08.10.05

Quiche

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:21 am by trueepicure

Last night I made a quiche with local eggs. My eggs are from a friend in North Phoenix who adopted a bunch of chickens and keeps them in a hen house in their backyard. J and M adopted the chickens (I’m not quite sure how many, but more than 5) after a friend of theirs contacted them to see if they knew someone who would like chickens. Apparently the original chicken owner had a request from someone else for fertilized eggs. (I’m not quite sure what this woman was planning to do with fertilized eggs - I know that they are sometimes used in making vaccines for flu and such, but I’m don’t think this is why she wanted them.)

The requestor never picked up the eggs, and fertilized eggs have a funny way of turning into chickens. So J and M now have a bunch of chickens, including polish ones. They bring several dozen eggs to our monthly garden meetings, and I usually go home with a dozen for a $1 donation to the club.

I use a recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking:

Preheat oven to 375°

Prepare a deep dish pie shell, 9-inch (I usually use whatever brand I can find at the store, premade) by pricking it well with a fork or knife (or use pie weights). Bake the empty pie shell until it is just golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool.

Clean and chop one leek (just the white part), and saute in olive oil for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through.

While the pie shell is cooling, mix the following in a bowl:

3 eggs

2 cups of milk or cream (I use whole organic milk)

a pinch or two of salt

freshly ground pepper

sauteed leek (You can add other fillings if you like, but you may have to adjust the cooking time.)

Prepare 1/4-1/2 cup of swiss cheese. Cube and set aside.

Fill the bottom of the cooled pie shell with the cheese and pour the custard mixture on top. Put it in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. Check the quiche at about 30 minutes, and if the edges of the crust look like they are deep brown already, but some foil or pie shields around the edges (to keep them from burning).

The custard will have puffed up and will be golden brown when the quiche is done. Take it out of the oven and let it cool for at least 10 minutes. Trust me on this. If you cut into it when it is just out of the oven, you will have nasty, runny custard everywhere. Bleh.

This recipe makes approximately 6 servings, and is fantastic with a salad of arugula and baby greens.

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