Christmas Quiche

You know how retail stores are always early with Christmas decorations? Well, look who beats them now. It’s Christmas in May, baby! 🙂 To be honest, there is nothing about this quiche that would scream Christmas but it is called such because it’s a Christmas tradition in our home. Ryann’s mom always makes this around Christmas time, for dinner, breakfast, snack, it’s very versatile. So go ahead, make it for Mother’s Day (yes, I’m suuuuuper early for that one!) or Father’s Day. Or just make it for yourself, why not.

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen, ready-made pie crusts (yes, you can make your own, but because this recipe makes 2 pies and I only have 1 pie plate, I usually make it with frozen pie crusts)
• 0.75-1 lb. (350-500 grams) bacon, diced
• 0.5-0.75 lbs. (225-350 grams) mushrooms, sliced medium-ly, which is not thin but also not thicc. Use mild-tasting mushrooms like white button, cremini, or baby bella.
• 1 lb. (500 grams) spinach, washed clean (you can use bagged baby spinach for this)
• 0.5 lb. (225 grams) swiss cheese, grated
• 8 eggs
• 1.3 cups (a little over 300 ml) half and half
• 0.5 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

Directions:

• Keep the pie crusts in the freezer while you prepare the filling. Put the bacon in a cold pan and then put that over medium-low heat. Let it cook and render its fat slowly. I usually like to cook this until the bacon is crispy but the crisp does go away in the filling so feel free to disregard my suggestion. The other reason I like to cook it until it’s crispy is I often forget about it because I prepare other ingredients while it’s cooking. (Oops!)

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• Once the bacon is fully cooked, drain them on a paper towel to help remove excess grease. Pour out all but one tablespoon of rendered bacon fat. Don’t toss them out, you’ll use at least some of them again later on. Turn the heat up to medium high and toss in the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 4-5 minutes until the mushrooms have shrunk in size by about half. Take off the heat and put the mushrooms in a colander to drain.

• Put the pan back on the burner, pour in another tablespoon of rendered bacon fat, and then put in the spinach. Full disclosure here: this time around I used kale instead of spinach because that’s what I had in the fridge. It works just fine, so use whatever leafy greens you like and don’t let me cramp your style. Season the greens with some salt and pepper and cook until almost wilted. It’ll continue cooking for another few minutes so it’s best to keep it underdone. Dump the spinach into the mushrooms in the colander.

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• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Crack the eggs into a big mixing bowl, add half and half and whisk together. Season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and the prepared horseradish. If you like spicy, you can add more horseradish for an extra kick. Squeeze out as much moisture from the spinach and mushrooms and then combine it with the eggs. Put in the bacon and half the cheese and stir well to combine everything together.

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• Lay out the pie crusts in their pie tins on the sheet pan. Pour in half the quiche mixture into each of the pie crust. A lot of times the filling settle to the bottom so you may have to ladle it out to make sure each of the quiche gets enough filling. Top the quiche with the remaining grated cheese and then bake them in the oven for 40 minutes, rotating them halfway through.

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• Once the quiches are done, make sure to wait about 10 minutes to let it cool down. When you cut into it right away, the pieces tend to crumble and if you taste it right away, it’s like eating molten lava. If that is your thing, then you do you, boo. 😉 Ryann’s dad loves this quiche with tangy hot sauce like Crystal. We often serve it with a little side salad for a more balanced meal. Usually one of the quiches will feed four normal adults so once the other quiche cools down completely you can refrigerate or even freeze it but don’t be surprised if someone whose name may or may not end in two Ns wakes up in the middle of the night and cuts into the other quiche.