I’m sure that a quiche was originally invented by a smart housewife who only had some milk, eggs and cheese and maybe some left overs from the last nights supper. I found some ham in my freezer that I had ground up after baking a family sized ham a few months previous. This was my flavour enhancer for my quiche. I had some baby spinach and Gruyere cheese just begging to go into my quiche. I made 2 quiches using these ingredients. Here is what I did…

INGREDIENTS: 2 unbaked, deep 9″ pie shells (we sell these at my store, Sharyn’s Pantry)

a couple of tbsp. of Dijon mustard to paint (brush on) over the pie crust, once it is blind baked

2 tbsp. butter 1 Spanish onion or 2 l
arge yellow onions, diced

2 cups of baby spinach

1 to 1- 1/2 cups of ground ham (of course you can use canned flakes of ham)

3/4 to 1 cup of Gruyere cheese grated

5 or 6 extra large eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 /4 cup half and half cream

3/4 cup skim milk (or use 1 cup of homo milk instead of the half and half cream and skim milk)

1/2 to 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves rubbed

1/2 tsp. grated of ground nutmeg

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. ground black or white pepper

METHOD: -First, blind bake the pie crusts. Use tin foil NOT parchment paper to completely cover the pie crusts. Place dried beans or pie weights to cover the bottom of the pie crust to weigh them down. Partially bake the pie crusts in a 375 degree F. oven for 25 minutes. Then, carefully remove the foil and allow the pastry to cool for 5 minutes. Change the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

-While the crusts are baking, saute the chopped onion in the 2 tbsp. of butter and add in the baby spinach and ground ham. Saute for a few minutes only.

-Grate the Gruyere cheese.

-Brush Dijon mustard over the base and sides of the pie crusts. This will help to seal the crust and prevent it from becoming soggy from the filling as they bake.

-Whisk together the eggs, both creams and milk, thyme, ground nutmeg and salt and pepper.

-Place the ham, onion and part of the grated Gruyere cheese in the pie shells. Pour the egg mixture over this. Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese over top.

-Bake the quiches in a 350 degree F. oven or 40 to 50 minutes on the 2nd from the bottom oven rack. Bake the quiche until a knife tip inserted in the centre comes our clean.

NOTE: When I did my quiches, I used parchment paper instead of tinfoil for the blind baking. The parchment did not cover the top edge of the pastry and it became darker than I would have liked. Remember, I always say that God lets me do something wrong so I will tell you what to do right! Here is the perfect example. Use the foil!

What was really delicious though, was the ham I had ground up from my baked ham. This ham had some of the glaze ground up along with the ham so it had such a sweet, delicious flavour from the maple syrup and mustard. If you bake a ham, be sure to grind up some of the leftover ham and freeze for future use.

I made some Western omelettes with the remaining ground ham for our breakfast next day. Yummy! Along with our quiche, I made some garlic bread from leftover hamburger buns. ENJOY!