Quiche: A Second Chance for Holiday Leftovers
January 1, 2013 Cmurph

As I mentioned before, all of the wonderful holiday gatherings we attend bless us with the opportunity to visit with family and friends, and with an abundance of leftover meats, cheeses and vegetables.  A couple days after Christmas, I woke craving quiche. What a perfect use for the leftovers in my refrigerator!

I love to cook, however baking is not really one of my strong skills.  Probably because it requires more precise measurements and I rarely measure anything (in fact, I often struggle to figure out the actual measurements for the recipes I post in this blog!), and because it seems to take a bit more patience.  This crust is very simple and forgiving.

Crust

2 1/2 C Flour
2 sticks cold butter – cut
1 t Salt
1 t Sugar
4 T (+ up to 4 T more) Ice Water

Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.  Add the butter, mix into the flour with a pastry cutter.  Blend until the mixture is crumbly.  Add the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time and work into the flour with your hands.  Be careful not to over work it.  When the dough forms, divide in half and form to balls.

Press into disks between plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.  Roll dough onto a flour surface until it’s about 14in round.  Roll onto the rolling pin and transfer to pie dish.  Press into the dish and form the edges of the crust.  For those of us who aren’t pastry chefs, the term “rustic” was invented.  I just smoosh (highly technical cooking term!) the crust so that it’s even around the dish.






Quiche Filling

6 eggs
1 C Low-fat small curd Cottage Cheese
1 C shredded Swiss Cheese
1/3 C each chopped green onion, chopped red pepper and crumbled bacon (I would have added mushrooms too if I had any!)
1/2 C Ham
1/2 t each parsley, thyme, salt, pepper (I also added a pinch of fire salt)
1/4 C grated Parmesan
Beat the eggs and stir in the cottage and Swiss cheeses.
Add the meat and vegetables.
Blend parsley, thyme, salt and pepper.  Add to egg mixture.
Add grated Nutmeg.
Pour into the pie crust and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the quiche is firm in the middle.  I put the broiler on for a couple minutes to brown the cheese on the top. This quiche is light and moist.  Serve with fruit for a tasty breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It is just as wonderful warmed the next day too!!

 

Breakfast