Quiche is a highly underrated dish! Admittedly, after I tackled my first quiche for this challenge (inspired 100% from a friend who dropped off a quiche when I had cookies from some of these previous bakes for her to pick up)… I’ve been hooked. Three quiches later, it has truly become a staple for transforming leftovers or neglected veggies into a new dish. And I doubt I’m alone in saying, waste not want not is the norm now given all things. I did the math and–sans the leftover fillings factored in–a whole 9″ quiche is $4.14 at the time of writing this!

(Jump to recipe link here!)

So if anyone has ever been intimidated by quiche crusts, I will have to say, you’re not alone. Honestly, when I first planned for this bake, I was tempted to buy a crust due to that, but whether crusts were hot commodities or I felt like I needed to put my tart tin to actual use (bought it in June and finally got to using it for this challenge and have been using it weekly since). The hardest part about making a crust really is the time. It’s not active time. But it’s still time. 1 hour’s minimum of chilling total. 45 minutes to bake the crust before filling and baking again for up to 45 more minutes! What I tend to do do now is prep the dough and form it in the tin the night before (or freeze it to pull out to the fridge the night before) since it is great and all…but I don’t always want nearly two hours of pre-quiche baking time. Sure, I could freeze it to firm the crust pre-bake, but I haven’t had the desire to figure out that timing just yet.

So…about those leftovers?
The reason I love quiche is that it marries flavors of food stuffs I may be tired of eating or may be nearing compost into something that feels fresh and is convenient to eat at any time. The first time I made this I used pork belly and leeks to finish off the last of an Hmart pork belly pack I’d been slowly going through from the freezer for a few months. Since then I’ve done an asparagus and red cabbage one and an asparagus and red pepper one. As long as your leftovers are cooked (leafy greens and cheeses should be fine fresh; it has to do with water content–no one wants watery eggs) throw it together. A lot of leftover thyme has contributed itself to quiches. Some additional flavor combo suggestions for those in a rut include

  • Cauliflower and peppers
  • Broccoli and bacon
  • Mushrooms and garlic
  • Cabbage and cheese (or + anything it’s a super neutral combo)

Feel free to add in meats as well if that’s to your fancy, as I said before I did pork belly. Cheese I’ve tried so far vary from gruyere, ricotta, and good ol’ chedda’.

Tip: form the crust to be taller than the crust it shrinks when it bakes.

Okay, before I dive into the crust recipe–I did mention this is also a budget friendly item. $4.14 for a 9″ quiche could easily be 9 breakfasts with coffee (46¢ breakfast meal for the win). Sure, this could be me justifying post holiday food frugality aka food insecurity…but I like to think I’m just allowing more awareness to how much can go into good food (this quiche is definitely indulgent!).

Who needs baking beads when you have baking beans?

Ingredients
Makes ~8 slices in a 9″ tin

  • 170g AP flour (~1 cup + 3 tbsp)
  • 1 stick cold butter, cubed (8 tbsp)
  • 3 tbsp water, cold
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 1-1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, milk (your choice of fat content), or a combo of the two
  • Cheese (optional, ~1/3 cup or 1-2 oz)
  • Vegetables (optional)
  • Meat (optional)
  • Herbs (optional)
  • Salt (to preference)

Steps
To make the crust

  1. Sift flour and salt together.
  2. Mix butter into dry goods until coarse and mealy.
  3. Add water and mix until a dough comes together.
  4. On a floured surface or silicone mat, pat dough until it is a 1/2 inch thick disc. Wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
  5. Roll out on the same surface as before until disc is roughly 10″ or larger in diameter, drape over tart tin and press into form. Make sure the dough doesn’t have any holes (patch if it does, leaky eggs are not fun) and that its walls are higher than the tin. Cover with parchment or foil and chill for at least 30 minutes.
  6. When ready, pre-heat oven to 375 F. Pour dry baking beads/beans/rice/lentils into covered cavity (as pictured above). This is called a blind bake and prevents the crust from puffing up as it cooks.
  7. Bake for 30 minutes. Take out of oven, remove beads and cover, bake for another 15 minutes to fully dry out crust.
  8. If using right away, add fillings (can put excess in an oiled ramekin to make a frittata, sometimes I get a little filling happy and have to do this) before baking for an additional 45 minutes at the current temperature.

If not using right away you can freeze the unbaked crust for up to month, or likely 1 week if baked, just add some extra time to ensure the frozen condensation on the crust cooks out!

If you have some holes in your crust…aluminum foil can help but it sort of reduces the value of this amazing crust. Pork belly, leek, and gruyere pictured above.

Stay Hungry!
XOXO
Mish ❤