Here in New Mexico, they put green chile in everything. EVERYTHING. Eggs. Cheeseburgers. Steak. Salad. Ice Cream (seriously). Even the Dunkin' Donuts has a little hand-lettered sign letting you know you can have green chile on your breakfast sandwich.
But one of my very favorite green chile delicacies has been the green chile and cheese pie. A local cafe does a great version, thick and eggy and oozing with asiago. Gourmet Sleuth has a similar recipe, for a green chile quiche with bacon. Substitute real New Mexico green chiles and some asiago for the Monteray Jack, and you're in business. Next time I'm going to add a healthy pinch of cayenne and serve this for brunch with salad.
Years ago I went out with a girl whose mother was named Lorraine. I'm not sure if she ever made quiche or not, but I probably wouldn't have eaten it. If you recall, real men don't eat quiche.
Today is National Quiche Lorraine Day. Here's a classic recipe from Betty Crocker, and here's one from the great food blog Slashfood. Hey wait a minute, that's us!
If your name happens to be Lorraine, leave a comment below. And if you happen to be a quiche, also leave a comment.
It's almost a given that you need an egg dish for brunch, but you don't need to limit yourself to scrambled eggs or an omelet. Nothing wrong with either choice, of course, but there are other options. Why not try a quiche? All you need is a pie crust, a good quiche base recipe, and whatever fillings you want to throw in there.
You can get great pie shells in your supermarket freezer. Just bake the pie shell about half to three quarters of the way, put in your chosen fillings, and pour the quiche liquid over the top. Then bake that at 325F for about half an hour or til it's done. You can find lots of quiche ideas here, as well as a recipe for the actual quiche liquid.
I grew up eating crustless quiche. My mother, always looking for a way to save on the calories and fat content in a recipe gave up making crusts for her quiches long before I was born. In recent years, she stopped making them all together, in an attempt to reign in her cholesterol. This is why I was fairly surprised when she called me the other day to tell me that she had discovered the easiest quiche recipe ever. However, when I asked if she had used a crust, she responded with shock in her voice, "Of course not!"
So folks, in anticipation of the weekend, when one of you might want to whip up a simple Saturday or Sunday brunch dish, I offer you my mom's new, very easy quiche recipe. You don't have to make it crustless, but if you do, you can indulge a little more in a scone or muffin.
In my humble blogger-y opinion, polenta (it's made from dried cornmeal and can be made from scratch or purchased pre-made, often in log form) is a highly unappreciated food. It's pretty simple to make and use, and its mild flavor makes it a natural accompaniment to many recipes.
In this case, Joe uses the polenta as a thick, hearty shell for his delectable three-cheese pie. The finished product comes out similar to a quiche or a cheesecake, and Joe tops it with a marinara sauce, though you could douse it with just about any hearty sauce (I might even top it with a little basil pesto).
Check out the recipe, which utilizes polenta made from scratch, so roll up your sleeves and get to work! And once you see the awesomeness and adaptability that is polenta, you'll want to get started on all of the other polen-tastic recipes our readers have shared.
I'm not really sure what to make of this recipe from iconic British Australian comedienne (comedian?) Dame Edna. It's for Aftermath Quiche ("Aftermath" as in what you should eat the morning after a late night party), but some of the instructions are rather vague. "Assorted canapes and party leftovers in general?" What exactly does that mean? Can I throw in vegetables? Party dip? Leftover chili? Candy corn?
Looks interesting though. Full recipe after the jump (and check out the other cool celebrity recipes at Frank DeCaro's site).
Remember the saying, "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche" from the 1980's? Whoever said this -- I think it was comedian Lewis Grizzard -- didn't factor in one important consideration when it comes to both men and to quiche: men like picnics and picnics like quiche.
In my book, quiche is the perfect picnic food. It doesn't have to be kept warm. It's not messy. Best of all, it's more exciting and savory than sandwiches. My favorite quiche of all time has to be Quiche Lorraine. If you're really ambitious -- I'm not -- you can even make your own crumbly, delicious crust. Otherwise, you can travel the pre-made route and follow this recipe, which was adapted from Julia Child's original Quiche Lorraine.
