Winter seems to scream quiche to me.  I fell in love with quiche when I was studying abroad in France and could buy a fresh slice for breakfast or lunch.  It was always amazing, no matter what kind of meat or the type of cheese they used.  Never afraid of butter or cream, the French know how to make a quiche!  I do not like to skimp on my quiche so I went for a real crust using butter.  I am on a use-up -the-pantry kick so I do not have any cream as I am not allowing myself into a grocery store until I am completely out of perishable food!

Start with the crust!! I have a nervous dilemma every time I start making any pie or quiche, which is deciding on what type of crust to use – homemade or store bought? I get anxious about making my own crust no matter how many times I do it.  It is supposed to be a simple thing, right, 4 ingredients, a little kneading…  To be honest, I do not see anything wrong with buying a crust if it is made with real butter and not trans fats!  I like Trader Joe’s frozen crusts but seriously now, nothing beats a homemade one!

I used a recipe from SmittenKitchen but added ¼ cup of parmesan cheese to the crust… Preheat your oven to 400° and find a 9" pan (I like my springform non-stick!)

Crust Ingredients:

2 cups flour

¼ tsp. salt

¼ cup parmesan cheese, shredded

½ cup of cold, diced butter

4-6 Tbsp. of ice cold water (I can never make a dough with only 3 Tbsp.)

Mix the flour, cheese and salt…

Add butter until crumbly…

Add water and pulse a few times until it starts to stick together.  

Turn out on the counter and knead a bit until a dough forms.  Put it between layers of plastic wrap and make a disc.  

Place the disk in your pan, I like to use a springform 9" nonstick but use what you have!  Put in the freezer for 15 minutes while you make the filling!

What to put in your quiche?

Whatever you have on hand.  I happen to have a 4oz pack of pancetta, some pre-shredded mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and lots of eggs (I accidentally purchased 4 dozen online from my dairy!) 

Quiche Filling Ingredients:

3 scallions

1 shallot

4 oz of pancetta

2 Roma tomatoes

10 eggs

1 cup of milk (or cream if you have it!!)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

pepper to taste

First, I cut up 3 scallions, 1 shallot and my pancetta and sautéed them.

I added two diced, seeded Roma tomatoes (make sure to seed them so that you eliminate some of the moisture) in the last minutes and drained it all on a paper towel before adding it to my egg mixture.

Put 10 eggs, 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese in a bowl and mix.

Add your pancetta mixture to your egg mixture.  Take your quiche crust out of the freezer and fill. 

Top with foil and bake for 1 hour or so, until it is not wiggly at 400°.  Serve with a lightly dressed salad.  Enjoy for dinner or lunch or breakfast or all of them!