Hi Everyone
I’m in charge of bringing some quiche to a bridal shower breakfast this weekend so I’d love to hear your best recipes. I’ve just learned of a hash brown crust quiche and I’d like to try that for one of the pies I’ll make. Anybody have experience with that kind of Quiche?
I want a Quiche Lorraine for sure and think the Better Homes & Garden recipe is one I’ve used before that was good, but I might be misremembering.
As always, thanks in advance for sharing your recipes and tips.
Shout out for Frittatas as an alternative to the standard quiche.
Yes, I’ve enjoyed those too, but I haven’t made one in ages. I’ve lost all my cookbooks so I go online, I’m never sure which recipes to trust.
My only tip is to keep it simple and avoid overloading the quiche. Most bad quiches I’ve had are because they’ve been stuffed with fillings and the final product is like a crumbly overcooked omelette.
Good quiche is creamy and egg-forward. The fillings are points of contrast, not the star of the show.
I like bacon* and feta. Be extra careful with water-filled stuff like mushrooms and spinach.
*In my experience any recipe that calls for bits of ham is made one million times better by substituting bacon.
Along with @kayaker, I’m in the frittata faction, because making a good crust is arguably harder than making a good quiche - and using most store bought variants, said crust inevitably becomes the weakest link.
That said, while @Johnny_Bravo isn’t wrong about a traditional quiche being egg forward, that’s not the way I make them for myself. Granted, good, quality eggs with great technique are a thing of beauty… but I’m not that good. So I like highly flavorful ingredients. Note, again, not that J_B is wrong, but it’s my preference, and they’re 100% correct on being extra careful of water content, so precook mushrooms at wilt the spinach at a minimum, before careful drying.
For me (see living in southern NM from 6-18) I love roasted hatch (or other flavorful local chile) chopped medium fine, some cilantro, and generally a touch of smoked paprika. Do be careful in chile selection, because I prefer the slightly sweet taste of hatch and anaheim peppers, while other varieties can be very green bell pepper / bitter which may be a challenge to some tastes.
Alternately, a roasted (again, drives off moisture, increases sweetness and flavor) is a great choice for anyone who wants to avoid hot capsicums.
A last flavor I like adding is a little bit of pre-cooked European style bacon, both for the flavor, and that I find it leaner, with substantially less grease involved than traditional streaky bacon.
My favorite is Ortega chiles and a little Swiss (or Emmenthal) cheese.
This is the one I make most:
Spinach Feta Quiche/Tart
2TB. grated Romano or parmesan cheese
1 9-inch pie shell (deep dish if store-bought), preferably parbaked and cooled
5 oz. fresh spinach, chopped (can sub one package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and liquid squeezed out)
8 oz. ricotta cheese, preferably whole milk
6-8 oz. sheep’s milk feta, crumbled (drained and rinsed if in brine)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
¼ cup milk or half n half (can use cream too)
1 tsp. oregano
Pepper to taste if desired
Oven 375 F.
Sprinkle the grated parm/Romano/yeast into the bottom of the cooled pie shell.
Mix the chopped spinach, ricotta, feta, eggs, milk, oregano and pepper in a large bowl until well blended. If using fresh spinach, mixture will be thick and mostly spinach. Spoon into pie shell and bake 50-60 minutes or until center is firm and top is slightly browned (there should be no liquid from the spinach left on the top). Cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.
I make the quiche recipe I grew up with, which came from a cookbook entitled More-with-Less:
Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Quiche
Servings: 8
INGREDIENTS
1 lb. Sausage
Pam
1 bag Hash browns
1 small Onion
Butter
4 eggs
1 can Evaporated milk
1 bag Shredded cheese
Olive oil
STEPS
Pre-heat oven to 350°
Spray 9x13 glass dish with Pam
Spread hash browns out in dish
Cook for half an hour
20 minutes in: Dice onions
Put large frying pan on medium
Slice out a small pat of butter
Cover pan gently with olive oil
Drop butter into the pan from a very short distance
Add onion and stir
When onions are nearly done, remove sausage from wrapper and add to pan without cutting it first
Separate sausage into smaller chunks with spatulas
Lower stove heat so that the onions won't burn and the sausage won't be fully cooked
Crack eggs into large mixing bowl, stir thoroughly, shake evaporated milk, add, stir
Strain sausage and onions
Remove baking dish from oven. Potatoes should be slightly gold
Add first sausage, then eggs, then cheese to baking dish
Return baking dish to oven at 350° for 45 minutes
Remove, let set for 5 minutes, serve
Always makes a great hit in our house.
Thanks you guys. These all sound great.
Here are a couple of Mediaeval/Renaissance recipes:
Tart in Ymbre day (a tart for an ember day - a meatless fast day)
Tart of scallions or onions
Medieval quiches tend to be very herby, and cheese-forward.
Despite being a carnivore, I really liked one quiche that was just fresh herbs and green onion.
Yeah, I usually find that meat in a quiche tends to make it too greasy for me.