Alanna, who writes the column (and blog) Kitchen Parade, has done it again. Even after cooking through a whole year's worth of different vegetable recipes, she still can come up with more! This Asparagus Custard Tart, for example, is a gorgeous example of what to do with fresh, spring asparagus. The tart is much lighter than a quiche and not nearly as eggy, though still very satisfying. It has a short, simple list of ingredients that blend together to produce a brilliant dish. Alanna slices it into eighths and serves it with a side salad as a main course, but with a fruit salad it could also make a lovely brunch or item. Don't be put off by the crust, either. If you're pastry-challenged, you can use Pillsbury refrigerated dough.
I was preparing for Slashfood's
Garden Party and an Easter brunch on Sunday, and in doing
so, ran some menu ideas by the men who will be guests at my house on Sunday. They saw "quiche"
and immediately recoiled. "I don't eat quiche," was the basic, general sentiment from all of them.
However, I am insistent on having quiche because, like French toast and Eggs Benedict, quiche is a brunchtime
staple. So, I have to make it man-friendly. Taking a cue from Pizza Hut, I'm making it "Meat Lover's" with
sausage, bacon, and ham.
The beauty of a quiche is that, like pizza, it is a canvas. You can take a basic recipe for the egg and cream
filling and embellish it with other ingredients in any way your little heart and stomach desires. Assuming you already
have a pastry dough made and ready to go, for a quiche made in a 10" tart pan, beat together 3 large
eggs, 1½ c. heavy cream, a pinch of salt (depending on how salty the
other ingredients are), and a pinch of black pepper. The easiest thing to do is to place the
ingredients like pre-cooked meat, chopped, lightly blanched vegetables or shredded cheese on the pastry in the tart
pan, then pour the egg/cream mixture over it. Bake the quiche for about 30 minutes in a 300 degree oven or until the
egg filling is set.
Slice it, serve it, and call it a deep-dish egg pizza. The guys will never know.
Elise, the blogger behind Simply Recipes, began her blog to
document all the things she learned from her parents about how to cook. Since the food blogosphere has grown so much in
the past several years, it is no longer necessary to have had culinarily inclined parents to grasp the basics of
cooking, because bloggers can fill in the gaps. Elise started a series called Learning to Cook, where she
tries to ferret out all the "how to's" and "why's" of cooking from blogs around the world. So far,
I would say that she is doing an excellent job. Part 1 has guides of mashed
potatoes and ricotta cheese, among other things, while part 2 covers quiche and sushi
rice. Part 3 has links
to posts about prepping leafy greens and beating egg whites. There will undoubtedly be more to follow, but this is a
great start. Thanks, Elise!
I should be against it on principle alone: a chain that tries to replicate the experience of the French boulangerie, communal tables and all? Ick, right? Well, Le Pain Quotidien almost manages to pull it off. Their Soho store, where I had lunch with a group of friends this week, feels as close to a fine dining experience as I've ever had for $12.
The menu was full of highlights – maybe a little too full. I found myself almost uncomfortably torn between the fresh ricotta, honey and figs on multigrain bread, or the fresh fench rolls with hazelnut spread and apricot jam. I ended up going the complete opposite direction, and ordered the Quiche Lorraine. In taste and texture, the quiche itself was just a few notches above serviceable, but it came with an excellent green salad and a chunk of fresh, crusty bread. The whole thing cost $11 before tax and tip – which, for a meal that size made from fresh, organic ingredients in lower Manhattan, is kind of a steal.
The only problem seems unavoidable: scale. The plates at Le Pain Quotidien feel puffed with air, helium-filled inflations of what you'd get at a place like Bay Bread in San Francisco. I was satisfied with my meal (and it should be noted that the service was incredible), but not satisfied enough to clear my nagging suspicion that I was dining on widgets.
Here in New Mexico, they put green chile in everything. EVERYTHING. Eggs. Cheeseburgers. Steak. Salad. Ice Cream (seriously). Even the Dunkin' Donuts has a little hand-lettered sign letting you know you can have green chile on your breakfast sandwich. 
Years ago I went out with a girl whose mother was named Lorraine. I'm not sure if she ever made quiche or not, but I probably wouldn't have eaten it. If you recall, real men don't eat quiche.
I'm not really sure what to make of this recipe from iconic 
Let them eat cake! 
Squash has 
I was preparing for 
Elise, the blogger behind 
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
Morbid thoughts? Have a cookie
