Tag Archives: quiche

French Onion Quiche and the Walls Come Tumbling Down Again…

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They say wisdom comes with age. When it comes to house projects, my husband and I finally got wisdom! We’re redoing our bathroom and bedroom and instead of slogging our way through the demo we saved up and got our contractor to do it. What a difference. I can breath, we’re not exhausted and not filthy.

Our puppies, on the other hand, are less than impressed with the cacophony going on. I wish I could make them understand what’s going on but I can’t. So all I can do is give them loads of cuddles. Fingers crossed this project goes quickly.

Because we were facing a potential few hours of laying insulation (way too much fun, I know!) I made dinner during the day so we wouldn’t starve afterwards. Turns out, it was a quick job, thank goodness. As we also got several inches of snow to clear it was nice to have dinner ready.

I was inspired by a pin I saw for a French onion tart with bacon and I thought it would be fun to use my French Onion Soup in a quiche. This is easy to put together but just don’t rush it.

To begin cut up about seven rashers of streaky bacon and slowly render them on medium heat. Cook until about 2/3s done.

While the bacon is cooking slice a half an onion thinly. Finely chop two cloves of garlic and coarsely chop a couple of mushrooms.

Remove the bacon and set aside. Pour out the bacon fat until you only have about two tablespoons of fat left in the pan. Add the onions and cook slowly. Once they begin to soften add the garlic and mushrooms. Sauté for a few minutes. Add a cup of veg bouillon, a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and two tablespoons of brandy. Stir in a healthy dollop of stone ground mustard.

Bring this to a medium simmer to reduce the broth. Meanwhile prepare the pastry using half the recipe I used in the pie. Grate half a cup of Jarlsberg and half a cup of smoked Gouda. In a bowl beat three eggs together then had a half cup of cream and 3/4 cup of milk.

Once the broth is nearly reduced add back in the bacon. Continue until the broth is nearly gone. Spread it into the bottom of the pastry.

Sprinkle the cheese over the mixture then pour the egg and milk into the dish.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425F/220C then bake for about 30 minutes at 300F/150C. Remove once the quiche is set and golden.

Either serve it right away or save and heat up later.

Quick question, I’ve suddenly gotten a lot of followers from outlook mail accounts. While I’m grateful for followers I’m concerned there maybe something else going on.

Bacon Leek Quiche

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The air is crisp and you know what that means!  Baking!  It’s been gorgeous this week with lovely breezes and fresh air.  There is something about baking with the windows up and and the trees rustling.

Because I have classes to teach two nights a week I try to get dinner sorted for the family.  I also wanted something for the school lunches.  Quiche fit the bill as it can be served cold and would be a nice twist for the kids.

For the pastry make one half of this pastry recipe I do for my apple pies.

Preheat the oven to 425F/220C.

Bacon Leek Quiche 1 2015

In a mixing bowl beat 4 eggs and add 1 1 /2 cups of milk.  Season with sea salt and pepper and a bit of cayenne pepper.  Mix and set aside.  Grate just over a cup of jarlsberg cheese and set that aside as well.  Chop up 4 rashers of streaky bacon and start rendering in a skillet.  While this cooks add a few chopped mushrooms and leeks.  Add a few splashes of sherry.

Bacon Leek Quiche 2 2015

Spoon the bacon and leeks into the pastry shell.

Bacon Leek Quiche 3 2015

Sprinkle the cheese over the mixture.

Bacon Leek Quiche 4 2015

Pour the egg and milk mixture into the pastry.

Bacon Leek Quiche 5 2015

Bake for 15 minutes then lower the heat to 350F/175C and bake for another 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven when the eggs have set.

Bacon Leek Quiche 6 2015

I do like the combo of bacon and leek.  They go very well together!

Shaking Up The School Morning Breakfast…

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The kids survived their first day of school and handled the homework.  They both really like their teachers and they were really happy to catch up with their friends after a busy summer.  Though our daughter is already doing the countdown for the number of the days left!

We had been getting into a rut with school morning breakfasts of toast because with getting the kids ready, dogs, walked, and lunches made time can get a bit crunched in the morning.  The kids are much better at getting ready without much prompting but there is still a lot to do.  Remember when the South Beach Diet was all the rage?  One of the things they suggested was to make up some little quiches so you could reheat them during the week.  I remembered this idea this week and thought I would do my quiches in mini form.  The response from the kids was yes and can it have bacon?  🙂

Preheat the oven to 425F/220C

Mini quiches 1 2014

In a small skillet start cooking and rendering 5 rashers of streaky bacon.  Add 1/2 a chopped onion, 2 cloves of chopped garlic, 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme, and a few splashes of dry sherry.

Mini quiches 2 2014

In a separate bowl beat 4 eggs.  Add 1 1/2 – 2 cups of milk or light cream.  The more watery it is the less you want to use.  Mix in 1 1/2 cups of grated jarlsberg, tsp of salt, pinch of nutmeg, a couple pinches of cayenne pepper, and pepper to taste.

