As Chris said, "To crust a quiche or to not crust a quiche." I ended up not using a crust because who wants carbs right? Plus, this is such an easy dish to make for breakfast or brunch. Don't let the picture intimidate you--even the novice cook will enjoy making this every Sunday.
Quiche is really fun to make, and you can personalize the filling any way you want. For this particular quiche, I used sauteed onions and garlic, spinach, bacon, and parmesan cheese. You can use pretty much anything you think will compliment each other, so this is a great recipe for the creative type.
The actual custard/egg mixture is really easy to make. You'll need the following ingredients for a 9 inch round quiche dish
:- 2 cups of half and half
- 4 eggs
Set your oven to 350 degrees. Next, take your quiche dish and spray it with some non-stick cooking spray (e.g., Pam).
Next cook anything that you believe won't cook in the oven. For this particular quiche I cooked a pound of bacon and sauteed some onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil ahead of time. I then chopped up the bacon into little bits. Your filling total should not exceed 4 cups, or you'll have some over flow issues. When you have your filling bits ready, you can move on to the eggs.
Whisk the half and half and eggs in a very large bowl. I would recommend whisking the eggs first and then adding the half and half. And I can't emphasize enough that you should use a large bowl, otherwise spillage will happen. You then want to add your seasoning. For this particular quiche I seasoned it with salt, fresh ground pepper, and some red pepper flakes. Now the assembly process can commence.
First you add half of your filling. I took two handfuls of bacon and spread it evenly on the bottom, then I added the sauteed onions and garlic, spinach, and topped it with a bit of cheese. Repeat. Then you pour in the egg mixture and pop it in the oven for about 45 minutes--when the center of the quiche is firm.
To complete brunch I made a strawberry spinach salad, bacon, hashbrowns, and bacon wrapped asparagus. I used a toothpick to hold the bacon in place while they were roasting in the oven. You can do this the last 15 minutes or so with the quiche. I also served a strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry fruit salad. And no brunch would be complete without a mimosa, which Serge served up with a few raspberries from the fruit salad.This post is making me hungry again!
