Recently, I went to a fun and inspiring cooking class. The topic for the evening was brunch. There are so many wonderful recipes out there with eggs! We often will have breakfast for supper (probably because both my kids love anything that involves pancakes and syrup). They could and would eat pancakes everyday, if I let them. I enjoy trying new things, and I love quiche and frittatas – I just don’t make them as often as I should!
I learned that quiche – just basically means – adding milk. Typically a 6:1 ratio is common. 6 eggs to 1 cup milk. Frittata is a simplified scrambled egg (usually with other ingredients) baked in the oven. Eggs are easy and good and versatile. Add your favorite veggies and meats, and bake in the oven. Some vegetables will require sautéing – such as onions, peppers, and spinach. Add the cooked meat last before cooking . Serve with fresh fruit.
A little background on the word quiche – my friend, Lindsay and I would spend our junior high days after school making mac and cheese and videotaping ourselves with her camcorder. Of course, there were no iphones or much of cell phones in these days – we are talking big camera, and tripod here. Believe it or not, we actually had a cooking show – named after her mom, “Carol’s Kitchen,” we called it. We mostly were being silly, goofballs, but we sure enjoyed our camera time. 🙂 As we were “acting” out one of our shows, we chose recipes at random live, and of course…one happened to be the infamous, quiche. We both botched the word as we attempted to read aloud to camera the recipe name, and ended up in hysterics with our mispronunciations. Oh my! Therefore, when I think of quiche, it seems so adult sounding to me now. Ha!
I found this simple recipe as I was hoping to opt out for making the homemade crust, and that’s exactly what I did here. I didn’t have to get out my rolling pin at all! All I had to do was pre-bake shredded hash browns, and throw in the quiche ingredients. We had this for supper, but then I enjoyed it for lunch the next day. It makes great leftovers! The parchment paper is a huge help with dishing out the slices. This would be timely for an upcoming Mother’s Day Brunch, too!
- For the Hash Brown Crust:
- 1 pkg frozen hash browns, thawed and squeezed dry
- 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 egg
- A sprinkle of onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper
- For the Quiche:
- ¼ cup onion, diced
- ¼ cup green pepper, diced
- 6 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ c. shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 pkg spinach
- 3-4 slices cooked and crumbled bacon
- For the Hash Brown Crust:
- Add a little olive oil to the bottom of a springform pan (or pie dish) and line with parchment paper, including the sides. Brush with more oil on top of the parchment paper. Set aside
- Combine the hash browns, melted butter, egg and spices in a bowl and put them in the pan pushing them up the sides
- Cook in a preheated oven at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until the hash browns start to crisp up
- For the Quiche:
- In a small pan, over low/medium heat, add a tablespoon of oil and sauté the onions, pepper and garlic for 8-10 minutes or until soft and translucent. Add the spinach and cook another few minutes over low heat until wilted. Set aside to cool
- In a bowl, combine the eggs, egg whites, cheese and bacon. Add the cooled onions and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and pour into the hash brown crust pan
- Reduce the heat to 350 and bake for 45 minutes or fully cooked in the middle.
