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I hate eggs and always have. We always had tons of fresh farm eggs from our chickens growing up, but no matter how the were cooked I hated them. Fried, scrambled, boiled, poached - doesn't matter. To this day I hate deviled eggs, egg salad, eggy pancake, scrambled egg, huevos rancheros, etc.
There are three exceptions, however. Eggs fried over hard without breaking the yolk in bacon grease will work. I do like omlets with good veggies, meat, cheese, hot sauce and sour cream. And then there is well done quiche.
I had never made quiche before last night, but for a brunch get together today I made three. Two were rather simple and standard quiche lorraines in premade store pie crusts. Bacon, egg, cream, onion, swiss, done. But the third - the third was my own take.
I made my own pie crust. This wasn't as bad as I thought. For a variety of reasons our flour is currently chilling in the freezer, so it was super cold already. I took 2 1/2 cups and added 1t of salt, cut up two sticks of unsalted butter I'd put in the freezer (from the fridge) into 1T pats and mashed it altogether with a pastry knife thing (our food processor is in storage). Then I added 4T or so ice water, and started working with my fingers. To this still very dry mixture I added 2T of vodka (seemed like a waste of good Grey Goose but the lower boiling point of vodka vs water supposedly makes the crust very flaky, and in retrospect I think it does) and then just enough additional ice water to barely bring it all together. Another 2T or so. I patted it into a ball (butter lumps were still visible) and then set it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
While this was chilling, I pulled out the secret weapon. Traditional quiche lorraine usually uses lardon, or so I'm told. I opted for prosciutto. You should have seen the lady at the deli when I asked her to slice it off as thick as possible - she thought I was crazy. I took that, trimmed most of the fat, cubed it, and lightly fried it. The texture was chewy but not rubbery and softened the powerful flavor. I diced half a leek and cooked it in the very little fat from the prosciutto until just starting to turn translucent. Then I grated a cup of good gruyere.
Back to the pastry. Roll half of it out, slightly thick, and put in a quiche dish. Press into the sides, trim, and line with parchment paper. Steal some pinto beans and fill the shell, then bake for 10 minutes at 425. Take the parchment and beans out, stick it back in for 5 more minutes. Take it all the way out and reduce the hear to 325.
At this point I was really worried that the prosciutto would be nasty in this application, but I took a cube and stuck that with some of the leeks and a bit of cheese and ate them all at once. Seemed tasty, so I proceeded. I whisked 3 eggs, 2 egg yolks, 1 cup of heavy cream, 3/4 cup 1 percent milk and whatever amount of salt and pepper seemed good together. Then I added 1t of fresh thyme that I minced.
I spread the prosciutto all over the bottom of the crust and then sprinkled with the leek and 3/4 cup of the gruyere. Then I poured on the egg mixture and sprinkled on the rest of the cheese. Baked for 45 mins.
Turned out fantastic. The prosciutto did not overwhelm and added nice texture. The gruyere was nutty but not acrid. It's effectively a savory custard (duh). 9/10 would make again.
There are three exceptions, however. Eggs fried over hard without breaking the yolk in bacon grease will work. I do like omlets with good veggies, meat, cheese, hot sauce and sour cream. And then there is well done quiche.
I had never made quiche before last night, but for a brunch get together today I made three. Two were rather simple and standard quiche lorraines in premade store pie crusts. Bacon, egg, cream, onion, swiss, done. But the third - the third was my own take.
I made my own pie crust. This wasn't as bad as I thought. For a variety of reasons our flour is currently chilling in the freezer, so it was super cold already. I took 2 1/2 cups and added 1t of salt, cut up two sticks of unsalted butter I'd put in the freezer (from the fridge) into 1T pats and mashed it altogether with a pastry knife thing (our food processor is in storage). Then I added 4T or so ice water, and started working with my fingers. To this still very dry mixture I added 2T of vodka (seemed like a waste of good Grey Goose but the lower boiling point of vodka vs water supposedly makes the crust very flaky, and in retrospect I think it does) and then just enough additional ice water to barely bring it all together. Another 2T or so. I patted it into a ball (butter lumps were still visible) and then set it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
While this was chilling, I pulled out the secret weapon. Traditional quiche lorraine usually uses lardon, or so I'm told. I opted for prosciutto. You should have seen the lady at the deli when I asked her to slice it off as thick as possible - she thought I was crazy. I took that, trimmed most of the fat, cubed it, and lightly fried it. The texture was chewy but not rubbery and softened the powerful flavor. I diced half a leek and cooked it in the very little fat from the prosciutto until just starting to turn translucent. Then I grated a cup of good gruyere.
Back to the pastry. Roll half of it out, slightly thick, and put in a quiche dish. Press into the sides, trim, and line with parchment paper. Steal some pinto beans and fill the shell, then bake for 10 minutes at 425. Take the parchment and beans out, stick it back in for 5 more minutes. Take it all the way out and reduce the hear to 325.
At this point I was really worried that the prosciutto would be nasty in this application, but I took a cube and stuck that with some of the leeks and a bit of cheese and ate them all at once. Seemed tasty, so I proceeded. I whisked 3 eggs, 2 egg yolks, 1 cup of heavy cream, 3/4 cup 1 percent milk and whatever amount of salt and pepper seemed good together. Then I added 1t of fresh thyme that I minced.
I spread the prosciutto all over the bottom of the crust and then sprinkled with the leek and 3/4 cup of the gruyere. Then I poured on the egg mixture and sprinkled on the rest of the cheese. Baked for 45 mins.
Turned out fantastic. The prosciutto did not overwhelm and added nice texture. The gruyere was nutty but not acrid. It's effectively a savory custard (duh). 9/10 would make again.
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