Friday, April 3, 2009

FOOD - bacon, eggs, cheese oh my!

My mother likes to say "everything is better with bacon" and I would like to consider this the new family motto - because truly - there are very few things in life that are not vastly improved by the addition of a little bacon (even chocolate).

On this note I decided to finally try a quiche - which I would like to refer to from now on as bacon pie. I got a great simple recipe from my friend Marissa - so easy and so delicious. Here it is - give it a whirl.

Ingredients -
6 slices of lean bacon (just to kill us faster I used 8 slices)
3/4 cup (6 fl oz) heavy cream
3/4 cup (6 fl oz) milk
3 eggs
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Gruyere cheese
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions -
Partially bake the pastry shell at 425 until it begins to color (10-12 min)
Lower heat to 375 for the quiche
Fry the bacon, dice and set aside
In a bowl combine milk, eggs, and cream and melted butter. Whisk these together until well blended.

Stir in cheese

Season to taste with salt and pepper and add cayenne pepper.

Pour mixture into pastry shell and sprinkle the top with nutmeg.

Bake until the custard is set and the tip of the knife stuck into the center of the custard comes out clean, 25-30 min.

Remove from the oven and let stand for several minutes before serving.

Eat!

A few things to note -

I skipped the nutmeg because I don't like it - to me - it tastes like old Christmas.

I needed to bake 35-40 minutes but my oven has been off recently. Just start checking it around 25 mins and you should be good to go.

This reheated very nicely in the microwave and we had it again the next day with some artichokes. When reheating it gets a little melty but the crust still stays crisp so don't worry.



Obviously - if you eat this everyday you will die of a heart attack within months - so use some caution my friends. I served this up with a big healthy salad to try to counter attack the bacon pie sudden death potential. It was a good balance.

photo from realsimple.com