Host Mary Ellen Pinkham offers tips for making a simple and delicious quiche.
Basic Quiche
Ingredients:
2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 cup whole milk
1 cup half-and-half
standard frozen pie crust
1-1/2 cups cooked bacon, diced
1-1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
Preparation:
Add eggs, egg yolks, salt, nutmeg and white pepper to a large bowl and mix well. Stir in milk and half-and-half.
Take a standard frozen piecrust and sprinkle bacon to cover the bottom. Cover the bacon with cheese.
Pour the liquid into the piecrust and bake in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the top of the quiche is firm.
Tips
- Real quiche doesn't have to come in a piecrusts. Substitute mini phyllo dough shells or even a plain piece of wheat bread. When working with phyllo dough, keep it beneath a moist towel until time to use it.
- To make a quiche with bread, trim the crust from several pieces of whole-wheat bread. Butter each slot in a muffin tin, then press a slice of bread carefully in each slot. If a piece of bread rips, just pinch it back together.
- Bake the shells, empty, for about six minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle some cooked bacon crumbles and shredded Swiss cheese in the toasted shells, then fill with quiche mixture and return to the oven to bake for about 15 minutes.
- Make tiny quiches with phyllo dough and a mini-muffin pan. Butter a sheet of phyllo dough and each compartment of the mini-muffin tin. Fold a small square of the phyllo dough, butter-side down, into each compartment.
- Bake the shells empty for about six minutes at 350 degrees. Remove the shells from the oven and fill with bacon, Swiss and egg mixture. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
- When making the quiche filling, substitute a cup of sour cream or plain yogurt for the half-and-half. For a bit more flavor, substitute a can of condensed cream-of -mushroom soup for the half-and-half.
- Sprinkle the top of the quiche with crushed walnuts or extra cheese before baking.
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