Anything Goes Quiche
I need to start this post with a disclaimer. Grant is very much against quiche and egg bakes, so these are all me! Who knew this would be where he draws a line in the culinary sand…
No matter what he says, I love quiche, and so does the rest of my family. Its easy, a great way to use up eggs, especially when you have a bunch of chickens in their prime laying years, and you can make it so many different ways that its almost never the same twice. It also tends to be pretty good for you, because you can really pack in the veggies and protein.
When I make quiche, I usually make two different types. One is almost ham and cheese, because its the safe bet for the kids, although they are becoming more adventurous in the food department everyday, and one is whatever we need to use up from the fridge! This round, I made a kind of Mediterranean-ish version, using up a few half jars, and left overs in that there really wasn’t enough of to make anything else with.
So next time you have a bunch of small, random ingredients that haven’t gone bad and you don’t want to waste- think about quiche.
Ingredients:
Starting with Crust for two quiche-
Two cups of flour
1 stick of cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup of shredded cheese- your preference of kind, I used cheddar.
6 Tbsp very cold water
Instructions:
Put all crust ingredients in a blender or food processor. Mix until well incorporated. You may need to stop a few times and push down the sides. You can also do this by hand with a fork, but it takes a little longer, and might make your hand hurt.
The mixture will look something like this when its done:
Once it is well blended, separate it into two pie plants an use your hands to push the dough from the center, working it up the sides until it is even in the pie plate.
Egg tip-
Ever notice how farm fresh eggs can sit on the counter and not be in the refrigerator. Part of that is because they are not pasteurized. Pasteurized means the eggs have been heated in warm water to clean the shell and remove bacteria. This process also removes the bloom, which is the natural protectant layer on the egg shell when it is laid. Once this is removed, they must be refrigerated, and in some cases are covered in wax, to maintain freshness. If fresh eggs are not rinsed with water, the bloom will protect them and allow them to remain at room temperature for quite some time.
If you buy farm fresh eggs, I always recommend using this method to test them before cracking them open. We bought these eggs from the Amish, and to me, they looked a little too clean to be super fresh and unwashed… but I use this method to test the eggs from my own coop too. Those girls sometimes hide their eggs so I can never be 100% certain when they were laid, even if I check the coop everyday. Basically, if the eggs float, they should be thrown. If they remain at the bottom, you should be in the clear. I have had one bad egg not float, out of hundreds, in the last few years that I have been checking them this way, so it is a pretty decent way to verify before you crack them. You can always crack each egg individually into a cup before dumping into your mixture too if you’re still not convinced that this works…
Back to the recipes-
Ingredients:
Ham and Cheese Quiche-
6 to 7 eggs, depending on the size of your pie plate.
1 cup of cubed ham
1/2 an onion- chopped
1 to 2 cups of cheese, depending on your preference. I used half cheddar and half pepper jack- still from the Amish cheese, which we are ALMOST out of.
1 to 2 cups of spinach, chopped or ripped into small pieces.
1/4 c of cream
Olive oil
Instructions:
Cook the onion in a pan with olive oil. You’ll use half the onion in this quiche and set the other half aside for the next.
Pre-cooking the onion, vs adding it raw, does a few things. 1) It removes some of the moisture so your quiche isn’t soggy. 2) It helps the oils (are the juices considered oils?) from the onion incorporate with the rest of the ingredients, giving your eggs more flavor with out adding salt or other seasoning. 3) Blends the texture so it isn’t a crunch in the eggs. I know some people like the crunch, but in this particular type of dish, I do not.
Beat the eggs before adding other ingredients.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and pour them into the crust.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
Ingredients:
Mediterranean Quiche-
6-7 eggs, depending on the size of your pie plate
1/2 a pint of cherry or grape tomatoes- cut into fours
1/4 c calamata olives- chopped
1/2 a zucchini- grated
1/2 an onion- chopped
1/2 c salami- chopped
1/4 c feta cheese
1/4 c parmesan cheese
1/4 c cream
Olive oil
Instructions:
Cook the onion and grated zucchini together in a pan for about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and place the cooked mixture on a plate or in a bowl on top of a paper towel. Again, I’m not all about mushy egg dishes, so this will help soak up some of the water from the cooked zucchini.
In the same pan, cook the tomatoes for about 5 minutes. Remove and place with the zucchini and onion mixture.
In a bowl, beat the eggs.
Add all ingredients to the eggs, leaving the vegetables for last.
Pour mixture into the prepared crust.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
