My Man Eats Quiche
One of the many things that I learned from my mother-in-law was that quiche was a wonderful dish to have when you have cold meats. She would frequently whip up a Quiche Lorraine and serve it with thinly sliced roast that had been served at a previous meal. I loved the idea and I do the same today.
My son, Jack, and I stayed with my in-laws for about a month while we were waiting on quarters in Germany. My husband had gone ahead, but since there were none immediately available, Jack and I could not go with him. While I was staying with them, I spent time in the kitchen watching my MIL cook. She is a great cook and I took much with me when we departed. I also perused her recipes and copied several of my favorites, one being for Quiche Lorraine. The recipe came from a book called 'Round the World Cooking Library- French Cooking. She had a whole series of these books, all about foods from different countries. All I had was a spiral notebook to write in so that's where the recipe went and it is still in that notebook today. You can see from the picture that it has seen a great deal of use over the past 27 years.
This past weekend we had a beautiful London Broil and I had plenty of it for leftovers. For dinner last night, I decided that I'd make quiche and use some of the leftover London Broil. I got out my treasured recipe, knowing that I would have to make some substitutions, proceeded to assemble my quiche.
I usually make my pastry but had a store bought roll in the freezer so decided to use it.The Quiche Lorraine recipe calls for bacon, which I didn't have. I did have leeks so decided to make caramelized leek and thyme quiche. The leeks had such a wonderful flavor once caramelized and the fresh thyme added just the right taste.
It was piping hot and delicious along side my cold London Broil and horseradish.
Caramelized Leek and Thyme Quiche
Serves 6-8
Pastry crust for one pie
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
3 leeks
11/2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1 1/2 cup Swiss Cheese, grated (NOTE: You can also use Gruyere.)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 and 1/2, or heavy cream (I use half milk and half 1/2 and 1/2.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350F.
Cut leeks lengthwise and rise with cold water to remove sand and grit. Thinly slice leeks (all of white and into the light green leaves) and separate half rings. Place leeks in a colander and run cold water over them, stirring them with your hand to remove last of sand. Let drain.
Strip thyme leaves from the stems. Rough chop.
Heat olive oil in a medium size saute pan over a medium heat. Add leeks and thyme. Stir and cook on medium to medium-low heat until caramelized, about 20-25 minutes. Watch so as not to burn them.
Prepare pie plate with pastry crust. Spread caramelized leeks onto bottom of crust; top with grated cheese.
Whisk together eggs, milk, flour, salt and pepper and pour over leeks and cheese. Drizzle melted butter over the top of quiche.
Bake for 35-40 minuted or until custard is firm and golden. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.
My son, Jack, and I stayed with my in-laws for about a month while we were waiting on quarters in Germany. My husband had gone ahead, but since there were none immediately available, Jack and I could not go with him. While I was staying with them, I spent time in the kitchen watching my MIL cook. She is a great cook and I took much with me when we departed. I also perused her recipes and copied several of my favorites, one being for Quiche Lorraine. The recipe came from a book called 'Round the World Cooking Library- French Cooking. She had a whole series of these books, all about foods from different countries. All I had was a spiral notebook to write in so that's where the recipe went and it is still in that notebook today. You can see from the picture that it has seen a great deal of use over the past 27 years.
This past weekend we had a beautiful London Broil and I had plenty of it for leftovers. For dinner last night, I decided that I'd make quiche and use some of the leftover London Broil. I got out my treasured recipe, knowing that I would have to make some substitutions, proceeded to assemble my quiche.
I usually make my pastry but had a store bought roll in the freezer so decided to use it.The Quiche Lorraine recipe calls for bacon, which I didn't have. I did have leeks so decided to make caramelized leek and thyme quiche. The leeks had such a wonderful flavor once caramelized and the fresh thyme added just the right taste.
It was piping hot and delicious along side my cold London Broil and horseradish.
Caramelized Leek and Thyme Quiche
Serves 6-8
Pastry crust for one pie
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
3 leeks
11/2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1 1/2 cup Swiss Cheese, grated (NOTE: You can also use Gruyere.)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 and 1/2, or heavy cream (I use half milk and half 1/2 and 1/2.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350F.
Cut leeks lengthwise and rise with cold water to remove sand and grit. Thinly slice leeks (all of white and into the light green leaves) and separate half rings. Place leeks in a colander and run cold water over them, stirring them with your hand to remove last of sand. Let drain.
Strip thyme leaves from the stems. Rough chop.
Heat olive oil in a medium size saute pan over a medium heat. Add leeks and thyme. Stir and cook on medium to medium-low heat until caramelized, about 20-25 minutes. Watch so as not to burn them.
Prepare pie plate with pastry crust. Spread caramelized leeks onto bottom of crust; top with grated cheese.
Whisk together eggs, milk, flour, salt and pepper and pour over leeks and cheese. Drizzle melted butter over the top of quiche.
Bake for 35-40 minuted or until custard is firm and golden. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.
I love these yellow, spotted pieces of paper showing that this recipe has come a long way and used successfully for many years. I have couple of such papers myself. Your quiche is so comforting. I love leeks and when they caramelize they taste perfectly.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, good old Quiche Lorraine & wonderful standby & you can put almost anything in a Quiche, so true. Love the old recipe image, I'm lucky enough to have handwritten recipe books from both my grandmother and great grandmother, the latter is very yellow & a little hard to read but the odd spots of cooking spills on it makes it all the more valuable :)
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