Quiche

I started making quiches during my senior year of high school. They were a staple of my undergrad career. Including a few odd ones... The worst was completely inedible when I added 1 tbps and not one tsp..  I cannot be held accountable for what happens when dance parties start while I'm cooking.  Thankfully beyond over salting this things are hard to ruin. Even when they don't cook right. Eventually they will cook and taste fine.

My first UK quiche attempt was an experience.  I had some mushrooms which were about to go off and half an onion that was starting to dry out so I sautéed these up and threw them in the filling. Along with 'streaky' bacon. While it's supposedly the closest to American style bacon, I don't see it. The first time I cooked it here, I actually had to add oil to the pan! However, it does taste like bacon so for now it'll have to do.  As for the pie tin, at Thanksgiving time, I couldn't find one so I've been using a shallow ceramic torte pan for pie-like things (even brownies) . It does work but it take FOREVER for fillings to cook.  I talking two hours for a pumpkin pie to bake. Same thing happened with this quiche but eventually it did cook. Like I said before, they're hard to ruin. Last year I made two in 9" cake pans, as long as you make sure the filling is cooked and give your self extra time to cook, you're good to go.

There are lots of oddities happening in the UK, specially at the grocery store. One I wasn't expecting was rectangular shaped pre made pie crusts.  So with this quiche I had lots of extra crust.  I also happened to end up with extra filling because of the shallowness of the torte pan.  So I decided to experiment with some mini quiches.  You can do this by putting crust into a muffin tin and pouring in some filling.  The hardest part is getting the right shape for the crust.  I had to experiment a few times with cups and bowls and other circle objects in the house, but ended up measuring over the muffin tin.  I took a square shape, rolled out piece of dough and pushed it down into the tin. Then I trimmed the left overs and used this as a template for the rest.  Adding a little bit of filling, probably less than 1/4 cup per mini quiche.  I baked them at the same time as the large quiche, but pulled them out as soon as the eggs puffed up and the tops turned brown (around 12-15 minutes).  They turned out pretty well. They were very cute but also very crusty. If you can't get enough of the pie crust in quiche you should definitely try this! If not, maybe skip it. I love the pie crust, but this was a bit much for me.

I follow this recipe:
1 pie crust- store bought or homemade (your choice. I use which ever I happen to have or how much I happen to be procrastinating)
7 eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy cream*
1 cup cheddar cheese (I prefer medium to sharp)
1 cup swiss cheese
1/2 pound bacon- fried and crumbled
Add pepper and salt to taste**
Optional: Sautéed mushrooms and onions (about 1 cup)

* After the heavy cream you can add which ever ingredients you choose, or whatever you happen to have in the fridge.
**After the salt incident mentioned above, I avoid salt but always add a bit of pepper.  I find the bacon usually salts this enough for me.  

Instructions:
Roll out pie crust and place in pie tin.  Prepare cheese and bacon (grate and crumble).  Set aside.  Add eggs and cream to mixing bowl, whisk.  Add cheese and bacon (and any extra goodies).  Give the bowl a good mix (by hand) to make sure all the tasty heavier ingredients won't fall in one place.  Then pour bowl contents into pie crust.  Bake at 400 degrees/ 6 gas mark for 45 minutes to 1 hour.   A done quiche will not jiggle when you shake it.  If the filling isn't firm, it isn't done.  Let cool about 10 minutes before serving.