Quiche of the Day

Not to be confused with the "Quickie of the Day," as a customer at a deli at which I worked many years ago called it. I cannot (will not!) be held responsible for whatever THAT might be. What we have here is quiche. Real men do, indeed, eat it. In my experience, real men kind of love it. And, really, who can blame them?

If I remember this all correctly, years ago, my mom's friend and neighbour, Mrs. Main, gave her a recipe for Quiche Lorraine. Based on that recipe, I developed a couple of vegetarian variations. I have made them for many years, now, and they have always been well-received. Over the years, I have tweaked the recipe, and I think it is darned good now.

So, here you go ~ I will start with Broccoli Cheese Quiche, and then give the Spinach and Cheese variation. The great thing about quiche is that it is so simple to make, but it always impresses people.

Broccoli Cheese Quiche

2 pie shells*

3 cups chopped broccoli
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2-3 cups shredded cheese** (cheddar or colby work best)
salt & pepper
2 TBS flour
1 TBS butter, cut up
5-6 eggs
2 cups milk

Preheat over to 375-degrees.
Steam broccoli just until tender.
Divide the broccoli between your two (unbaked) pie shells. Sprinkle the sliced scallions, salt and pepper evenly over broccoli. Top with cheese. Sprinkle the flour over the cheese, and dot with butter.
In a mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs. Whisk in milk, beating until well combined. Pour egg mixture over all, dividing evenly(ish) between the two quiche.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until the eggs are set and top is lightly browned. Let stand at least 5 minutes before slicing.

*I am lazy (and usually in a hurry), so I almost always use a pat-in-the-pan pie crust. Here's one I like a lot:
http://www.exit109.com/~mstevens/lrccookb/PATINPAN.htm (I cannot post a link here. I don't know why. I have decided to copy and paste the recipe at the end of this entry, for ease of use.)

** The original recipe called for an entire pound of cheese. You can use that much if you prefer, but it always seemed like and awful lot to me. I just eyeball it, but I think we fall closer to the 2-cup mark, and everyone seems to like it just fine.


Okay. Now, for the spinach variation. The method is a bit different. Trust me. This works.

Spinach & Cheese Quiche

2 pie shells

1 10-oz bag frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2-3 cups cheese (any combination of mozzarella, monterey jack and parmesan/romano is divine*)
2 finely minced garlic cloves
2 scallions, thinly sliced
salt & pepper
2 TBS flour
1 TBS butter, melted
5-6 eggs
2 cups milk

Heat oven to 375.
Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the spinach.
In a large mixing bowl, using a whisk, lightly beat together eggs, milk, flour, butter, salt & pepper.
With a large spoon, stir in all remaining ingredients. Divide mixture between the two pie shells.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until eggs are set and top is lightly browned. Let stand at least 5 minutes before slicing.

*Swiss is also good, by itself.
Note: I have always thought some crumbled vegetarian bacon would be a nice addition to this recipe, but I have never tried it. Maybe one of you will :)


Oh! I almost forgot! THIS TIME, instead of making two quiche, I made one regular quiche. Then, I divided the remaining pie crust and filling between 8 muffin cups. They made the cutest, most perfectly-sized individual quiche. when they had cooled, I removed them from the pan, placed them on a cookie sheet and froze them, then sealed them in a freezer bag. We'll save them for quick meals and snacks. The kids were so tickled with them. I think you could divide the dough again and get about 16 mini-muffin-sized quiche, if you wanted. My regular muffin-sized ones took 28 minutes to cook.

They are so cute! See?


Pat-in-the-Pan Pie Crust:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons cold milk

Directions:

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the pie pan and mix with your fingers until blended. In a measuring cup, combine the oil and milk and beat with a fork until creamy. Pour all at once over the flour mixture. Mix with a fork until the flour mixture is completely moistened. Pat the dough with your fingers, first up the sides of the plate, then across the bottom. Flute the edges.