Quiche part 2... The recipe

After a night's sleep (not good, just a night's) I'm less annoyed with the quiche. While it didn't work out for dinner last night, with two full quiches in the fridge we now have a week's worth of breakfast and lunch leftovers!

The recipe I’ve developed for my quiche is based on the quiche Lorraine recipe from my trusty Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. I'm not going to post the original recipe, because I've changed it a bit, I’m just going to post my version. Let's call it quiche Cantrell. Please note this makes two full quiches or 12 servings.

Quiche Cantrell
Prep time: 25 minutes
Bake time: 35 minutes to an hour
Makes 2 quiches

2 Premade Pie crusts
1lb Bacon, sliced into 1 inch pieces
4 Ounces mushrooms, sliced thin
1 Medium onion, sliced thin
6 Eggs
3 Cups milk
½ teaspoon Salt
Nutmeg
3 Cups Swiss cheese, shredded
2 Tablespoons Flour

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Remove pie crusts from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature, this takes approx. 15 minutes. Once the oven and pie crusts are ready, put one pie crust into a pie dish, yes you’ll need two pie dishes for this recipe. Poke the bottom of each pie crust with a fork 5-6 times to prevent big bubbles from forming while the crust bakes. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the crust is very light brown and no longer looks wet.  Once the crust is done baking turn the oven down to 325 degrees.
2. While the pie crust is baking, cook the bacon until crisp. I use our cast iron pan on medium-high heat. This step can take 5-15 minutes depending on the size of your pan and how thick the bacon is.
3. While the bacon is cooking prep the mushrooms and onion. Then start grating the cheese. If you’re using pre-grated cheese, you can skip that last part.
4. After the bacon is crisp use a slotted spoon to remove from the pan and set aside. I use a paper towel lined plate to help drain off the extra bacon grease.
5. Using the same pan as the bacon, cook the onions until they start to brown, 4-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms once the onions are browned. Cook the mushrooms and onions together until the mushrooms start to brown, another 4-5 minutes. Finish grating the cheese if needed.
6. Once the mushrooms and onions are brown, turn the heat to low while you finish prepping the remaining ingredients.
7. In a small bowl, combine the cheese and flour. Make sure the flour evenly coats the cheese.
8. In a medium sized bowl, add the eggs and beat. Add the milk, salt and nutmeg. Stir in the bacon, mushrooms and onions. Next add the cheese and mix well.
9. Pour the mixture into the pie crusts, making sure there is an even (or as close to even as possible) amount of liquid and solids in each crust.
10. Bake for 35 minutes to an hour… or longer. The quiche is done once the top is slightly browned and you can insert a knife in the middle and it comes out clean.
11. Remove the quiche from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. This step is important. If you skip this step the quiche may not be fully set and could fall apart when you try to remove it from the pie pan.

I know this recipe sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. The original recipe only has three steps, mine has 11 because this is the way I prepare it. I hate when a recipe has 3 steps, but inside each step there are 4-5 steps they’re assuming you’ve already done. I found that very frustrating when I first started cooking. I learned to always read, reread and read again any recipe before starting it.

You can save yourself sometime by buying pre-grated cheese, but I like the taste of freshly grated cheese. You could make your own pie crust, I haven’t tackled that challenge yet, I’m perfectly happy saving time and energy using the premade Pillsbury stuff you find the refrigerated section at the grocery store. Oh, and 4 ounces of mushrooms is half a package.

I use fresh nutmeg, I think it tastes better. You can but whole nutmeg in the bulk section, they look like small walnuts. You just need a micro plane/zester . I use ours for nutmeg, garlic, cheese, lemons, and all sorts of stuff. I was scared of it at first, but know it’s one of my favorite kitchen tools.

For some reason I’m out of flour, strange I know, so I used cornstarch instead and it worked fine.

Make sure you turn the oven down to 325 after backing the pie crusts.  I've fogotten this step in the past and it wasn't pretty.
This is another dish that tastes better the next day. I always make two quiches so we have lots of leftovers, if you only want to make one, you can half the recipe and only get one. :)