About this recipe
If I want a want a diet-conscious quiche substitute, I combine the odds and ends in my refrigerator’s vegetable drawer, and run with an Italian frittata. There is no crust, lots of vegetables, little fat and no waste. But when I want quiche – really defined by its silky custard center – I employ Julia’s Child’s ratio of eggs to cream. For a 9-inch quiche, you crack 4 eggs into a 2-cup measuring cup and pour in enough cream so that the final level equals 1/2 cup per egg, or 2 cups total. You “can” use half milk, half cream if you need to, but you’ll decrease the, well, creaminess.
Makes on 9-inch quiche.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop bacon into ¼-inch pieces and brown lightly in a frying pan. Remove bacon from the pan and drain it on a paper bag. Pour off all but one tablespoon of bacon grease, add spring onions to the pan, and sweat them over medium heat to soften but not brown. Spread cooled bacon and cooked onions around the bottom of the pie shell. Place pie shell on a baking sheet. Crack eggs into a large measuring cup and pour in enough cream so that the final level equals 1/2 cup of cream per egg, or 2 cups total. Beat eggs, cream, and salt and nutmeg in a bowl to blend. Pour cream mixture into the prepared shell. Sprinkle the butter over top of the cream mixture. Bake in upper third of oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until quiche has puffed and browned, and a small knife, plunged into custard, comes out clean. Serve hot, warm, or cold.
