Quiche 101

I love quiche. My kids love quiche. My husband loves quiche. I mean, who doesn't LOVE quiche?! Bacon, cream, cheese, crust; you can't go wrong.

I adapted a few recipes, over time umtil I came up with one that fit our tastes. The major changes to my basic Quiche Lorraine are cooked bacon, as opposed to uncooked, and cheese. Both of which are essential, in my opionion, for a really good quiche.

So, here's my fool proof recipe for Really Good, Not Quite Quiche Lorraine:

1 refrigerated pie crust
8 slices thick cut bacon
1/2 cup grated gruyere
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup "regular" milk*
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg**

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Fit three strips of foil around the top of a pie tin. (Why? Because you won't want to do it when you pull it out of the oven and its 400 degres.) Remove and set aside, in one piece if you can. It will be used to protect the top of the crust from burning later in cooking.
3. Bake pie crust according to directions on box. Remove from oven replace foil. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile, snip bacon into 1/2 inch strips into a hot skillet. Half way through cooking, drain off fat. Continue cooking until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel to drain remaing fat.
5. Cover bottom of pie crust with bacon, followed by the cheese.
6. Mix egg, cream, milk, salt, pepper & nutmeg. Pour into your crust over bacon & cheese.
7. Reduce heat to 375 and bake for 45 minutes.

My notes:
*The original recipe called for 1 cup heavy cream & 1 cup half and half. I thought this was dumb because you can't buy these things in one cup quanties and are therefore left with a bunch of two kinds of cream. In my recipe I increase the amount of heavy cream and just use whatever kind of milk I have in the fridge to come up with the rest. I think this way would save a little $$ too.
** Even if you don't like nutmeg, don't take it out! A proper Quiche Lorraine just isnt right without nutmeg. I promise you'll like it. If you don't you can drive by my house and throw it at me as you pass.

Final word:
The great thing about quiche is that you can add pretty much whatever you like to the cream "base." Broccoli & Cheddar? Delish! Sausage & Onion? Yes please! Tomato, Zuchini & Mozzerella? Why not! The sky's the limit so be creative and let me know your favorite combo!
Bon Appite!

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