Holiday Quiche
- 2 store bought frozen pie shells - deep dish kind
- 12 ozs applewood smoked bacon - cut into 1/4 in strips
- 1 5oz box fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup sliced shitake mushrooms
- 1 cup sliced shallots
- 8 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 8 ozs grated gruyere cheese (about 2 cups)
- 1 1/4 tsps kosher salt
- 3/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Makes 2 quiche. Preheat oven to 375.
In a large saute pan over medium heat, add the bacon and cook about 8-10 minutes until the bacon is crisp and has rendered it's fat. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and transfer it to a plate lined with paper towels.
Dump the rendered bacon fat from the pan into a bowl, then add 1/3 cup of the bacon fat back into the pan. Over medium heat, add the shallot and the mushrooms and saute about 3 minutes till the mushrooms have browned and the shallots have softened. Add the box of spinach and continue to cook until the spinach has just wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Turn off the heat, then stir in the cooked bacon.
Add half of filling mixture to each pie shell. Sprinkle gruyere into each pie shell, reserving about 1 cup of cheese for later.
In a mixing bowl, add the eggs, cream, salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Pour half of the egg and cream mixture into each pie shell. With a small spoon or your fingers, stir the mixture in each quiche to mix things around a bit. Finally, top each quiche with the remaining gruyere - about 1/2 cup per quiche.
Put both quiche on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 until the tops are golden brown and puffed, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.
