Tell me about your quiche!

[Rosehip]

Quiche is one of those things that I tend to "forget" about for long stretches. But I made one tonight & yum! It was a variant of Julia Child's leek quiche recipe. I used potatoes in place of crust & used more eggs & less cream (& subbed 1/2 & 1/2). I think I liked the creaminess of it - in the past, my quiches have had much less milk/cream.

Anyway, I'd love to hear others' ideas for quiche - fillings, crusts, etc! Also, do they freeze? If they freeze well, it seems like a great thing to make several of.

[serenbat]

we do crust-less, spray or coat with olive oil, and sprinkle WWbread crumbs on (shake in pan)-I use a square pan-glass and it is easy to take out

mostly-I break up my cooked frozen spinach (defrosted and squeezed), add cheese, (veggies) and spices and than pour on (egg & 1/2+1/2 mixture) and bake until done

[velochic]

My crust is just a simple short crust. Flour, butter, egg, ice water. I find short crusts to work best for quiche.

Filling... eggs, whipping cream, a variety of meats and veg. We particularly like to eat it when my herb garden is in full bloom (which it is already) because for some reason herbs just go SO well with eggs in general and quiche in particular.

A favorite of ours is bacon, ham, gruyere cheese, shallots, chives and thyme. Another favorite is asparagus quiche this time of the year. Typical quiche with asparagus and bacon lardons.

Obviously because it's a heart-stopper, we don't eat quiche very often. A couple, three times a year probably. IMO, I'd rather have it very seldom and have a GREAT quiche than to cut back on the rich ingredients and have it more often. It kind of makes it special.

ETA: I forgot the question about freezing. We don't usually freeze it because we eat it so rarely, but I have frozen other egg-based dishes. As long as the eggs are scrambled, they seem to freeze fine. If it has a lot of vegetables, it could get soggy when reheated, though. The freezing breaks down the molecular structure of vegetables and they tend to "leak" water.

[katelove]

When I am being thorough I make a basic shortcrust pastry as well. When I'm being lazy I use bought puff pastry

For the filling I use skim milk instead of cream because that's what I have in the fridge and because I find cream a bit rich for me.

I usually use a mix of cheeses - parmesan, cheddar, fetta if there is any little bits which need using up.

DH is vegetarian so our quiches are always vegie. Again, depends what I have in the fridge. Always onion. Broccoli, corn, capsicum, zucchini and spinach all work well, either together or just one or two. Mushrooms are good but I don't like them so I don't use them often. I usually saute or microwave the vegies first otherwise it can get a bit watery.

They freeze really well IME. In fact I have just made a whole heap of individual ones and frozen them for our post-birth meal stash. I have even frozen one uncooked once when I ran out of gas and it was fine but it is much easier to do it cooked. I prefer to thaw them in the fridge and reheat in the oven rather than microwaving to keep the pastry crisp.

We like them with a salad of tomato, cucumber and spinach dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Makes a nice contrast to the rich filling.

[oiseau]

I always make a regular pie crust (flour, butter, water) and for the eggy part of the filling, I use the recipe in the Joy of Cooking, except I usually add an extra egg. I can't remember it off the top of my head, but it's pretty much 3 eggs plus 1.5c milky/creamy something, plus salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg. I usually modify it to 4 eggs, 1c. creme fraiche plus a splash of milk if I have any (rarely). I learned to make quiche in France where creme fraiche is the standard, so I've always just stuck with that.

We almost always make salmon spinach quiche. We like that combo so much that we rarely change it up. I've never frozen it, but it seems like it would do pretty good in the freezer.

[Rosehip]

Originally Posted by oiseau

We almost always make salmon spinach quiche. We like that combo so much that we rarely change it up. I've never frozen it, but it seems like it would do pretty good in the freezer.

Dumb question, but you use cooked salmon, right? Does it matter how it's cooked?

[Ola_]

I do a quiche with pizza dough instead of a pie crust (I make my own and use the equivalent dough amount as I'd use for one thin crust pizza). I just stretch out the dough into a rough circle and then use my fingers to spread it around in the pie pan. My favourite lately is leek & potato quiche. I slice up and saute the leeks and potatoes (to soften them up a bit), then they go into the crust and I pour the egg mixture over top. The egg mixture is 1 cup milk, 3 eggs, a spoonful of dijon mustard, and a good handful of grated cheese (stronger is better).

Mushroom and cheese quiche is another favourite, though I haven't made that in a little while. I also have some chives in a pot on my windowsill so I like to snip some of those into the egg mixture. It looks pretty because they float on top when it bakes.

[hildare]

I've only ever made it with regular cow's milk but no cream, etc.
I usually use around 4 eggs. Sometimes I use ricotta, though.
I try to make it based around seasonal things, but my favorite is spinach, broccoli and feta chunks. Basil's good in there, too.
I have made crust or used store bought roll out/refrigerated crust (which has bad stuff in it) and i like to put a crust on the top (which makes it not quiche..)
it does freeze- very well- and was one of my favorite postpartum frozen dinners!

[serenbat]

Obviously because it's a heart-stopper, we don't eat quiche very often.

why is that?

we eat a quiche weekly, with or without a lard crust, eggs, chees and cream, we consider it good for our heart

[hildare]

Originally Posted by serenbat

why is that?

we eat a quiche weekly, with or without a lard crust, eggs, chees and cream, we consider it good for our heart

hehehe.. especially if you use beans?

[oiseau]

Rosehip: Yeah, the salmon is cooked. We generally get frozen wild-caught Alaska salmon from Trader Joe's and when I use it for quiche, I generally just put it in the oven with some salt and pepper on it for 15min or until it's done. I think I've done it in a skillet on the stove too, breaking it up as it cooks.
The person I learned that recipe from poached the salmon I think. I don't really know how to poach salmon though, so I stick to the oven. Regardless, I don't think it matters how you cook it. Smoked salmon would probably work too.

[Masel]

I have quiche for breakfast almost every day. I make it crustless in a brownie pan. It starts with 16 eggs, half a package of turkey ham, and a package of frozen spinach. I add other veggie as available. Oh and a diced carmalized onion. It freezes well.

I don't put milk product in mine since I'm on a med that doesn't play well with it.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by serenbat

why is that?

we eat a quiche weekly, with or without a lard crust, eggs, chees and cream, we consider it good for our heart

We don't consider bacon, butter, lard, cream, cheese, and lots of eggs good for our hearts. That's why.

[kittywitty]

I use a simple pate brisee crust and then add spinach, a little roasted red pepper, sometimes bacon (2 strips for the whole batch), various cheeses, and 3 eggs/1.25 c milk (cream if I have it/can afford it). I think it's far healthier than a lot of food we could eat.

[Kelilah]

I make mine with milk instead of cream, and I generally like to beat some pumpkin puree into the eggs for pumpkin quiche. If I'm going all-out, I'll also add sauteed shiitake mushrooms and arugula/spinach to the pumpkin quiche and sprinkle ground hazelnuts over the top. Of course a little cheese on top too. It's always a big hit with salad.

[serenbat]

there is lots of information on the heart healthy benefits to eating lard, full fat dairy, bacon, and eggs-that's why we eat quiche weekly- added spinach is a plus! just made one and added mushroom and peppers so yummy

tons of info on the traditional foods section as well