On the timing of a quiche...

I've been without a husband these last few nights. Neil has a critique seminar today that he has been diligently working hard towards all week long, which means that I went to bed before he got home last night, and he was gone before I woke up this morning. A critique seminar is where you hang your paintings up on the wall, and a class full of students plus the professor all critique your work. Pretty high stress, and needless to say, you want to bring your A-game to something like that. So, I understand why Neil has been M.I.A., although I do miss him.

However, there is one thing I love about having my husband away and that is the opportunity to cook things that I love to eat, but that he turns his nose up at. Last week it was crepes, because Neil is very suspicious of eating things that I haven't cooked before and crepes were a new item that I wanted to try out. So I whipped up a batch while he was out one night, and they were fantastic. Lo and behold, the next morning when Neil had one for breakfast - he loved it. Imagine that. I also try and cook things with shrimp every time Neil is gone, because I adore shrimp - tasty little buggers - and Neil pooh-poohs them.

So, I plotted last night to make a quiche. (I know, you are all scratching your heads and trying to figure out how Neil could dislike quiche!) Actually, it was more like a frittata, because I decided I just didn't have the patience or the energy to make a pie crust last night, so I went with a crustless quiche. Another fantastic reason for making the quiche was that there is just simply no meat at all in the house right now, and I'm very much a "meat as main-dish" kind of girl. It's been a long pay-period, and I've been scratching some fairly creative meals together the last few days as my wallet sits empty. There was, however, some eggs, some bacon, some potatoes, some cheese and two green onions. Which just screams "QUICHE!". Plus, a brand-spanking new recipe for souffled quiche that I've been drooling over ever since I read a blog post about it over on "Orangette" - my new favorite cooking blog.

So quiche it would be. I made my first mistake of the night, however, when I decided to make some cookies first. Becuase we just ran out of oatmeal-chocolate-chip, and I'm on a new kick where I feel that it is very important to always have cookies in the house. So, priorities - cookies first. Plus, there was no timeline for dinner - I knew Neil wouldn't be home and expecting to be fed, so it didn't matter if I ate late. So I started the cookies around 7:30. And they started baking around 8:00, which is where I ran into problem #2.

I have a deep dark secret to confess, and it's ugly. I'm so ashamed. I LOVE America's Next Top Model. It is my secret obsession, my major vice and I just can't stop watching it. I know it silly, I know that it's fluff - but I love to see the pictures at the end of the show. And the way the photo shoots are set up, and the costumes and makeup and whatnot. So, I figured that I would watch my program and make the quiche during the commercials. Hmmm... Okay.

While running back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, and back to the living room to make sure the show wasn't back on, and back to the kitchen to try and squeeze a few more preparations in, I accomplished watching the show. All of it. But I did not accomplish cooking a quiche. I got everything prepped and ready - the potatoes microwaved and the bacon thawed and the green onions chopped and the egg/milk mixture all beaten, but no quiche was actually in the oven at any point during the hour from 8:00 - 9:00.

Okay, no problem, I thought - I'll just eat later than originally planned. Dinner at 9:30. So I cooked up the bacon (yum) and poured it into the pie pan. And then sauteed the softened potatoes in the bacon fat (yum) and added them on top of the bacon. Then sprinkled the whole thing with the onions and grated cheddar cheese. Oh my stomach was starting to growl. I poured the egg mixture over everything, and placed it in the oven to cook. At 9:30. Okay, well dinner will just be pushed back to 10:00.

Well, this has already been an overly-long story to tell you about a simple quiche and I think you all know where this is heading, so I'll just wrap it up quickly. The quiche came out of the oven at 10:05 and by that time, my appetite was gone (you know how that can happen when you wait too long to eat) and I was falling asleep on the couch. :( My beautiful, puffy golden quiche sat uneaten on the stove while it cooled and I headed off to bed.

I finally had a slice of it this morning and I have to say, it was simply heavenly. There was quite a few potatoes in it, so it wasn't quite as "eggy" as quiches usually are. It was nice and hearty and the bacon flavor was just the right level. The recipe will be stored in my keeper file. Perhaps I will even be able to convert Neil. But I'm not holding my breath...

Souffléd Quiche with Potatoes, Bacon, and Cheese
(adapted from Jimmy's Souffléd Quiche with Ham, Cheese, and Asparagus on Orangette's blog)

1 pound of red potatoes, cut into ¼ inch cubes (I used 4 red potatoes)
3 slices of bacon
2-3 green onions, chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

¾ cup heavy cream
¾ cup 2% milk

4 large eggs

1 Tbs unbleached all-purpose flour

A small pinch each of salt, cayenne, and nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.Place the potatoes in a microwave safe bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave 5-7 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.

In a medium bowl, combine the cream, milk, eggs, flour, salt, cayenne, and nutmeg. Whisk together for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

Cut the bacon in to small pieces, and cook in a skillet over medium-high heat until just barely crisp. Remove from the skillet and scatter into the bottom of a pie dish.

Drain excess bacon grease from the skillet, leaving about 1 teaspoon. Saute the potatoes in the skillet over high heat for 4-5 minutes, or until browned. Pour the potatoes into the pie dish with the bacon. Sprinkle with the chopped green onions and cheddar cheese. Make sure the potato mixture is spread uniformly in the pie dish, then pour the egg mixture over the potatoes.
Bake the quiches for 30-35 minutes, until the filling has puffed and the tops are lightly golden. Allow to cool on a rack for a few minutes; then unmold and serve.