Quiche: Dinner From Odds and Ends

I thought quiche was sooo elegant a few years back when it started making the rounds of the restaurants.  Little did I know how simple and versatile this dish can be!

You can make quiche with a store bought crust, but to me those crusts taste kind of like cardboard.  I want a real crust and I think I found the perfect crust recipe.  I can't remember where I found this, so I heartily apologize if I've stolen your recipe. This recipe makes five single crusts.  You use one and roll the other four into a ball, wrap them in plastic wrap, and throw them in the freezer.  When you need to make a quiche, pie, or whatever, you pull one out of the freezer about an hour ahead of time and let it thaw.  This piecrust is more sticky to work with, but it bakes into a wonderful crust with an almost puff pastry quality to it.  

Pie Crust

4 c. flour

1-3/4 c. shortening (I use lard)

1 T. sugar

2 t. salt

1 T. vinegar

1 egg

1/2 cup water

1.  Using a fork or pastry cutter, mix together the first four ingredients.

2. In a separate dish, beat the remaining ingredients.  Combine the two mixtures and stir with a fork until moistened.  Divide into five equal balls.  Chill for 15 minutes before rolling out or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.  

Quiche is one of those recipes that you can make when you have just a few odds and ends in the refrigerator.  You can pretty much mix and match the ingredients with anything.   I like to go onto Allrecipes.com to see all the different types of quiche.  This recipe is a bacon and swiss quiche.  But if you don't have bacon, you can put in ham, or sausage, or other meats if you like.  If you don't have swiss cheese, you can use cheddar, provolone, or any thing else you may find lying around in the 'fridge.  When I made this I added some chopped spinach to get some veggies into it.  You can add chopped broccoli, asparagus, peppers, different herbs or anything that suits your taste buds.  And finally, the milk component doesn't have to be evaporated milk.  You can use cream, half and half, or regular milk.  You'll find though, using regular milk changes the richness of the final product.   

Quiche

 1 (9 inch) frozen pie crust, thawed

 1 pound sliced bacon
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

 3 eggs, lightly beaten

 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk

 1/2 teaspoon spicy brown mustard

 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 

Place bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

In a bowl, mix eggs, milk, mustard and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, toss bacon with flour to lightly coat. Spread 3/4 bacon mixture and Swiss cheese over bottom of pie crust. Pour egg mixture over bacon mixture. Top with remaining bacon mixture.

Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

I found that if you put a tablespoon of flour in the bottom of the pie crust before adding other ingredients adds extra crispness to the crust and that it took only about 45 minutes for my quiche to be cooked through.  

Enjoy!