Quiche

These are very easy to make. The pie crust is simple and can be done in a mixer in five minutes. The ingredients are simple to chop, saute or steam. Only takes about 30 minutes to assemble and another 30 to cook.

We make these all together, eat a couple for the meal, and freeze the remaining six.

Shortcrust Pastry

2 Cups flour, all-purpose
8 oz butter, chilled, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water, only add what is needed

Put the flour and salt in a mixer and drop in the chilled butter. Will form crumbs, don't over heat the dough. Slowly add water until the dough just comes together. Turn out of mixer and join together into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Roll or press out dough to 2-3mm thick and about 6" round. Press into 5" pie pans. Prick all the inside surfaces and bake for 8 minutes at 325F. Remove and allow to cool.

Brush the inside of the shells with melted butter.

Filling

8 oz cheese, grated. Cheddar or other.
4 pieces of bacon, cut into thin strips.
small pieces of vegetables

You really can use anything at all. Vegetables should be sauted or partially cooked. Meats should be pre-coooked. Onions cooked to translucent. Cheese should be grated or cubed.

Add fillings until the pie is almost full. I like to add the ingredients to each pie rather than mix the ingredients first, so that every pie has a little of everything. Leave a little of the cheese till last to form a nice top.

Egg Mix

6 whole eggs
2 cups milk approx, to make 3 cups of mix

Add all the eggs into a 4 cup measuring container. Whisk them together lightly then add milk to make the volume 3 cups. You can add pepper, cayenne, or nutmeg. Mix together. Pour into each pie slowly. The mix has to work its way through the filling. Fill almost to the top of each pie.

To make up more of the mix, count the number of eggs and add milk to make up 1/2 cup mix per egg.

3 cups of mix is enough for the 8 quiches with lots of other fillings.

Baking

Place the quiche into a 450F pre-heated oven, turn down to 325F in 10 minutes. Swap top and bottom trays, 4 quiche per tray. Check the quiche in another 15 minutes. It is done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Will probably take another 5 minutes, check every couple of minutes.

A 9" quiche will take 35-40 minutes.

Freezing

Cool the quiche for about 15 minutes. Eat some now if you want.

Move the quiche to the refrigerator for about an hour.

Stack the quiche three high using parchment paper or waxed paper to separate them. Put the stack into a gallon sized ziplock bag, remove as much air as possible. Label the bags with the variety of quiche. Place in the freezer.

Various Combinations

Lorraine: 8 pieces bacon, 1 C cheese, swiss, cheddar, or gruyere. Onions optional.

Broccoli/Cheese: Broccoli, Gouda, Cream Cheese plus teaspoon of mustard in egg mix.

Notes

For a richer crust replace some of the butter with cream cheese. For a richer egg filling replace some or all of the milk with half&half or cream. You can add an additional egg also.