At my wife's request, I made quiche. She's pretty happy I eat eggs now. I never used to like eggs by themselves or egg bakes but I've come around. It's the third time I've done a quiche and it's tasted great each time even if not flawless. I use this recipe as a rough starting point. A fun part is that the fillings really are up to you. I went with bacon and spinach because I like those things.
What I used:
1 refrigerated pie crust
----- Fillings -----
12oz bacon
Half bag of spinach (~5oz)
1/2c yellow onion, chopped
Couple blocks of cheddar cheese (need 1+1/2c shredded)
----- Egg mix -----
6 eggs
1+1/2c heavy cream (or milk)
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce (optional)
Salt/pepper
Quick recipe version:
1. Blind bake crust. 375 for 10m with weights plus 5m without.
2. Prepare fillings.
3. Prepare egg mixture, 6 eggs to 12oz cream or milk.
4. Put fillings into crust, pour wet mixture over top, bake at 375 ~40m.
I chose to blind bake the crust the night before. Note to self, try the 'dough strip' technique. You don't need to do it the day before, but that's what works for me. You do want to bake it by itself a bit beforehand. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap the rolled pie crust and flatten it out. You may need to use a rolling pin to fix any tears or cracks. Then put it into a 9" pie tin so it comes over the sides a little bit. Crimp the edges however you choose.
Here's where I screwed up a bit this time. I was overconfident and didn't look it up, but whatever, it all worked fine in the end. Put parchment paper lining the bottom of the pan (I didn't use paper), over the crust, and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. We had to buy some beans before I did this the first time. You want the weights along the edges to prevent it from shrinking, and it also prevents the bottom of the crust from over-baking. Bake for 10 minutes, then take out and remove the weights (using the paper helps with this!). Use a fork to poke small holes in the bottom of the crust then back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Poking holes prevents it from puffing up too much.
Since I didn't use paper, the beans I used settled into the crust a little and were hot on removing from the oven. So I just waited for them to cool and then picked them out. It left a pretty cool looking pattern actually. Then I baked the crust a bit longer. Since I didn't re-prick the holes at this point (I did it before filling with beans) I still got some puffing. Live and learn. After patting it down gently the crust was ready.
The afternoon before the meal (while Jack sleeps) fry the bacon and remove it from the pan. Then throw in the fresh spinach to cook it down in the bacon grease. After taking that out chop up half a yellow onion and throw that in for a few minutes as well. Shred enough cheese from the blocks, chop up the fried bacon, and mix it all together in a bowl. I may have eaten some of the bacon first. The bowl goes into the fridge until time to bake.
Shortly before baking time, take the filling mixture out of the fridge. Then grab a new mixing bowl and crack six eggs. I'm finding it's easier to break the yolks and mix up the eggs when they're alone in the bowl. Add the 12 oz of cream, a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce, and a few grinds of salt and pepper. Whisk together.
I certainly didn't make this the healthiest way. You don't need to fry things in bacon grease, or use heavy cream (milk works too), but it certainly helps the flavor of the finished product. Or so I think.
Assembly time. Put the filling in the crust, trying to keep it below the top. Then pour the egg mixture over it, making sure not to overfill. If you have stuff left over that's fine. Now carefully put the tin into the oven. Ideally you have a baking sheet underneath to catch any spillage. Bake for 35-45 minutes according to the recipe. I've found it to be on the longer side.
The quiche is done when you can insert a knife into the middle and it comes out clean. The cheese should be browning and the crust not burnt. Hopefully you avoided a soggy bottom. Slice and enjoy!
It'll solidify a little bit after a few minutes of cooling. I was a little premature with my first cut. Delicious! Definitely will be doing this somewhat regularly.
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