Simple Crustless Quiche Lorraine

There used to be a real stigma about quiche back in the 80s. You know what? Fuck them. It's great stuff. If you're not a low-carb person, this recipe can also be used for a quiche with a crust - just substitue a couple of frozen pie crusts for the cake pans. Thanks to HMB for the original recipe.

Recipe after the jump.




Ingredients:

1.5 lbs of swiss cheese
1 cup whole milk
1.5 cups of heavy cream
2 10-inch foil cake pans
1 broccoli crown
1 pack of thick cut bacon
6 large eggs

Quiche is pretty forgiving, so you can use whatever you think will work in place of the broccoli and bacon. This is my favorite variation at the moment, so I'm just going to go with what I know.

I prefer to cook the bacon in the oven, as it frees me up to do the other prep work. I also like to line my pans with tin foil to simplify cleanup. You could do this on the stove too, but the key is to avoid cooking the bacon to the point of crispiness. These were done at 400F for roughly 15 minutes:



While the bacon is cooking, you can do the other prep work. Cut the blocks of swiss into roughly 1cm cubes:



Dump them into a large mixing bowl, as they will need ot be combined with the bacon and the broccoli. Wash the broccoli, and trim into florets. I like to use a sharp paring knife for this. The brocoli needs to be cooked a bit. A nice cheat here is to put the florets in a microwave-safe bowl and nuke them for 3-4 minutes until soft. You can steam them if you are a big fan of more washing up.

After the bacon is done, let it cool down a bit, then chop the bacon and broccoli. Oh, also, turn the oven down to 350, the actual quiche cooking temperature. Combine with the swiss cheese cubes, and toss like a salad. (Not that kind of salad tossing...) When they are combined, distribute the mix equally between the pie pans.



Now, we make custard. Crack the six eggs into a bowl and scramble. In a sauce pan, combine the milk and cream, and heat over a medium high burner. Add pepper to taste, and a little salt - go easy though, too much salt wil prevent the eggs from setting properly. Stir occasionally to prevent it from burning to the bottom. You don't want a boil here - just heat until it's scalding (when it starts to get that film on the surface).

When you get there, remove the cream from the heat and slowly add the eggs while beating with a whisk. If you go too fast, you'll end up with chunks of cooked egg, and that's no fun for anyone. The mixture should turn a nice yellow color. Congratulations - this is a simple custard.



Doing the custard prep helps to ensure that the quiches will cook in a reasonable time. Distribute the custard evenly between the pie pans, and pop them in the 350F oven for at least 45 minutes. Cooking times may vary, but when the top is golden brown, they're done. I like to wait for them to cool down a bit before tucking in, but it's up to you.