Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Online Cooking Group Week Two -- The Magic Quiche

We had some of our dearest friends and their kiddos over for dinner Friday, and I wanted to do something totally casual, quick and easy, so I settled on breakfast for dinner. I have a couple of Vosges milk chocolate and bacon bars that I’ve been dying to use in pancakes, so I figured this was the perfect excuse.

I also wanted to try my hand at making a quiche for this week’s cooking group… I know, I know, I’ve never made a quiche -- crazy, no?? On a different occasion, I would have gone with Rachel’s grown-up recipe and thrown in asparagus and goat cheese and all sorts of yummy goodies, but half our dinner party consisted of four mildly picky kiddos (+ my girlies have never had quiche) So I thought it would be best if I eased into things and went with a classic bacon and cheese quiche, with heavy cream.

Seriously I was making a heart attack in a pie dish.


The actual assembly was easy, things went smoothly, and Audrey even got into the action. So far, so good. But then I cooked it for the prescribed 45 minutes, let it cool, and it was completely raw in the middle – pure liquid. So another mimosa, a little swearing and back it went into the over for another 15 minutes. Yep, you guessed it, still raw. I was perplexed, frustrated and swearing profusely (don’t worry the girlies were all in the other room, well out of earshot, playing dress up.) Back in the oven for another 20 minutes, and it was finally done, but I was feeling like a massive failure – I mean seriously how hard is it to make a quiche??

I’m still not quite sure what went wrong, but I wouldn’t recommend the recipe I used, as I think there must’ve been something wrong with the ratios (or at least I’m telling myself that so I’ll feel better about the whole enterprise.) So I’m not even going to include it and instead suggest that you go with Rachel’s, as she’s an aficionado of the quiche.


The good news is that despite all the cooking challenges, the quiche was rockin (thus the "magic" in the title, but really how can you go wrong with eggs, heavy cream, loads of cheese and bacon in a pie crust…) The girls loved it, and Millie spent the rest of the weekend requesting leftover quiche for every meal, which was pretty freakin cute if I do say so myself.

Can’t wait to check out all the things you guys whipped up this week!

12 comments:

  1. That's really odd. I find quiche delicious but not quick. It takes me about 4 hours from start to finish between making the crust, chilling it, rolling it, chilling it again and blind baking it - before adding the egg mixture and getting it in the oven for the final time. Did you blind bake the crust before putting the egg in? Perhaps, if not, it made everything take longer to set?

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  2. I have had this happen before, and I believe it is from using too much milk. Usually one cup of milk per 3-4 eggs is perfection.

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  3. Glad it worked out in the end! Maybe it's a problem with the egg to liquid ratio? Quiche needs a lot of egg in order to set up properly.

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  4. I may have to sit this week out - I've got nuthin'! This quiche looks great though!

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  5. so funny I did quiche too and linked to rachel...I knew there was a reason I liked you so much!

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  6. ha nicole! we're sharing a brain...

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  7. I prefer shallow quiches because I too worry about overbaking the deep ones. I love them all but can't get my boys to eat them either! Even with bacon! Argh.
    Went a step up from bread this week, with mixed results. I think there's some good stuff in there that *other* people's kids might eat!
    http://memegrl.blogspot.com/2009/09/raising-foodies-good-effort-fail.html
    Thanks for the fun challenge!

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  8. Try adding tons of spinach to a quiche for the girlies. My friend's daughter gobbles it up and i am planning to offer it to my daughter once she gets enough teeth.

    Also, blind baking the crust is essential!

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  9. ok ladies -- you guys are the best...I didn't blind bake the crust, so I'm guessing that might be the problem. I'm going to try another one this sunday! I'll let you know how it goes.

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  10. I think we need to hear more about the bacon flavored chocolate!?!?

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  11. kim -- good call, let's just say those pancakes were a rousing freakin success!

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  12. I just made a quiche and it's borderline runny. I'm wondering if it's safe to reheat slices in the microwave to fully cook it. Seems like another 5 minutes in the oven would have been perfect.

    Also: nice green Mexican ceramics! Looks like mine from Oaxaca.

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