(the parts in italic are in French)
You won't , you really won't find me posting recipes usually. My spouse is the king in the kitchen, and I'm an humble consort. But I inherited a classic ( if not historical) quiche recipe from my Maman, and I sometimes venture in the kitchen to try to adapt it to my needs (I'm allergic to wheat) and place : I live in California, where the flour, eggs, and sour cream are very different concepts from France. Quiche is NOT a diet dish, it isn't vegan, you can make a vegetarian version though, and I will suggest some tasty ideas. It's a happy dish, kind of a savory custard pie, something you can eat for a light diner with a bit of salad. It will often last enough for another meal. It's more time for reading or knitting if you're into that sort of things.

Bon les gars, c'est pas pour me vanter, mais je suis la reine des quiches. Vous pouvez mettre ça sur le fait que je ne sais pas faire grand chose d'autre en cuisine, mais pour les quiches, je ne crains personne. J'ai passé beaucoup, beaucoup de temps à essayer d'adapter la recette de quiche historique de ma Maman à mes problèmes d'allergie ( au blé) et au fait qu'en Californie les œufs , la farine et les produits laitiers sont vraiment différents! Mais j'ai trouvé une recette qui vaut le coup d'être partagée, enfin! Je vous la livre en Anglais, pour les expats, c'est vraiment une recette adaptée pour les USA. Vous trouverez les proportions en Francais dans la photo au besoin:

First of all, get a scale. I tried to get used to the cup system, but it's not...tadaaah...my cup of tea. A bit too imprecise for my taste. So please, bear with me and grab one of those kitchen scales that let you use your mixing dish as a tare.

Here's the recipe:

First make the pie crust, you'll need:

200gr/ 7oz all purpose flour ( I Use Bob's Red Mill, Pie Crust, Gluten Free, it doesn't taste sandy like most gluten free flours)
80gr/ 2.8 oz butter, 70% of a stick of butter, lightly salted
an egg ( classic French quiche doesn't call for the egg. It's here to balance the lack of elasticity of American flour, AND it makes the pie crust amiably crunchy)
a bit of icy water.

If you're lazy, you can get a ready made pie crust. It's depressing and often full of preservatives, but fast.

Anyway: I don't own a mixing machine. Actually, we own one, but by the time I manage to find it, wash it...I could as well do the crust and be finished. Do use your own if you're more organized than me.

So, at this point, I weight the butter in a microwavable bowl, then make it melt in the microwave (it's done in less than a minute) . I put my big mixing bowl on the kitchen scale, tare it, then weight the flour. Off the scale, I add the butter and mix well, then add an egg, mix again. If the blend is crumbly, I add a bit of water, drip by drip, and mix until the dough is nice and elastic. If you put too much water and it becomes sticky, just add a little flour. When the dough is just like play dough ( a bit more supple), it's ok. Chill it in the fridge until ready to use. Important: Preheat the oven at 375º F

For the filling, you'll need:

3 yolks and 1 full egg, wipped until foamy (you can do that with a fork, no big deal)
250gr/8.5 oz/1 cup sour cream. The French recipe calls often for milk and/or creme fraiche. Sour cream is fine, as long as you don't add cheese. Some French recipes allow for gruyeres cheese, but the historical version, a dish from the French region of Lorraine, doesn't allow for Swiss cheese, and I stick to it. I find it much more tasty like that actually, try it!
150gr/5 ounces beacon. (Enough to cover the bottom of the pie ) and the same amount of cured ham. The French recipe calls for lardons, impossible to find here in the USA. Bacon and ham make a nice substitute, and anyway, anything is better with bacon.
for a vegetarian version : 300gr/10 ounces of veggies, diced if necessary. Green peas are delicious in a quiche, but anything will do. Spinach needs to be pre-cooked as it gives a lot of water and a soggy quiche is not appetizing at all. For this veggie version, add a little shallot, and a lot of taragon (a tea spoon) to the egg mix. Veggies only make for a sad pie, don't skip the herbs.

Get the dough from the fridge, roll it on a floured , extra clean surface. Make a circle surface and put it in a buttered pie pan. I'm really bad at this so I always end up cutting bits that I join in the buttered pan. Make a nice, high edge.

Cut the bacon in squares, cook it in a pan until crisp, dry it on a paper towel to remove the grease. Cut the ham in tiny squares too. Put ham and bacon over the crust.

OR : put the veggies instead. I often make two quiches at the same time, one meat, one veggies.

Mix the cream and the eggs, add the herbs but only on the veggie version. Pour over the meat/veggies cautiously. Put it immediately in the oven. Cook for half an hour or until light brown.

Serve it hot or cold, cold is delicious too, with a crispy green salad, made with a simple French vinaigrette (2 parts oil, 1 part wine vinegar, a touch of mustard, salt, herbs to the taste) . The quiche and salad is a classic family dinner in France. Pack the rest in a brown bag for an unexpected lunch!

A tout seigneur tout honneur : je dois à mon amie Estelle Tracy, du blog le Hamburger et le Croissant, de ne pas avoir complètement, ni perdu mes racines culinaires en 12 ans ici, ni désespéré en essayant d'utiliser les produits locaux. Je lui dédie bien volontiers ce post, et vous engage , si vous demenagez ici, à vous procurer son Guide de Survie Alimentaire aux Etats Unis, une mine d'idées et de bons conseils pour les expats. Merci Estelle!

La quiche

First make the pie crust, you'll need:

For the filling, you'll need: