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A perfect quiche. A great way to start a weekend morning.
Quiche Is Back
Seems that quiche is back in style again. I wasn’t aware it was ever “out” but it hasn’t been trendy for quite a long time.
However, by what I’m seeing on line and in print, quiche appears to becoming popular again. I like that because quiches are easy, they can use up leftovers and most of all, they are very tasty.
There’s a secret to getting a perfect quiche every time–and it’s so easy that you’ll create some delicious ones once you know how to do it!
It’s In The Custard
A quiche is basically a custard which everyone knows is milk or cream and eggs.
The key is getting the right proportions of each of those ingredients so that it’s successful each and every time you make one.
The very first thing is use the dairy product with the highest amount of fat. For me that’s heavy cream. You can’t beat it for flavor or quality of the custard. If you use heavy cream, your custard will be velvety all the time. The next choice is light cream or half and half (for those outside the USA, half and half is 50 percent whole or full-fat milk and 50 percent light or single cream). Those two choices will give very good results too. The last is full-fat or whole milk.
Stay away from low or non-fat milks and half and half. It simply won’t taste good.
Now comes the eggs. For each 1/2 cup/120 ml of cream or milk, use 1 whole large egg. Yes, it’s that simple!
One Last Thing
Ever wonder why some quiches you’ve eaten taste better than ones you’ve made? I wondered that too and when I was watching an old Julia Child show from the early 1960s, I got my answer, or rather answers.
First, pre-bake your crust. This will prevent, as Julia Child says, the proverbial “soggy bottom,” which makes the whole experience unpleasant.
Second thing is you add a teeny pinch of nutmeg to the custard. You don’t taste the nutmeg at all but it enhances all the other great flavors. If you have whole nutmeg, it’s one or two scrapes on the grater. That’s all there is to it!
The Recipe
Ham and Swiss Quiche
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust 9-inch deep dish
Filling:
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups milk half-and-half or cream
- 1/2 cup diced ham
- 1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- pinch of nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Place crust in a 9-inch/23-cm quiche pan or standard US pie plate. Line the base of the crust with parchment or aluminum foil and fill with pie weights, dry beans or rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and parchment and let the crust cool slightly.
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C
- Whisk the eggs and cream together. Stir in remaining ingredients and pour in prepared crust.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
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