Adventures In Egg Heaven
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Published in 1982, this is a satirical look at masculinity and machismo. And since it’s satire, I’m forced to conclude that real men do, in fact, eat quiche. I’m no man, but I LOVE quiche. In recent years, I’ve cut down on the amount of meat I eat and really ramped up on the number of eggs I eat. This means that if I don’t want to get bored of eggs, I need multiple egg dishes in my recipe repertoire. Poached eggs on toast: deee-lish. Dutch baby (it has three eggs in it, so it totally counts as an egg dish): divine. Scrambled eggs with omelette additions (such as the Denver scramble, with peppers, ham, and cheddar cheese): yum. And quiche. Oh, how I love quiche…1) because it’s absolutely delicious; 2) it’s very quick and easy to make; and 3) I can put the leftovers in the fridge and snack off of it all week. What’s not to love?
These days, my basic quiche recipe is adapted from one I found on smittenkitchen.com. The base custard recipe is cream cheese, whole milk or cream, eggs, salt, and pepper. Easy. For the blog post today, I thought I’d share my four favorite quiche recipes. Just a quick note: you could of course mix things together by hand, but I find a stand mixer gives you a smoother custard.
First, basic Spinach Quiche: with your ingredients at room temperature, cream together the cream cheese and milk. Then add your salt, pepper, and eggs. Next, your cheese and chives, and last your spinach. Turn it out into a prepared pie crust and bake. Easy peasy!
Second, Greek Quiche: make the custard, add the spinach, and then stir in your feta crumbles by hand, so that they remain crumbles and are not crushed into feta mush by the mixer. Turn it into a pie crust and bake. Still easy peasy.
Third, Ham and Gruyère Quiche: this one you put together a little differently. First chop up your ham and cheese into small dice. I like the ham in 1/2” chunks but I like the cheese in 1/4” chunks. You could of course grate the cheese, but I really love the melty little pockets of cheese that you end up with if you dice it. Put the ham and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust. Then make your custard, pour it over the ham and cheese, and bake. Yep, still easy peasy…
Finally, Quiche Lorraine-ish: this is a little more labor-intensive. But it’s so delicious that I think it’s worth it. First, chop up your bacon and fry it until it’s crispy. Scoop it out of the pan and onto paper towel to drain. Retain 1-2 Tbsp of the bacon grease and discard the rest. Slice your onion nice and thin and drop it into the bacon grease. Move it around until all slices are coated with the grease, then cover the pan and cook it on medium low for about 15 minutes. After that, remove the cover, turn up the heat to medium, add a pinch of sugar and salt, and cook for another 15-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are a caramelized golden color. Remove the onions to a paper towel to drain away excess grease and moisture. While the bacon and onions are cooling, you can make your custard as usual. Then put the bacon in the bottom of the pie crust, and spread the onions over the top of that. Pour your custard over everything and bake as usual. Absolutely divine.
A note about crust: I like to use Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts, because they are reliably tasty and easy to work with. You could make your own crust, or buy a frozen crust in a disposable pan, or you could try something like an almond crust (I found some nice almond flour recipes in this book). But with any crust you choose, there’s always the danger of the exposed crust baking faster than the quiche. So I like to wrap the edge of the pie dish and crust in aluminum foil and leave it on until about 5 minutes before I think the cooking is done. Then I take the foil off to let the crust brown a little. This is an optional step, but it’s easy, and I do it because I don’t care for burned crust.
Spinach Quiche
Click here for printable PDF of recipe
INGREDIENTS
1 pie crust
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup whole milk or cream, room temperature
5 eggs, room temperature
10 - oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup grated cheddar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup snipped chives
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
DIRECTIONS
Place pie crust in a pie dish and trim excess. Use a fork to press the edge down onto the rim of the pie dish.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Beat cream cheese with milk in medium bowl until smooth. Beat in salt, pepper, and eggs. Mix in remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is set, about 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
NOTES
If you cover the edge of your pie crust with foil to prevent it burning, you’ll need to remove the foil during the last five minutes of baking, so the crust can brown up.
Greek Quiche
INGREDIENTS
1 pie crust
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup whole milk or cream, room temperature
5 eggs, room temperature
10 - oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
4-6 oz crumbled Feta with Greek seasoning*
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 Tsp pepper
DIRECTIONS
Place pie crust in a pie dish and trim excess. Use a fork to press the edge down onto the rim of the pie dish.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Beat cream cheese with milk in medium bowl until smooth. Beat in eggs, salt, and pepper. Beat in spinach. Add the Feta and mix in gently by hand. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is set, about 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
*If you are using plain Feta, add 1/4 tsp Greek seasoning to your egg custard.
NOTES
If you cover the edge of your pie crust with foil to keep it from burning, remove it during the last 5 minutes of baking so the crust can brown up a little.
Ham and Gruyère Quiche
Click here for printable PDF of recipe
INGREDIENTS
1 pie crust
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup whole milk or cream, room temperature
5 eggs, room temperature
4-6 oz Gruyère cheese, cut into very small cubes
4-8 oz ham, cut into 1/2” cubes
A pinch of salt
1/4 tsp pepper
DIRECTIONS
Place pie crust in a pie dish and trim excess. Use a fork to press the edge down onto the rim of the pie dish.
Place the cubed ham into the pie dish and then add the Gruyère.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Beat cream cheese with milk in medium bowl until smooth. Beat in salt, pepper, and eggs. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is set, about 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
NOTES
If you cover the edge of your pie crust with foil to prevent it burning, you’ll need to remove the foil during the last five minutes of baking, so the crust can brown up.
Quiche Lorraine-ish
Click here for printable PDF of recipe
INGREDIENTS
1 pie crust
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup whole milk or cream, room temperature
5 eggs, room temperature
1 lb thick-cut bacon, chopped
1 large (or 2 small) onion
4-6 oz Gruyère, cut into very small cubes
A couple pinches of salt (divided)
A pinch of sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
DIRECTIONS
Place pie crust in a pie dish and trim excess. Use a fork to press the edge down onto the rim of the pie dish.
In a large sauté pan, cook the bacon until crispy, then remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towel to drain. Leave 1-2 Tbsp of bacon grease in the pan and discard the rest.
Slice the onion and put it into the pan with the bacon grease. Toss them to coat with the grease and then cover the pan and simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes. Remove the lid and add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. Turn up the heat to medium and sauté until the onions are caramelized and look golden, stirring frequently. Remove the onions to paper towel to absorb excess liquid and fat.
Once both bacon bits and onions are cool, scatter the bacon into the bottom of the pie crust, and then the onions over the top. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Beat cream cheese with milk in medium bowl until smooth. Beat in the other pinch of salt, pepper, and eggs. Pour mixture into prepared crust over bacon and onions. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is set, about 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
NOTES
If you cover the edge of your pie crust with foil to prevent it burning, you’ll need to remove the foil during the last five minutes of baking, so the crust can brown up.
