Quiche?

Well I made quiche tonight. I haven't made quiche in a while because we ate it so much for a while the whole family started wearing ascots and began holding our pinkies out crooked.

Actually I made this so often because it is so easy, so tasty, and so easy to clean up; and it lasts forever and can be warmed up or eaten cold for any meal of the day.

Inevitably whenever I tell someone about my recipe I hear "you know, real men don't each quiche!" Then I say "Umm, dude, more for me!"

Usually I make two quiche at a time: one bacon, and one spinach and shallot. Tonight I made two bacon because my youngest daughter abandoned vegetarianism not too long ago, and my oldest daughter loves bacon so much she even brushes her teeth with the stuff.

See, no clean up!

How to (Bacon): Makes two 9" deep dish pie shell fillings

I use store bought frozen pie shells but you can certainly use homemade

1# bacon (don't use maple flavored)

7oz (weight) or 2 cups shredded Danish or Sweedish Fontina (if you prefer you can use the real Italian fontina: Fontal, but at $16 a pound it makes an economical meal pricey)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano (you can sub the shaky cheese in a can)

7 large eggs or 6 extra large eggs

1 pint heavy cream

2 cups milk

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (if you have the actual seed to grate yourself, all the better)

4 small pinches of kosher salt (my pinches measure about 1/4 teaspoon each; it's good to know the size of your pinch)

1. Lay the bacon out on sheet pans and cook at 375 til it looks yummy enough to eat (about 17 minutes). If you have nibbling gnomes that snatch off the counter like I do you might want to up this ingredient by 25%.

2. While the bacon cooks grate the fontina and parmesan together and keep cool til later.

3. Mix eggs, cream, milk, salt, and nutmeg (whip to fluffy)

4. When bacon is cooked and cooled (keep the oven on at 375 for the quiche), pat with towel to remove grease, crumble and divide between the two pie shells. Top each shell with half of the grated cheese mixture and finally divide the egg/cream mixture between the two (alternate between the two back and forth so the density of the mixture divides evenly; also it helps to whip again just before pouring). Once they are poured you may need to lightly manipulate the cheese with a fork so the egg mixture can seep down evenly.
5. Place on the top rack of the oven and cook for 35 minutes at 375. I usually need to cook for 10 minutes longer, but I like to check after 35 minutes to make sure nothing silly is going on in the oven. After 45 total minutes turn the oven off and leave the door open to let the quiche temper inside for 10 minutes. This prevents falling due to drastic temperature changes.

Make sure you time this so you will have at least 30 minutes out of the oven before you need to slice and serve. Slicing and serving warm quiche looks like toasted, scrambled eggs. Quiche is meant to be served at or just above room temperature so if you are rewarming, try not to get it scalding.

Serve with seasonal fruit or a light salad of your choice

For spinach quiche substitute the bacon with 1# of fresh spinach and 1 chopped small shallot. Saute the shallot in 1tsp butter until golden, add the spinach (It may take several additions because the spinach starts out bulky but cooks down to almost nothing. Set each pan full aside while you cook the next until the whole batch is done) and just the smallest smattering of salt (it is easy to over-salt sauteed spinach). Once the spinach is all cooked, chop roughly and put in a fine strainer for 10 minutes to let the excess water drain (otherwise your quiche will be drippy).

If you want to make one spinach and one bacon, by all means; use 1/2 pound bacon and 1# spinach (one in each pie shell). Everything else remains the same.

Buona notte!