look at that! crustless quiche.

Two posts in under a week! Big pat on the back to moi.

Anyways, while I’ve decided to pursue a career in nutrition, I’ve concurrently started to obsess about quiche. Truthfully, I’ve always felt pretty good about quiche. What’s not to like? You combine eggs, cream, and cheese; bake it and enjoy it over the course of a few days. I’m a child of the 1980s, and my mom used to take me to lunch at the Illinois Street Food Emporium when I was a kid on days when I had a dentist’s appointment, or some other excuse to miss a packed PB&J. As a child, it seemed like the height of elegant food. So did crab dip and pickles spread with cream cheese and wrapped in lunchmeat. Midwest is best.

I started thinking about quiche with more frequency when my Aunt Kelley gave me a copy of the Silver Palate Cookbook. Besides explaining what hummus is and the benefits of using fresh herbs, the Silver Palate Cookbook suggests serving quiche for all meals. That seems pretty cool to me. My interest in quiche continued when I received the Essential NYT Cookbook for Chistmas. Apparently, quiche WAS a really big deal (especially in the 1980s), and the author of the cookbook decided not to include any recipes for it, mostly out of spite. It is a noticeable absence. No biggie, that’s why the Internet was born. For the past few years I’ve favored a fritatta/tortilla when I’m looking for something that is cheap and filled with eggs. Then I had some friends over for breakfast and decided to make a quiche instead of eggs benedict.

I’m now on my 4th quiche of the month. Not only is it easy to make, it’s tasty and you can really eat it morning, noon, and night. Since I don’t eat wheat, I make it without a crust. This recipe from Gourmet via Epicurious is a good starting point. I don’t use frozen onions, and instead of ham I use prosciutto. I also didn’t have any milk, so I just used all cream. It is therefore, creamier.

Ingredients:
1 TB gf breadcrumbs (or conventional ones if you can eat gluten)
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TB unsalted butter
8 oz. shredded Gruyere
2 cups cream
4 eggs
3 slices prosciutto, chopped in to 1/4″ squares
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne
Salt TT
Pepper TT
Thyme or chives to taste

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Butter 10″ pie plate, sprinkle bread crumbs evenly around buttered pie plate.
3. Whip cream to soft peaks
4. Beat eggs until frothy
5. Combine eggs and cream. Season with nutmeg, salt, cayenne, and freshly ground pepper
6. Melt butter over medium heat in a saute pan. Render prosciutto in butter. Remove prosciutto from heat. Leave fat.
7. Add garlic and shallot to hot fat and sweat until aromatic, turn the heat off. *sounds gross.
8. Place prosciutto on top of breadcrumbs in pie plate.
9. Place garlic, shallot, and chives/thyme on top of prosciutto.
10. Sprinkle cheese on top of everything else.
11. Pour egg/cream mix on top of layers.
12. Place in oven, cook until golden brown, or until the custard sets. (That’s what’s being made, a custard).
13. Let cool a bit and then slice into serving sizes.

*Pairs nicely with oj and coffee for breakfast, or a mimosa if it’s your weekend.
** Pairs well with iced tea for lunch
*** Really good with white wine at dinner. Would also be good with a dry hard cider

Serve with a green salad or a fruit salad. Something to cut the richness is a very good idea.

You could eliminate the cream and substitute unsweetened coconut milk/almond milk/unsweetened soy milk if you don’t drink cow milk. If I were you I’d try out coconut milk, but I haven’t done it. So let me know how it works if you do.

Sorry for the picture quality.

it’s been a minute, or so.

And that’s it. Lots has happened in the past few months, but lots has stayed the same. Besides the obvious, what else is going on? Bear with me while I get back on the blogging horse, m’kay?

Some friends are getting married and I was asked to be a bridesmaid! So far, the bride has only specified no jersey fabric, which is OK by me, since I’ve been on a strict diet of chips and chip dip for most of the fall/winter. Tonight I made vegetarian chili with brown rice, which is probably the healthiest thing I have eaten since 2008. I only put the smallest amount of shredded cheddar on top. Aren’t you proud?

I’ve seen a few movies. Some were good, some were bad. Burlesque and Country Strong were wastes of my and large Hollywood studios’ $$. Black Swan is over-rated. True Grit is something I’d like to own on DVD.

Gerard and I are still watching Twin Peaks, Cooper is about to enter the White Lodge, which is pretty important, from what I understand about the show.

I’m still in culinary school, but discovered that I am really interested in nutrition. I’m going to pursue that as a career, so school will not be done in the spring, as planned. UIC happens to have a fantastic nutrition program, so everything is dovetailing nicely.

It has been cold and chilly in Chicago for the past few months, so the winter ennui has been setting in. I am combating this with Bananagrams and Paperwhites.

We’re planning on moving to a new apartment when our lease is up. I’m thinking YARD and LAUNDRY. June 1 can’t come quickly enough.

I am making the wedding cakes for 2 separate friend couples. Couple friends? It’s funny, because I’m not that into pastry as something to eat, but it is fun to build, like LEGOs. I’ve been researching a lot of wedding cakes, so it kind of looks like I am psycho in my browsing history.

I saw Rahm Emanual at a bar before Christmas. I went to Austin for Christmas. Tomorrow I’m going to see The Moth.

I got little tired of writing about food all of the time, but I think it’s a good focus. It’s intimidating when I know there are so many smart people writing about food. However, no one got good at anything by not doing it.

I’ve been on a champagne kick, which is dying down. Haven’t had a burger since June.

Received a Kitchen-Aid mixer AND an I-Pad for xmas, plus lots of socks and a turtle neck sweater.

Gerard and I are going to visit our friends Leigh and Michael in Costa Rica for Spring Break, 2011. SPRING BREAK 2011… I’m 28, but it will still be fun! Must get body bikini ready, so I can wear one again before I get too old to do so.

I have been embracing my inner W.A.S.P. and been wearing pearl earrings pretty much every day. Google W.A.S.P. blogs, it’s a real hoot. Apologize if that term vaguely offends anyone.

Now that the silence has been broken, I am sure I will post with more frequency and focus in the coming days.

My Dad shaved his head totally bald, he looks like an Army guy. I have REAL actual homework this semester, which is kind of cool.

I haven’t been to any new-new restaurants lately. I just keep going to the same places when I go out. OLD.

I also recently learned how to REALLY play CANASTA. Which is about the most fun thing ever.

I’m going to bed now, but I’ll be back. I just paid $17 to renew the domain, so I better get the most out of my $1.50 a month this year.