I had some unused frozen pie crust and a whole lot of eggs, so I decided to make a quiche. The recipe is a variation of something I found in Bon Appetit:
Ingredients:
- 1 frozen, 9-inch pie crust
- 3 heads (yes, heads) of garlic
- 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 teaspoon of thyme
- Handful of fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup of parmesan cheese, split in half
- 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese (I used Italian Truffle white cheddar)
- 3/4 cups of crème fraîche
- 3/4 cups of cream
- 1 cup of water
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Fresh ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Put 1 head of garlic in a large jar and attach the lid. Next, shake the jar between 2 to 5 minutes; this breaks up the garlic into individual cloves and peels them without crushing each one. Set aside the peeled cloves and repeat this process with the other garlic heads.
Place the frozen pie crust in the oven for 13 minutes, then take out and cool.
In a saucepan of salted boiling water, cook the peeled garlic cloves for about 5 minutes. Drain, wipe the pan dry, and heat some of that olive oil. Start sautéing the garlic until golden brown on all sides (maybe 4 minutes). Add the balsamic vinegar and 1 cup of water till all the liquid starts to boil. Add the maple syrup, thyme, rosemary, ground pepper, and a little bit of salt. Reduce the garlicky sauce until it’s slightly thickened, between 5 to 10 minutes.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Add the crème fraîche and cream and mix till smooth. Add a little bit of ground black pepper, as well as half of the parmesan cheese.
Add the remaining parmesan cheese and the cheddar cheese to the bottom of the cooled crust. Next, add the spinach on top of the cheeses. Pour the egg-cream mixture over the spinach, and add the sautéed garlic with any remaining sauce on top.
Bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes, or at least until the custard is set. Cool. Now remember, even though it appears that there’s a shit-ton of garlic, the quiche is pretty mild — especially when you boil and sauté the cloves with balsamic vinegar. I also cooked some bacon to serve with the quiche, because — well — bacon is fucking awesome.