Worldly Wednesday: Americanized Quiche Lorraine

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

This French-inspired dish has been a family favorite for years, and fresh from the oven, all puffed up, it has impressed brunch and dinner guests alike.

Quiche is a standby in our family’s panoply of foods. I’ll bet I make it at least once a month, sometimes meatless, sometimes with chicken or salmon, and sometimes in the more classic Quiche Lorraine recipe of today.

DH loves it for dinner, brunch, or lunch. And because he is abstemious in his eating habits, one quiche provides us with three meals each.

My quiche is a simple matter--I don’t do hard, remember--so you can whip this up in nothing flat and then forget it in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half depending on the altitude and how your oven cooks.

Americanized Quiche Lorraine (serves 6-8)

1 pie crust

1½ cup Asiago cheese, divided

2 cup packed spinach

½ cup mushroom pieces

8 large eggs, slightly cooler than room temp

2 cups heavy whipping cream

sprinkle of salt and pepper

2 teaspoons nutmeg

3 green onions, sliced

6 slices of crispy-cooked bacon, torn to bits

Preheat oven to 375º. Put pie crust in pie pan. Spread ¾ cup of cheese on the pie crust bottom, going up the sides a bit.

Layer spinach and mushrooms. Press into pan, but it will be full.

Cut onions and bacon into small pieces and set aside.

Whisk eggs until a light, lemony color. Add cream and blend thoroughly. Add spices and whisk again. Fold in onions and bacon.

Pour the eggs slowly over the spinach mixture, making sure the eggs coat all the spinach mixture. Press down on spinach, if necessary, to coat with eggs. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

Bake at 375º for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350º. Bake for at least another 45 minutes and check for doneness.

Quiche can take up to 1-1½ hours of baking time depending on the oven. A done quiche has three characteristics: rises to a lovely brown dome, no jiggle in the middle, and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up  

It doesn’t matter what quiche I make, DH loves it. It’s so reassuring to know you have an easy, go-to, never-fail dinner on tap!