Well, that didn't work. It over filled my pie pans, even with the crusts built up high along the edges, and made a huge mess. I didn't know why my quiches never turned out when hers were so great. Eventually I just stopped trying to make the quiches.
Years later, I made a quiche recipe I found on the side of a seasoning packet, and the mystery was solved. Her recipe never worked for me, because it should have said 3 eggs per quiche, not six. (Sorry to throw you under the bus Mom, but it is the truth.) Being the rule follower that I am, I just followed the recipe blindly and knew the error was on my part. With time, I've learned that I am not always the problem, and to go ahead and make changes even to tried and true recipes.
The Knorr's Cheddar Broccoli Quiche is delicious, and needs no changes, but I've made some anyway.
- I change out the cheddar, for any cheese I have on hand, which is generally the Kraft Mexican Four Cheese Blend. It adds an extra zing that my family prefers.
- I normally use frozen broccoli florets instead of chopped broccoli. I keep those on hand for other dishes anyway.
- My "healthy" change, has been to omit the pie crust. Just lightly spray the pan with your oil of choice first, for easy serving. The sides and bottom have a brown skin when cooked without a crust. My entire family likes the flavor of the skin, but I don't expect everyone will.
Tip 1: Get out everything you need at the beginning. I go ahead and measure the milk, pour it in the mixing bowl, measure out the milk for the second quiche, take out the number of eggs I need and return the unneeded eggs and milk to the fridge. This is everything but the oven and the oven mitts.
Tip 2: Even if you are making two quiches at the same time, mix the ingredients one quiche at a time. The ingredients will never divide themselves up evenly between the two pie pans. NEVER!
Tip 3: Use a large bowl to mix the ingredients. There is no way to whisk those eggs, or get the seasoning distributed without vigorous stirring.
Tip 4: I prefer a regular dinner fork to a whisk. I can always find one. It does a great job. Stuff never gets stuck in it. It is great at pressing seasoning clumps against the side of the bowl to break them apart. It is easy to clean.
Tip 5: Measurements smeasurements. Guesstimating is just fine for this recipe. Especially since the seasonings are already perfectly proportioned for you. Example: I just pinch the 16oz bog of broccoli florets in half instead of measuring, or using the two 10oz packages of chopped broccoli the doubled recipe calls for. (Yes, I just ended that sentence with a preposition. After ditching one rule, I'll ditch them all. I'm a daredevil!)
Okay, time for another pitch for the crust-less quiche. Yes, yes, less calories, less carbs, less fat. That is all wonderful, but what I really love about it. No planning and no shopping! If I drop the crust from my recipe I don't have to have a special, perishable ingredient on hand to make the quiche.
I can whip these up any day of the year. I always have fresh milk, eggs, and cheese on hand because I use them all the time. The seasoning packet and frozen broccoli are nonperishable so I keep them around whether I have immediate plans for them or not.
TIP 6: After pouring the combined ingredients into the pie pan I arrange the broccoli so they are evenly spread out and are sticking above the surface of the quiche as little as possible.
TIP 7: Assess the the cheesiness. I always sprinkle some more cheese across the top, especially near the edges. The edges constantly lack cheese. I think it has something to do with the cheese not really flowing around in the pan well. Make sure to press the cheese down so that it gets mixed in, or is dampened and squished down. If too much of the added cheese stays dry or sticks up the cheese will burn and detract from both the looks and taste of the quiche. I just push it down with the back of my fork.
Once the cheese is all squished it will look like this.
Tip 8: IBake both quiches at the same time on the same rack in the oven. Baking them on different levels never works for me. I have a tiny oven, but can just fit both 9" pie plates on the center rack. (By tiny I mean, tiny. A standard cookie sheet, is 18"x13". The interior space of my oven is 17 3/4" wide and 17 1/2" deep. I really can't wait to redo our kitchen.)
Tip 9: The recipe says to bake at 375(learn how to type the degree symbol) for 40 minutes, but I tend to bake it closer to an hour. I check it every five minutes after the forty minute mark. This time I took them out after 50 minutes. They are a nice golden brown on top.
The recipe also says "or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean." Well I used to follow that rule, and my quiches would take over an hour, and end up a bit burned. Still yummy, but burned. I may have too strict of standards as to what constitutes "clean", but honestly I just think the quiches are done before a knife will come out fairly clean, even by my boys' standards. (Trust me, their standards are much lower than mine.) So I don't ever bother with the knife test anymore, but I did it this time for you. It came out dirty, but the quiches are great anyway.
Tip 10: If you go crust-less, spray the pan with the oil of your choice first. (I know I've already said it, but I did a comparison test for your benefit, and I want to show you the results.) The quiche on the left had the oiled pan. The oiled pan was much easier to serve from, and didn't shred the bottom of the slice.
Tip 11: If you use the seasoning package as a spoon rest, like me. Do not carry it to the trash by a single corner so it sags and drips a milky, eggy mess on the floor, like me.
Sadly this fresh mess did not inspire me to mop the kitchen. (I hadn't written this post yet, and really didn't want to wait. Who knows how many important tidbits I'd forget if I took the time to mop the entire kitchen.) I did, however, bother to clean up the mess with a bleach wipe, and the remaining usefulness of the wipe inspired me to clean the general area of the trash until the wipe was thoroughly used up.
Tip 12: Check the wipes container when you throw away the wipe. Yes, check it again even though you know you closed it, because half the time you didn't. (And by "you," I mean "me.") Grammar gurus I welcome your kind input. I know my punctuation in that last parenthetical is unlikely to be correct, but I'm willing to be flawed. Heck, that's half of the point of this blog. Getting things done, instead of getting things perfect even when there might be an audience.
