The other night, my friend Charline and her mom, Dominique, invited us over for dinner, and after sipping champagne and nibbling on my Texas Killers spicy shortbread cookies, we moved on to the first course, a crustless quiche.
“I’ve been making it for 20 years!” Dominique said, showing me the five-ingredient handwritten recipe on her fridge.
One bite, and I understood why. The quiche itself was light, because she used milk instead of cream, and because of this, the taste of the sharp Gruyere and smoky lardons was in perfect harmony.
People are always asking me for simple recipes. This literally takes less than five minutes to stir together and put in a pan.
You may use anything that you want instead of Gruyere and lardons – just take a peek into your fridge, like Dominique does, and use what you have. Zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, red bell pepper, onions, tomatoes, or any kind of cheese…I was planning to buy pork and make chorizo, but the butchers were all closed. Also, the amounts of the cheese and lardons used in this recipe — 1 cup each — are guesstimates. Dominique didn’t write this down, and it doesn’t really matter. This recipe will work with a bit more or less of whatever you want.
I made a simple arugula salad with pine nuts and shaved Parmesan, and called it dinner.
Stay tuned. The cowgirlified version of this quiche is coming next.
Crustless Quiche (Quiche sans Pate)
INGREDIENTS
⅓ cup flour
3 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup lardons or cubed ham
1 cup Gruyere, shredded
WHAT YOU DO
Preheat oven to 350.
1. Butter and flour a tart pan.
2. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until set.
Eat warm or at room temperature.
(I told Rose that quiche isn’t for dogs, but she doesn’t believe me.)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
this looks perfect (especially for our weather). i'm sure if you needed to go back into the house for something, that rose would just wait for you, patiently, and not even TOUCH that quiche!
Yum, errr, "le yum!" Definitely going to give this a try, though it will mean a trip to William Sonoma for a tart pan. Petey will be up for it, if there's a chance he can get a sample of the quiche. (Exactly how cute is Rose? Petey may have a crush.)
Hey did you know there's a website where you can get your blog printed in book form? I'm thinking of getting yours done so I can have a Cowgirl Chef a Paris cookbook!
What a great all-purpose quiche recipe and I love that it is crustless – a little lighter and a little bit less guilt for eating something so rich and yummy. Can't wait to see the Cowgirl version!
Petey: Rose is adorable, if I say so myself.
I am gonna send you a pic via twitter. I don't know where your regular email is…it's somewhere, I just don't know where. Had no idea about the blog/book thing, but I'm working on a cookbook, so if you can wait….:)
So glad that you like the recipes enough to print them out. That's lovely to hear.
This is a great idea! I love the idea of quiche without the crust, especially for a summer dinner with a nice green salad.
OK, so all truth be told, I DO test my food on animals…my Labradoodles love everything I make, that is, everything that I let them try…and they know that when the Kitchen Aid comes out, that there's goodness forthcoming–if it's not chocolate!