A breakfast and brunch staple, or a sophisticated light dinner, quiche is an extremely versatile meal option that can be quite impressive when serving guests.  Before you get freaked out about the prospect of making homemade crust, don’t worry.  Even I use store bought, pre-made crust from time to time (like when I’m craving chocolate cream pie and only have the energy to make a homemade custard). While the title of this post suggests that my inspiration came from utilizing leftover ingredients in my fridge, it actually came from my chance meeting with some beautiful farm-fresh eggs.  While visiting a friend’s office the other day, someone popped in peddling farm-fresh eggs and I happily bought a dozen brown and tan hued beauties (for only $2, by the way).

I believe the secret to this quiche recipe is the heavy cream in lieu of milk. The heavy cream mixed with the shredded cheese creates such a rich and velvety texture that just can’t be created with plain milk. The beauty of quiche is that you can really add any leftover veggies or meat that you may have on hand. Sausage and peppers the night before for dinner? Add mozzarella cheese and make a quiche for breakfast the next morning! Have fun with it.

Another note is that I always bake my quiche the night before or several hours ahead of serving time. Quiche takes forever to fully cool and set up again, and the flavors come together more overnight or after several hours.

I’ve included my favorite quiche recipe below (from Food Network).

Basic Quiche:

6 eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
salt & pepper
1 (9 in) pie crust (pre-made from refrigerator section is perfectly fine)
2-3 cups veggies and/or meat filling (suggestions below)

Whisk eggs with cream, salt and pepper in a large bowl and stir in cheese and filling. Follow crust directions and place in 9 inch pie dish. Fold edges down and flute the edges of crust. Fill with egg mixture and bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes until the center is just set (you can check the center with a knife to make sure the eggs aren’t runny).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Especially when using a store bought, pre-made crust, cover the quiche with foil after about 20-25 minutes of baking or else the top edges of the crust will burn.

Filling and Flavor Options (I don’t measure the fillings, just eyeball the amounts, but if you’re a stickler for measurements I’d say the meat and veggie ratio should be equal and amount to about 2 cups total):

Bacon & Cheddar
cooked bacon (about 1/2 pound)
sauteed onion (1 small to medium yellow onion, chopped)
cheddar cheese

Ham & Swiss
chopped deli ham
Swiss cheese
sauteed onion (1 small to medium yellow onion, chopped)

Veggie & Cheese
use any leftover veggies you find in your fridge that can be chopped and sauteed, along with sauteed onions (bell peppers, asparagus, broccoli, tomatoes, mushrooms)

Salmon & Dill
If you have any leftover cooked salmon from dinner the night before, shred up a filet or two and add fresh dill and Swiss cheese for a classic breakfast combo.