I’m on a roll this week! Not only am I being uber-ambitious about eating out of the freezer, but I’m finding a few spare minutes to blog about it! Later today I may tackle my most ambitious freezer meal yet, but this one from last night ranks right up there in my book.
This past weekend I was lucky enough to go spend some time with some friends over brunch. One of my friends made quiche, and it reminded me how long it’s been since I made quiche. It was really delicious, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. So it was no surprise to myself that when I found a disk of homemade pie dough in the freezer, the first thing I thought of was quiche. I confirmed that I had eggs and milk- a must for quiche, and then I went “shopping” for ingredients from the freezer and fridge.
I found a package of what I thought was bulk sausage, two strips of premium bacon, hashbrown shreds, gruyere, and shredded zucchini. I pulled it all out to thaw and determined that I would also add some shredded cheddar from the fridge as well as some roasted red peppers. Except the roasted peppers had a nice layer of fuzz, so those got tossed instead. And then when the ball of what-I-thought-was-sausage thawed, it was definitely not sausage, but what meat exactly… beef or pork, I couldn’t say, given the fact that it had a greyish-green sheen to it. That went in the trash.
When the dough was thawed, I went to roll it out, except, oops! Pie plates are packed. Where, I have no idea. I briefly debated calling my mom to see if I could borrow a pie plate, but chided myself and determined that quiche can be rectangular as well as round. A pyrex baking dish would work just fine.
I fitted the crust to the pan and began assembling. I diced and browned the bacon, and then I used the bacon grease to lightly brown the hashbrown shreds. After those came out of the pan, half an onion went in to brown, followed in the end by the now-thawed and drained zucchini shreds. The zucchini shreds were sauteed with a good two tablespoons of butter and some scampi seasoning. The zucchini was in a sad state, considering it was, um, from the zucchini harvest of 2007. :scared: But it was still edible, and sauteed in butter, scampi seasoning, and layered in a quiche, it tasted just fine and added some veg to the party. All these different things were layered in the pan with the gruyere and cheddar bringing up the rear. I then blended together two eggs with 1 cup of whole milk, 1/4 cup of sour cream and salt and pepper. I poured it over the pile of stuff and baked it at 350ºF for about 45 minutes.
When I make quiche, I use a ratio of 1 egg to 1/2 cup of milk and beat it really well. This is a great ratio for a nice creamy custard to hold all the ingredients together. And as it turns out, rectangular quiche is just as tasty as its circular counterpart. It was incredibly delicious, and we even have a few pieces leftover for breakfast tomorrow. This eating only what we have on hand has produced some rather tasty specimens so far. This evening will be the ultimate test. I have Soba Noodles, Turkey Thighs, Baby Corn, Swiss Chard and Red Bell Pepper coming together for a party…
I love this!!
Thanks, Cathy! It’s actually been kind of fun going through the freezer and finding “treasure”.
You mentioned that you used sour cream in the recipe — did you use it since you had it on hand or do you typically add it? Sometimes when I make egg dishes I find them too eggy (hmmm). I think that’s when I make the lower cal egg muffins (that have eggs, veggies, cheese, etc) but lacking the oh so rich cream etc (like when I used to make quiche as a kid). I wonder if sourcream will make it more “quiche like” and not soo scrambled eggs in a muffin cup. Good luck going thru the freezer — the meals sound great. Thanks.
Betsy, I do like to add a little sour cream for the exact reason you mention- it makes the quiche less eggy and more creamy and custardy-it adds a level of richness (plain yogurt works here as well). In this case, I was honestly hoping I could use the sour cream to A) use up the sour cream and B) stretch the eggs I had, because I had four eggs and needed two for pancakes- I didn’t want to go to the store.
Thanks Erika for the info about the sourcream. I will try that (or some drained nf yogurt) the next time I make an egg dish.
Thanks again.
the end of your article sounds like the makings of a tasty stir-fry!