Making a quiche is easy, even if you don’t like to make pastry. Refrigerated pastry from your grocery store makes a perfectly acceptable crust.
Quiche is a wonderful way to recycle leftovers. All the meat and vegetables should be cooked and chopped in smallish pieces.
Fuss Free Quiche
- 4 oz grated cheese of your choice – the classic is Gruyere, because it melts without strings or graininess
- 8 oz cooked meat and/or veggies
- crust for one 9″ pie – either homemade or store-bought ready to use
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cup half and half (or, of course, half milk and half heavy cream)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 pinch nutmeg
Preheat oven to 375˚F and make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.
Roll out your pie crust into a pie plate. Crimp the edges, and par-bake the crust blind (empty) for 10-15 minutes, just enough to set the crust in place.
Meanwhile, beat the eggs well, then add the half and half and seasonings, and beat again, until thoroughly mixed. Chop the meat and vegetables into small pieces that will fit nicely on a fork.
Remove the crust from the oven and prick any bubbles so they’ll flatten. Place your filling ingredients in the bottom of the crust – meat, then veggies, then cheese – they will seem to take up quite a lot of the crust’s volume. Pour the egg mixture over all, filling the crust up to 1/4″ below the rim. You may want to put the pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet, just in case there is any inadvertent spillage.
Return the quiche to the oven, and bake 30-35 minutes, until quiche is set around the edges (it may still be wobbly near the center.) The top should be golden brown. If the edges of the crust get too brown before the filling is cooked, shield it with strips of aluminum foil.
Let stand at least 5 minutes before serving, so that the quiche firms up.