So we had a ham for Christmas. I decided to use some of the leftovers on a quiche.
I was tired after all of the cooking and baking I have done this holiday season, so I used a refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crust – the kind that come rolled two to a package so I could use my own pie plate.
Preheat oven to 425°.
Here are your ingredients:
1 pie crust
1 cup chopped ham
1 cup shredded (or grated) Swiss cheese
1/3 cup shredded (or grated) extra sharp Cheddar cheese
1 grated (yes grated) small onion (I prefer a red onion)
5-6 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups half and half
5 tablespoons whole milk Ricotta (drained)
Salt and pepper (not a lot truthfully – maybe 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
A couple of dashes of hot sauce (a light hand, not heavy)
Chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill.
Sauté ham and onion in a tablespoon of butter do not let stick to pan keep stirring. Onion should become translucent and then remove from heat.
In a large bowl whisk together eggs with half and half and Ricotta. Add dill, hot sauce, salt & pepper.
Line pie plate (I use a deeper dish pie plate) with crust. Rub bottom of crust lined in pan with just a smidge of very soft butter.
Place ham in crust as first layer. Second layer is shredded (grated) Swiss and cheddar. Slowly pour in egg mixture.
Cover crust with a pie shield or foil to keep edges of crust from burning. I use a silicone one – it’s adjustable.
Place quiche on a cookie sheet and put in oven and bake for 15 minutes at 425° F.
Then lower heat to 325° F and bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes depending upon your oven. You will have to occasionally check it once it hits the 30 minute mark and keep checking it to see when a knife edge comes out clean.
Quiche should sit a good 20 minutes before slicing.
New year, new quiche and the secret to how fluffy it will seem is the ricotta.
I just felt like making a quiche and I had made a ham a few days ago, so I pulled out one of my Smithfield Barn vintage pie plates and away we went. And by the way, spend the money to make your quiche with Swiss and Gruyere cheeses…it makes a world of difference.
Here is what I made (my recipe):
Quiche with Ham and Portobello Mushrooms
6 large eggs
¾ cup evaporated milk
1 large shallot
1 small onion
1 8 oz package of baby Portobello or crimini mushrooms sliced thin
2 tablespoons butter
1 deep dish pie plate and one pie crust (I make my own crust or buy refrigerated pie dough in a pinch – don’t like frozen pie crusts)
2 ½ cups shredded cheese – half Swiss and half Gruyere
About 2 cups of minced up ham
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce
Preheat oven to 400°.
Sauté onion, shallot, mushrooms and ham in 2 tablespoons of butter. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Beat eggs in a large mixing bowl.
Add milk and mix well. Add a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.
Place sautéed mixture into pie crust. Then cheese. Finally pour milk and eggs mixture over top.
Place quiche on a baking sheet and bake on the middle oven rack for 15 minutes at 400°, and then reduce heat to 350° and bake another 30-32 minutes.
When toothpick or knife comes out of quiche clean, it’s done. Allow to cool at least 25 minutes before serving.
Yes….how to get more vegetables into your teenager. Of course my teenager has just decreed that he’s not eating any quiche.
(Deep breath…..deep breath…..)
As parents is incredibly frustrating when you are going out of your way to try to make things that will be appealing to them, and then they won’t even try things if they are in a teenage mood. Well the teen can try it, right? Not everything can be of the favorite teenage boy food group of starch sugar and more starch. He was much easier to feed when he was 10, and he was actually open to trying new things and allowing things that were green and vegetable like to pass his lips regularly.
Of course if I had a show on Food Network like Nancy Fuller or Martha Stewart or Ree Drummond or Ina Garten everybody would sit magically around the table which would be set beautifully to perfection every night and eat everything that I made and rave….LOL reality is far different!
Okay enough venting my frustration over the eating habits and mercurial moods of the teenage male! I just have to keep repeating “I love my teenager I love my teenager I love my teenager I love my teenager“.
I think out there somewhere there must be a 12 step program for surviving the teenage years. They really aren’t mutant ninja secret agent super gamer teenage cave dwellers who have taken a vow of silence. My brother-in-law humorously noted recently that the average teenage boy doesn’t really start conversing with adults again until they hit 18 or 19.
Anyway I know this quiche will be delicious. The wine depicted in the photo is for adults in the house.
So how this recipe came about: I had ham leftover from New Year’s. I had frozen the bone for an upcoming lentil soup, but decided to go quiche with the remaining ham meat.
First I made my crust – I am into these herbs and savory crusts these days, so the recipe for this particular crust is below the rest of the quiche recipe.
Once I had rolled out my crust and fit it into my 9 1/2 inch vintage glass dish pie plate, put that in the refrigerator to keep cool well I got to work on the rest of the quiche.
Somewhere during the crust making process I preheated my oven to 375°.
My next step involves the ingredients below:
1 1/2 cups cubed ham
1/2 cup grape tomatoes sliced thin
1 medium onion chopped small
1 cup fresh broccoli diced
Dash of salt fresh cracked pepper
Dash of Cumin
For all those ingredients listed above, sauté with 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium heat for about 10 minutes, maybe 15. Turn off heat and set-aside.
Okay now that that part was complete and the crust was chilling, comes the next step before assembly. It involves the ingredients below:
1 3/4 cups shredded Swiss and Gruyere cheese
5 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
Dash sriracha sauce
1/2 cup fresh baby spinach stems removed
In a mixing bowl whisk together the eggs milk salt, pepper herbs and spices. Add your dash of sriracha sauce.
Fold in the cheese. Take your piecrust out of the refrigerator and place in the center of a rimmed baking sheet – I use a professional jellyroll pan. First layer in the ham mixture from your sauté pan, then add baby spinach – the leaves are so small I don’t bother to chop up. Finally add your shredded cheese.
Place quiche on your baking sheet and your preheated 375° oven. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit at least 10 minutes before serving. I don’t like eating boiling hot quiche so I will let mine sit 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve with a green salad.
Oops, I almost forgot, here is how I made the crust:
1/2 teaspoon each rosemary, marjoram, tarragon
1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
3 Tbs. very cold buttermilk
Directions:
To make the dough by hand, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives or yes your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter pieces no larger than small peas. Add the water and mix with a fork just until the dough pulls together. Form dough into a ball and flatten slightly on a floured surface roll out. Put in your pie plate crimp the edges, and refrigerate why you assemble the rest of your quiche.
