This quiche is just the thing to impress the neighbors and comfort your man after a long day's work. This is no brunch faire. This quiche is full of flavor and lots of love.
I will confess that I have not, to this date made my own pie crust for this dinner. This is always something I throw together at the last minute. I am sure it would taste wonderful with Gramma's pie crust recepie and it would help me to abide by my own "no hydrogenated oils" policy but for now I will post it, as I have made it. Sadly, with store bought crust. Shhh...don't tell.
You will need-
A quiche dish
Pie weights
One pie crust
3 eggs
1.5 cups cream
1 pound of shaved ham
1/2 pound imported Swiss cheese (Imported Swiss has MUCH MORE bite than domestic!)
White wine mustard
Pinch of salt
Ground pepper, you choose amount
I learned a wonderful little trick this past winter, passed onto my Momma from a lady that she met down in Florida at my Gramma's winter retreat. Lay out a clean dish towel on the countertops, unroll the pie crust and put another towel down on top and then proceed to roll it out. You will never have crust stick to your counter or rolling pin again!!! Much cleaner than throwing flour everywhere.
My next trick is this, take a clean paper towel and fold it into fours. Lightly wipe your butter tub (we use Soy Garden "butter spread"), then wipe down your Quiche dish. This will give your crust a very light yummy buttery flavor and it will allow you to lift your pieces of quiche out much easier. This idea was modified from Great Gramma Bauers trick using Crisco.
Preheat you oven to 400 degrees F, line the dish with the pie pastry, prick the base of the pastry and line with foil (I prefer wax paper) and fill with pie weights. Cook for 15 minutes.
What are pie weights you ask? Pie weights can be found at your favorite cuisine store such as Williams Sonoma, they keep the pie crust from bubbling and rising as your pre-cook it.
In a frying pan fry up your ham. Again, I use Soy Garden or European style butter when I have it. Some don't fry their ham but I tell you, it creates a heavenly smell in your kitchen. Once your man smells it he won't wrinkle up his nose when you tell him you are having Quiche for dinner! Fry it just enough so the edges get crispy and for heavens sake, don't remove the juices!
Remove your pre-baked quiche crust and carefully remove the pie weights. THEY WILL BE HOT! Reduce your oven temp to 350 F.
With a pastry brush or even a new clean artist brush, brush the inside of the crust with a heaping spoonful of the White Wine Mustard. (This is the secret!)
Beat the eggs and mix them with the cream in a seperate bowl, add salt and pepper.
Slice the cheese and place it along with the ham in the bottom of the crust. Pour the cream and egg mixture over the top. Throw in those ham juices too! Cook for about 35 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
Enjoy with mixed greens and a glass of Cotes du Rhone.
For Veggie friends replace ham and Swiss with Zucchini, Summer Squash and Chevre (goat cheese)!
Bon Appetit!
Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment!
Merci!
