scratch...but store bought on this one really cuts down the prep time and I have found a pie crust that I adore!! (generic brand pie crust...for some reason it is awesome)  I unroll it and just plop it into my pie dish. If you want it to be uniform then roll it out before you plop it. Prick that crust all over with a fork before baking it for a few minutes to help it hold some crispiness once the wet egg mixture has been poured over it.

Then sprinkle it with the bacon and pour that egg mixture over it all.

**If you want to prep this dish the night before and bake it the following morning then stop here. You should have the egg mixture made and the pie crust ready to be baked. Just refrigerated it all and pull it out when you are ready to bake it.**

Pop it into the oven until it is fragrant, golden brown (mine gets even darker than that) and just a bit jiggly when you shake the dish.

Let it sit a few minutes and slice away. And PLEASE leave leftovers if you can...this reheated is even better than straight from the oven. I am not even lying!

The recipe:
4 eggs
3/4 cup of cream
3/4 cup of milk
1 TBS butter melted
1 cup ( or more if you like it like I do) of grated Gruyere cheese...or any cheese you like
whatever else you want in your quiche (peppers, tomatoes,asparagus...you get the idea)
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all the above ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Bake your pre-make pie crust for around 7 minutes in a 450 degree oven (or as the box instructs).
Remove the crust from the oven and sprinkle the bacon pieces all over the crust. Pour your egg mixture to the bacon covered pie-crust and bake at 375 degrees for anywhere from 35 minutes to 55 minutes. (mine always takes around 55 minutes)

Once you take it out of the oven ;et it sit for few minutes and then serve. Reheat later and serve again. After that there will be none left...so you don't need any other instructions!

Let me know what fun extras you add to make it your own...I would love to try a new take on it.




3 comments:

Ellie said...

I love quiche!

Pjcoyle said...

I absolutely LOVE the quiche served at Cellar Bistro!! Someday, when I'm feeling brave & daring, I'm gonna attempt to copy it. Have you ever tried theirs?

p.s. I love reading your blog :)

abby said...

I have never had it at Cellar Bistro...but now you have me curious. If you ever get the guts to try it pass the recipe my way alright?:)