We took a cooking class from Sur la Table for my birthday; six of us kinda dominated the room, but it was (as always) great fun and I learned a few new things, such as the simple, but oh! so fine pie crust I’m using in this bacon quiche with cooked diced sweet onion, garlic, and jalapeño.
The crust comes together in next-to-no-time in the food processor; and while the pastry is chilling, you’ll have ample time to cook and drain your bacon, onion, garlic, and jalapeño; and to shred the cheese.
Sounds like a plan, no?
Note: if you’re making this quiche for breakfast, it can be made and baked ahead of time and stored in the fridge for mebbe three days before gently reheating.
INGREDIENTS
Pastry:*
•1-1/4 cup flour
•1/4 tsp salt
•4 oz cold butter, sliced
•1/4 to 1/3 cup ice water
Filling:
•1/2 cup diced sweet onion
•1 clove garlic, minced
•1 jalapeño, chopped
•1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
•8 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled
•6 eggs
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce
(or your fave hot sauce, to taste)
•1/4 tsp black pepper
•1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/8 tsp Cayenne
*This is a very nice crust. If you want to use it for a pie, add two tablespoons of sugar to the flour and salt.
Add the flour and salt to a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Cover and pulse a couple of times to blend well.
Add the cold butter and pulse again until it has been nicely cut in and the mixture resembles a course meal.
With the processor running, add the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, just until the dough comes together into a soft ball.
Gather the dough together in a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, flatten out a bit into a disk (I do this in the pie or quiche pan I am planning to use so that I have a disk close in size to what I am going to roll out), then stash in the fridge for an hour or so.
While the dough is chilling, shred the cheese and set aside, then cook the bacon until done and nicely crisped – about four or five minutes per side over medium high heat. Depending on the size of your skillet, you’ll want to do this in batches so you don’t crowd the bacon in the pan.
Note: I used Bobby Nelson’s pepper bacon; you should use your own fave – like mebbe Trader Joe’s uncured applewood smoked.
Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate or platter and set aside to drain.
Pour off all but about a tablespoon of the bacon fat from the pan into a jar and set it aside.
Heat the remaining bacon fat in the pan over medium high heat, then add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño and cook until the onion is tender, about eight minutes.
Turn the cooked veggies out onto a paper towel lined plate or platter to drain and set aside.
Pour any remaining bacon fat off into your fat jar and stir – you now have onion, garlic, and jalapeño seasoned bacon fat for other cooking uses – like green beans or fired potatoes.
Do a little clean up and/or shred your cheese until the dough has sat in the fridge for an hour; then roll it out on a floured board until you have a large circle about 1/4 inch thick. One of the tips I learned from this particular cooking class was that you should roll out the dough in stages, rotating the dough or your pin after each stroke, and to try not to roll the pin over the edges; stop about 1/2 inch or so from the edge, then rotate. Seemed to work a treat for me.
Once your dough has been rolled out to cover the bottom, sides, and edges of your chosen pan, roll one end of it over your rolling pin to transfer to the pan.
Unroll the dough end as you position it in the pan, tucking it into the corner where the sides meed the bottom and crimping or pinching the top edge. My chosen quiche pan had a wide edge, so I used a fork.
Heat your oven to 350º.
Whisk the eggs together with the Sherry Peppers or hot sauce and the black, Aleppo, and Cayenne pepper until the eggs are nicely blended and just a bit frothy.
Stir in the drained cooked onion, garlic, and jalapeño.
Scatter the shredded cheese evenly over the bottom of the quiche pan, then top with the crumbled, cooked bacon.
Pour the egg and onion mixture evenly over the bacon and cheese, then transfer the pan to a rimmed baking pan – I like to line mine with foil – to catch any dripping over.
Note: this particular pan was a bit deeper than regular quiche pans, so the egg mixture just covered the bacon and cheese. Not to worry, it will puff up nicely in cooking.
You can, if you like, wrap the uncooked quiche well and freeze for later use at this point. Baking from frozen instructions are at the end of the post.
Pop into the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until a skewer or knife inserted in the center of the quiche comes out clean and the top is nicely golden brown.
Set the quiche aside to rest for ten minutes before slicing and serving.
If you prepare and bake your quiche ahead of time: cover with foil and bake at 350º until heated through.
If you’ve frozen your quiche ahead of time: remove from freezer 30 minutes before you plan to bake it, preheat your oven to 350º. Place the quiche on a pan in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 40 minutes; then cover with foil, move to the lowest rack, and bake for another 25 minutes. Let stand ten minutes before slicing and serving.
Nice crust, nice quiche.