Quiche

I am a terrible speller and could not spell "quiche" until I married a man who prefers to (ironically) pronounce it "quee-chay."  The man teaches me something new every day.

There are much prettier quiches than this elsewhere on the internet, but it tastes good despite its pallor and freezer-fresh crust!  The salad is just lettuce and fresh apricots with a squeeze of lemon.  The drink is half green tea, half pomegranate juice.

You can put anything you like in your quiche, just cook it first.  I feel that quiche benefits from onions or shallots for a little flavor, but I think garlic would taste weird in it.  This one contains bacon and onions. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pie crust (see notes)
• 3 eggs (for a small pie pan.  For a bigger one, use 4)
• 1 cup of milk (for a bigger pie pan, use 1 and 1/3 cups)
• 3 strips bacon
• 1/2 onion
• shredded cheese
• 1 tbs flour (for bigger pie pan, use 1 tbs + 1 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method: 

Preheat oven to 350F

Sauté your fillings.  I cook my bacon first, pour off the rendered fat, then use the still greasy pan to cook the onions until translucent.  If you like your onions caramelized, leave them in until they're golden brown

Place filling in the bottom of your pie pan, meat and veggies on the bottom, a couple handfuls of shredded cheese on the top

Beat eggs and milk together.  Beat in flour and salt.  Try to beat out the chunks, but don't worry if you can't get them all

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until set

Let cool before serving


Notes: 

I use frozen, pre-formed pie crust from Whole Foods market because it tastes good and it is easy.  This particular kind of pie crust requires two extra things: a sturdy, rimmed baking sheet underneath it so that you don't end up with egg all over your oven floor and set your smoke detectors off, and 10 minutes of pre-cooking before you fill it.  The edges sometimes fall down in the pre-cook stage because I never use pie weights.  I just stick them back up again with a fork before filling.

My mom uses Pillsbury dough, the kind that's already rolled out and rolled up like a scroll.  This kind is thinner and doesn't require pre-cooking.  You can also make a bigger quiche with it, because it is not already in a tiny pie pan.

If you want to make your own crust, I'm sure it will be delicious, but you should hit up Martha Stewart for that recipe, because I am not experienced at it.

You can make your quiche richer by substituting cream for some of your milk.

If you want your quiche to look pretty on top, melt some butter and drizzle it over before putting it in the oven.  I usually skip this step out of laziness. 

Some good alternate filling combinations:

• Onions and mushrooms with Swiss cheese
• Onions and tomatoes with basil and Parmesan cheese
• A mix of fresh herbs and cheeses
• Spinach and cheddar cheese (Squeeze all the liquid out of the spinach before you put it in!  Also, don't use a ton of it.)

My kid does not eat quiche, or almost any eggs, but I have witnessed her little friends eat and enjoy this, so it's worth a shot.  Especially with bacon.