Mini quiches 3 2014

Pour into 12 regular size muffin cups that are lightly greased.  Don’t over grease as it will get absorbed into the quiche.

Mini quiches 4 2014

Bake for 8 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350F/175C and bake until golden and the egg is cooked.  If you get the mixture wrong with using low fat milk and they come out a bit watery, put them on a baking sheet and bake at 350F/175C until the quiches is less wet.

Mini quiches 5 2014

Served them this morning and the kids loved them.  Easy to make, easy to heat up, and healthy for the kids.  Can’t go wrong!

Goat Cheese and Leek Quiche

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I don’t know what my expectations were for the food on the ship.  I don’t think they were high or low but maybe just hopeful.  We enjoy good food and it’s part of our experience when we travel or just live.  Overall it was fair to middling but I did get some inspiration here and there to try at home.  One starter my husband ordered was a goat cheese and leek tart. I had a small bite and thought I could come up with something that we’d all like.

We got back home late Tuesday night after a nearly 20 hour day of traveling.  Now you would think that would mean we needed a good long sleep.  Oh no.  Bright eyed at 4am.  Why?  The only good thing was we managed to get a ton of stuff done before 7am.  Unpacked, laundry started and all!  Picking up the dogs is always an adventure after a trip.  They love the kennel and get excited when we pack their things but they are equally excited to come home.  They barrel down the hallway leaping about like idiots.  Trying to get the harnesses and leashes back on them is like wrestling an octopus!

Then the day dragged as we had to wait until school was over to get the kids.  We missed them so much!  I wanted to do a home cooked meal for them but I needed something simple as I knew by the time dinner needed to be made I would be struggling to keep my eyes open.  This quiche would do the trick.

Preheat the oven to 425F/220C

I prepped the veg first.  I chopped several mushrooms, couple cloves of garlic,  and a small leek from our garden.  And sauteed them in some olive oil.  As they soften I added just a smidge of veg bouillon and a few splashes of water to the mix.

Goat and leek quiche 1 2013 Goat and leek quiche 2 2013

In a small bowl I prepared the rest of the mixture.  Mix together 4 eggs and two cups of milk.  We use 2% milk and that works just fine.

Goat and leek quiche 3 2013

I crumbled up 4 oz of soft goat cheese and added it to the egg mixture.  To season salt and pepper to taste and add a few teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce.

Goat and leek quiche 4 2013 Goat and leek quiche 5 2013

Set this aside and make the pastry dough for the pie shell.  Spoon in the leek mixture and spread along the bottom.

Goat and leek quiche 6 2013

Pour in the egg mixture on top and bake for 15 minutes.

Goat and leek 7 2013

Reduce the heat to 350F/175C and bake for another 30 minutes or so.  Until the toothpick test comes out clean.

Goat and leek quiche 8 2013

If you are not jetlagged, hungry, and wanting a pillow let it set for 5-10 minutes.  I barely made it 5 before I was ready to serve so it was a bit soft but the flavour was there.

Goat and leek quiche 9 2013

This was perfect comfort food after a very long day.  But it was wonderful to have a sit down dinner with the kids again listening to how their day went.  I missed that.

Quiche with Duck Eggs

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Yesterday Antje traded some duck eggs for kale that we grow in the garden.  The duck eggs are very yummy and I think I owe her a boatload more kale to make the trade fair!  So for dinner I decided to make a quiche.

My family and I love to cook and we take inspiration from all sorts of places.  The thing is I take after my mum and usually change the recipes.  The inspiration was a recipe from Fanny Farmer’s Cheese and Bacon Quiche.

Here is the recipe and some of my notes on what I do:

10 slices of bacon (I only use 4!  That would take up a lot of space!)

1 Partially baked tart crust (I just make the pie crust and bake it all together)

4 eggs (3 duck eggs or 2 goose eggs as a substitution)

2 cups light cream (I used 2% milk as the eggs add the creaminess)

1/2 teaspoon salt (sounds about right)

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (I use a couple of dashes)

Pinch of cayenne pepper (Again a couple of dashes)

1 1/4 cup of grated Swiss ( I eyeball it and use Jarlsberg)

I also added scallions from our garden and some mushrooms

My daughter helped with dinner and here she is cooking the bacon.  I usually add a bit of white balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan but we’ve misplaced that so I used a bit of lemon juice.  Then we add in the scallions and mushrooms.  While that is cooking I make the pastry,

I make it using my hands just like my Grandma did back in England.  She was an amazing lady who could bake delicious things.  She taught my dad how to make pie crust and he taught me.  It doesn’t let me down!  I just use flour, shortening, and a bit of salt.

The key is not to overwork it!  The feel of it will change depending on the time of year with the heat and humidity but not too much.

Once it is rolled out I put the bacon mixture in the bottom of the quiche.

I mix all the other ingredients together and pour into the crust.  I bake at 425F for 15 minutes and then 30 minutes at 350F.  It takes about 20-25 minutes to prep.

Let it cool for a few minutes then enjoy!