Quiche is one of those foods that most people think is difficult to cook. Over the last 30 years I developed a recipe that is simple, healthy and loaded with locally grown foods from your neighborhood farmers’ market. If you are fortunate to be able to get goat, sheep or cow cheese, then you will have endless possible combinations. I’ll give you some alternative suggestions in the note section at the end. The only thing that I would caution you about is the size of your eggs. If you get your eggs from the farmers market or a neighbor, or even your back yard, they will be ungraded in size. You will need to adjust the number of eggs depending on the size. This recipe calls for 6 chicken eggs of the medium to large size. If you are using duck eggs, they are larger. If you are using pullet eggs then they will be smaller.
I also prefer whole organic milk. I used to use low-fat milk, but switched a number of years ago to full-fat products for all dairy. I just find that I feel full faster and tend to eat less. If you happen to have a bit of cream or heavy cream sitting in the fridge you can substitute some of that for the whole milk as well. I find that there’s always that little bit that is just going to go to waste. This is a great recipe to use it up.
Lastly, there’s the pie shell. Pie shells are pretty simple, but the fact is that few people have time to make one from scratch and there are some excellent alternatives available. Every pie shell browns up differently depending on what’s in it. A while back there was a baker making spelt pie crusts that we’re amazing. They have since stopped baking commercially. I’ve also occasionally used some leftover phyllo sheets. More recently I’ve also been able to buy pie crusts from a local baker and do a small pre-bake on the shell before filling it. So it turns out perfectly crisp all the way through without burning and it’s much better than I can make on my own.
A few combinations through the seasons to get your imagination going….
Winter spinach, red pepper & feta marinated in olive oil with spices & hot peppers
Fall broccoli and ham made into individual servings
Summer squash & green zucchini with a few greens
Spring asparagus and green onion or green garlic
And one made with phyllo sheets
Seasonal Quiche
Ingredients:
- 1 Pie Crust
- 6 large eggs (or 8 small pullet eggs)
- 1 1/4 cups whole fat milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (eliminate if using salty ingredients like feta or bacon)
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1/4 cup green onions, chopped
- (OR 1/8 cup caramelized onions)
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped ham, cooked bacon, sausage or cooked mushrooms (see recipe for shiitake mushrooms)
- (AND/ OR 2 cups fresh rough chopped spinach & 1/4 cup chopped roasted sweet peppers)
- 3/4 cup grated Calvander / Asiago cheese /Chapel Hill Creamery
- (OR 1/2 to 3/4 cup feta that’s been marinated in olive oil, italian seasoning & red pepper flakes)
Preparation:
- Roll out the pie shell when it is at room temperature on a piece of wax paper. Dust both sides with cornflour or unbleached flour and roll it slightly thinner with your rolling-pin. Place it into a clear glass or aluminum pie pan. Let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
- At this point you can choose to pre-bake your pie shell a bit. I have started to bake it at 350F for about 20-25 minutes using parchment paper to cover all of it along with pie weights to hold the bottom in place. Then I let that cool just a little bit before filling and continuing to bake.
- While that pie shell is pre-baking, pull out your ingredients so they come to room temperature. That will allow everything to bake more evenly from the center to the outside shell.
- Arrange a layer of the vegetables and meat in the bottom of the pie crust after it’s cooled just a couple of minutes so you don’t damage the bottom of the pie shell.
- Add your choice of cheese(s) on top of the veggies and meat.
- Repeat another layer of veggies, meat and cheese.
- Mix the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together. Gently pour over everything to cover.
- Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes and as the crust begins to brown, keep an eye on it.
- Place a cover over the pie crust edges (or a piece of parchment covering the entire pie) as it gets close to the golden-brown color you want and continue to cook about 10-15 more minutes. As it finishes, it will appear to puff up in the center and it’s finished at that point. Don’t let it stay in longer or it will overcook and be dry as it cools. It will settle as it cools.
- Let cool about 5 minutes before cutting and serving. And that should give you plenty of time to snap some nice photos and send them to all of your friends. 😉
Notes
You can make individual quiche using a muffin tin. Just half this recipe for the egg and fillings and use one pie crust to make about 8-10 small pie shells fitted. Don’t bring the pie crust up too much over the top because it will burn easily. And try to bring your egg and fillings to room temperature so they aren’t so cold when you put this into the oven.
