Quiche Me



Isn't it beautiful?



I have a thing for casseroles.  Anything that involves putting all the ingredients into one big dish/pot/pan, really.  I love all those comfort foods like shepherds pie and chicken potpie and anything with gravy on it.  Heck, anything with thick, creamy sauce at all.  Maybe it's the time of year.  Maybe it's my heritage, though if you ask anyone to define Canadian food, you'd get a perplexed stare.  

So my love of comfort foods also includes quiche.  Like the kind bought in the food court in a mall from the "healthy food" place.  Yea, you know what I mean.  It comes in a little tin pie plate with salad on the side.  Quiche Lorraine.  Classic quiche with ham and swiss cheese--none of that fancy broccoli and roasted red pepper kind.  Ok, you could put whatever ingredients you wanted into it.  Me, I like my meat (eggs) with meat (ham/bacon.sausage).  That's just me.

So I made a classic quiche, nothing too fancy because it's already pretty primal, and made a simple almond-meal crust to go under it.  Because a quiche without a crust is just baked eggs.  You could change and/or substitute whatever fillings you want in it.  I used a 1/2 cup of real whipping cream and a 1/2 cup coconut milk because I was afraid of making it taste too coco nutty, but now that I've tried it, I don't think the coconut milk would make any flavour difference, if you're looking to reduce the amount of dairy that this recipe uses.  You could substitute goat cheese for the regular cheeses I use.  But I don't recommend using no cheese at all, because then all you've got is baked eggs.

So, here's what I did:

Pastry (makes 2 pie crusts)

• 3 cups almond meal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp cold butter

First, make your pastry.  Don't worry, this is fast and easy.  Crack your egg  into a large mixing bowl and beat the egg.  Then add all of the other pastry ingredients.  With your bare hands, pinch the butter into the mixture until it is all incorporated evenly throughout.  Form into a large ball and then drop it in a large ziplock baggie and stick it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.  You can forget it there  all day if you want to.  But if you do, let it sit on the counter again for at least 5 minutes before attempting to roll it out.

Quiche Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
• 1/2 cup full fat cream
• 1/2 cup spanish  onion, chopped
• 4 slices bacon
• 1/2 cup chopped ham
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1  9" pastry
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425.  Alright, cut your dough ball into 2 halves, and put half back into the baggie and toss it into the freezer for some  other day.  Now, roll out your remaining pastry between 2 sheets of waxed paper.  It comes out really nice this way.  Make sure your circle is wider than the pie pan you're going to use.  When you're done rolling, carefully peel off one side of the waxed paper and flip your pastry shell into the pie plate.  Now carefully peel off the other side of the waxed paper.  Don't worry if you've made a mess.  If anything crumbles or breaks, just press it right back down onto the plate.  No one will notice.  Break off any excess pastry that hangs over the top of the pan.  Bake the empty shell for 8 minutes, until it is just starting to change colour.

    Now, while this happening, fry up your bacon.  Once its done, fry up your onions in the bacon grease.  Chop your ham and set it all aside on a plate.  Grate your cheese--any kind you like.  I didn't have a full cup of swiss, so mine's a mix of swiss, cheddar, and mozzarella.  In a large bowl, wisk your eggs and milks together, add salt and pepper.   When your partially-cooked pie shell comes out of the oven, reduce oven temp to 375.  Sprinkle the meats and onions into the bottom of  the pie shell.  Then sprinkle the cheese over it.  Then pour your egg mixture over everything.  Add more salt and pepper.  Return to oven for 40-45 minutes, until fully set and golden on top. 

You can eat this warm, but it's just as good cold the next day, and the next day, assuming you stick it in the fridge after letting it cool.  Enjoy!