Quiche is an interesting food. You can look at it two ways: it is either a food having an identity crisis (is it breakfast, brunch, or dinner?) or it is an extremely versatile food. I prefer it for lunch or dinner. A slice of quiche and a salad is the perfect summer meal to keep things on the light side.
No matter when you eat it, one thing that is the base of almost every quiche is a pie crust. Making a basic pie crust is scary to many people. It doesn’t have to be. If you don’t want to attempt it, buy a refrigerated one or a frozen one. (The refrigerated ones even allow you use your own pie dish so no one has to know you didn’t make it!) I find the refrigerated pie crusts to be a little thin. I like a thicker crust, especially for a quiche. For savory pies, I like to add a little yellow cornmeal to the crust dough. It adds a crunch, some color, and flavor. I did not do a step-by-step photo tutorial on the pie crust, but here is the recipe I use. I prefer to do this by hand with a pastry blender, but I have watched my mom cut in her butter/shortening in the food processor for years. It works!!
All pie crusts are basically 3 parts flour, 2 parts shortening, and 1 part water. You can use all butter, all shortening, or a combination of the two. I use a combination. I am not really sure why, but this is how my Gramma has always done it and it’s her recipe. Why mess with perfection?
NOTE: For this and other savory pie recipes, I replace half of the flour in the following recipe with yellow cornmeal.
Basic Pie Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cut into small pieces
- 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water
Put flour and salt into a medium size bowl. Cut in the shortening/butter using a fork or a pastry blender until all the pieces are smaller than peas and it reminds you of a wet sandy mixture. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time until it comes together into a ball. If you DO opt to add cornmeal, you might need a little more water to get it to form a ball. Just add it a little bit at a time. Shape it into a disc, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (You can do this a day ahead, too!) Roll it out and place in your pie dish.
On to the quiche…
Crab and Bacon Quiche:
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup half & half
- 8 ounces lump crabmeat
- 8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- 3 tablespoons white wine (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and gather your ingredients. I had some crumbled feta that needed to be eaten, so I used 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese and 1/4 cup feta. You can really use any type of cheese you want for this. I never add salt to the quiche because the cheese and bacon already have so much salt.
Open your crab meat, drain it, and check it thoroughly with your hands for shell fragments or cartilage. Once you do this, you will be amazed how much crab meat they actually pack into those 8-ounce containers!
Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and pour it into your pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees for around 45 minutes. As soon as the center is set (not wiggly) and it’s brown and bubbly, it’s done. I sprinkled a little extra bacon and shredded cheese on top halfway through cooking. Let it sit for about 15 minutes before you slice it. The possibilities are almost endless with this. You can use cooked shrimp, cooked lobster, and any combination of cheeses! Enjoy!!
Capers in Cooking 