A Little Personal History:
Description:
| Categories: | Breakfast or Brunch |
| Servings: | 8 servings (2″ deep dish), 2 pies (1″ dish) 4 servings, each pie |
| Time: | – Preparation: 30 minutes, refer to associated recipes – Cooking: 40 minutes – Resting: 20 minutes |
| Equipment: | Small skillet, wooden spoon, measuring cups and spoons, cutting board and knifes, 2 small bowls, 1 large mixing bowl, plastic spatula, grater, food processor, cookie sheet |
| Difficulty: | Easy |
Ingredients:
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup Lars’s Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup
- ½ cup cooked sausage, diced
- ½ cup cooked ham, diced
- ½ cup broccoli, chopped
- 1 tsp fresh tarragon, chopped
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 dash ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ cup Cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 prepared 9″ deep dish pie crust, frozen
Procedure:
- If ham or sausage are not pre-cooked, in skillet on medium heat, saute ground sausage and ham with wooden spoon until done. Place on paper towel to absorb grease.
- On cutting board, chop cooked ham & sausage, broccoli and tarragon. Place in small bowl. Add remaining seasonings to bowl. Set aside.
- Grate cheese and set aside in small bowl.
- Break eggs in large mixing bowl and beat eggs lightly with whisk. Add cream and mushroom soup, whisk lightly together.
- Fold in ham, sausage, broccoli/seasoning bowl into large bowl. With spatula, fold until a homogeneous mixture forms.
- Fold in grated cheese.
- Transfer to food processor and pulse, for a second, 3-6 times; till blended together (depending on size of your processor, you may need to do in batches). Transfer back to large mixing bowl.
- Pour or ladle mixture into pie crust. Smooth with spatula as needed.
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Place pie crust on cookie sheet and bake the quiche for 40 minutes, or until done; a toothpick or fork inserted into its middle should come out “clean”.
- Remove the quiche from the oven and let it set for at 20 minutes.
- Slice into wedges and serve.
Advanced Preparation:
- Steps 1-3 can be done in advance and refrigerated till needed.
- Steps 4-7 can be done in advance, sealed and refrigerated up to a day in advance. Re-fold together before pouring into frozen pie crust.
- You can also pour into pie crust, seal with plastic wrap and freeze. I suggest baking frozen, so crust isn’t “soggy”. This may require lowering oven to 350° F and adding 10-15 minutes to baking time. When I can’t find deep dish pie crusts, I bake one and freeze the other for later.
Tips, Notes, and Variations:
- If Cheddar cheese makes the dish a little to “sharp”, try a milder cheese (Swiss, Gruyere, etc).
- My family likes everything blended together, ergo the use of the food processor for pulsing. If you like your quiche more “chunky”, eliminate Step 7.
- A frozen pie crust help prevent crust from being “soggy” after baking.
- If you can’t find a deep dish pie crust (2″ deep), using two regular pie crusts. You can bake one (4 servings) and freeze the other.
- If you find yourself with some quiche filling left over, just save it in a container and refrigerate. It’s makes for a great scrambled egg medley.
