Saturday, January 28, 2012

Quick Quiche

I thought I'd start my first blog post of 2012 with a recipe for comfort food. Last week I made up a home made chicken pot pie complete with a Crisco pie crust and had a bit of extra pie crust left over. There wasn't enough dough for a second pie so I wasn't sure what to do with it. In our home quiche is always a favorite but I'd never made a mini quiche before. I took a look at the dough and thought there was too much for one miniature quiche but I can make two... =) Here's my take on a mini Quick Quiche!


I pressed the dough into greased, miniature, spring-form pans.
Any greased, oven safe dish would work.
I fill it about half way with fresh broccoli floretes...

Next I added diced smoked ham.

In a separate dish I scrambled 4 eggs, a splash of milk, a dash 
of salt & pepper. Add any other seasonings you'd like!
I added half of the egg mixture to each pan 
filling it up to the pie crust edge.

I sliced one onion and sauteed it in olive oil until
it was a bit caramelized. Let it cool.
Then added half to each pan. I wanted the onions
to be decorative on top but they could also be diced and
added to the mix rather than pre-cooked.You can leave
out the onion all together and substitute it with sliced
tomatoes for a decorative top - just
brush with olive oil so they don't dry out too much.

Set oven to 425.... 
Don't they look fabulous!

30 minutes or so later.... 
The eggs poofed up and the top got nice and caramelized!

Ok, so it wasn't any really faster than making any other meal...
One thing that made it faster was having that pie crust already made up!
In all this took about 40 minutes to assemble & bake.
What kinds of sauces do you suggest eating with a quiche?

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Here are just a few things I do to make meal time prep & clean up a bit faster & easier:
  • read a recipe all the way through & get organized 
  • reading through a recipe also helps me decide if I need to or want to make substitutions
  • gather / organize needed ingredients 
  • pre-heat the oven, grease pans
  • anything that needs dicing, sifting, mixing can be done & set aside while I do other food prep
  • if something needs to cool prepare it first so it's cool when I need it
  • when baking something that starts out watery I take the time to put it on a baking sheet. Odds are it will find a way to leak over the top or in the case of spring-form pans leak out of the bottom - I'd rather clean an extra pan than scrub inside my oven...
  • clean and put things away as I go
  • while I'm waiting for dinner to bake up I get the food prep dishes washed up

Have you noticed that not all recipes are organized for our convenience? What are some of your favorite comfort foods? Got any food prep / clean up tips that will make meals go smoother for you that you'd like to share? I'd be glad to hear them! Happy New Year! 2012 is gonna rock!


Stephie

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