It’s ten thirty PM and my house is awash with the smell of sizzling bacon and citronella. What? Yes, it is true, I am frying bacon at 10:30 while my crusts rest for another half an hour before I assemble the quiche for tomorrow’s 3rd grade class breakfast. This class breakfast is a perfect example of what I feel ails America, why we have shows like The Biggest Loser, here is what has been volunteered for the breakfast of eight and nine year olds…bagels,doughnuts, cake and fruit. I am not going to preach here, people are going to do what they will but I am going to make quiche as a matter of fact I am going to make two one for the lovers of the bacon and one for the others and Adelaide will eat a slice along with her doughnut and fruit and so will I.
My quiche recipe comes from my hero Julia Child, it is so easy that I remember the ingredients and don’t even have to bother cracking the book. You can make it even easier by buying your pastry crust already made, they have beautiful ones in the frozen section of your grocery but if you want bragging rights to the pastry follow this simple formula:
Mark Bittman’s Fullproof Pie Crust
Ingredients
| 1⅛ | cups (about 5 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus some for dusting work surface | |
| ½ | tsp. salt | |
| 1 | tsp. sugar | |
| 8 | Tbsp. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into about 8 pieces | |
| ~ | About 3 tablespoons ice water, plus more as needed
Because I am making quiche I omitted the sugar in my crust tonight. Mark likes to make his crusts in the food processor, but I hate to wash that thing so I just use my hands. Put the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and drop them into the flour. With your fingers, brush the butter into the flour until it is an ugly mess, pieces of butter covered with flour mixed in with flour that has been covered with the butter. Next sprinkle in the water and toss around with your fingers. Before the mixture has had a chance to form any type of respectable dough, toss it out onto your cutting board and make it into a little crumbly wall. With the palm of your hand push across the top of the wall smooshing the crust away from you a little like the first motion of kneading bread. CAUTION!! NO KNEADING YOUR PIE CRUST!! The idea it to touch it as little as possible. This motion helps the crust come together quickly. After the dry bits have been added to the crust family quickly form your crust into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for an hour. For this quiche recipe you have to pre bake your crust. I know, the frozen crust is sounding better and better, but it really isn’t that big of an extra step. Roll out your crust and fit it neatly into your pie pan. Crimp the edges and prick the crust all over with a fork. Line the crust with aluminum foil and fill your pan with dried beans or pie weights if you are fancy. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and beans carefully and return the crusts to the oven to bake until golden brown. While the crusts were resting in the fridge you have time to prep the rest of the quiche ingredients. Tonight I thawed out a 16 oz bag of frozen spinach for the veggie pie and cooked off about half a pound of bacon that I had cut into 1/4 inch pieces for the meaty one. The bacon I am going to pair with cheddar cheese, the spinach will be married with swiss. I sauteed a minced yellow onion to divide between both the quiches because I love the sweetness it imparts to the eggy custard. After the crusts are cooled I simply toss in the filling and cheese and then for each quiche I scramble well 3 eggs with enough milk to make 1 1/2 cups of liquid. A pinch of salt and a generous grind of pepper and a grate or two of fresh nutmeg and the quiche are ready for the oven. 375 degrees and 30-35 minutes later you have egg pies fit for the kings and queens of the 3rd grade. I hope some of the kids will eat it tomorrow. I hope some of the parents will think about making something more substantial than frozen waffles for their kids for breakfast, but mostly I hope the have a great time!! OH! Why does my house also smell of citronella? Adelaide has been the dinner of choice for a nasty mosquito that has been hiding in our house. Yesterday I had had enough and made her some home made bug spray safe enough to wear to bed. Homemade Bug Spray In a spray bottle, combine 1/3 of a cup of organic apple cider vinegar, 1/3 of a cup of witch hazel, and 5 drops of essential oil of citronella. You can substitute vodka for the witch hazel and eucalyptus oil for the citronella oil, depending on what you have access to. If you have trouble finding citronella oil, you can also try oil of lemon balm. She’s good and stinky snoozing in her bed, I hope the bugs think so too! Just a postscript… I saw three children walking around this AM with wedges of my quiche in their hands, Adelaide told me that one boy even ate two pieces! |
