Men Can Cook: Quiche Alsacienne

J has been wanting to make a quiche for some time now.  Unfortunately, I had an irrational hatred of quiche, despite never actually eating one ("egg pie?  ew!").  I finally gave in and said I'd try it, if he made it.  I'm officially a quiche lover now!  J's recipe after the jump...

Quiche Alsacienne
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: One 9-inch quiche


1 tbsp unsalted butter
0.5 large sweet onion, sliced
0.25 lb smoked bacon
1 9-inch frozen deep pie crust
3 large eggs, room temperature
1.5 c half and half (approximately)
0.75 c gruyere, shredded
0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp chives, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

(1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees
(2) Saute onions in butter until fully browned (takes about 40 minutes)

(3) Meanwhile, bake bacon in oven until firm but not crumbly (about 18 minutes); drain on paper towels and coarsely chop

(4) Cover pie crust with greased foil (we used non-stick spray), fill with dried beans, and bake for about 20 minutes

(5) In a liquid measuring cup, crack one egg; add enough half and half to reach the 0.5 cup mark and beat lightly; repeat for each of the 3 eggs until the total volume is 1.5 cups

 (6) Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper and all but 1 tbsp of the gruyere to the egg mixture and stir until equally distributed

(7) Poke holes in bottom of pie crust with a fork about 0.5 inches apart

 (8) Layer the onions and all but 1tbsp of bacon on the bottom of the crust

 (9) Pour in the egg and cheese mixture

(10) Top with remaining cheese and bacon, sprinkle with chives

(11) Cover edges of pie crust with foil and bake for 20 minutes

(12) Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes

(13) Remove from oven and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving

Notes from J: The onions take a long time to get to the stage in the picture above - be patient - it makes all the difference.  I crimped some foil to create a make-shift bacon tray to allow the bacon fat to drain off [M says: you can save the bacon grease in the refrigerator for other uses].  I used red lentils for the "dried beans" in step (4) because that's what we had in the kitchen [M says: The beans help weigh down the crust so it doesn't puff up during the pre-baking process.  The beans can be reused for future pie crust pre-baking, so save them!].  Feel free to alter the amount of onion/bacon to your taste.  Don't go nuts with the salt, because the bacon is quite salty (you can always add salt and pepper after the fact).  It will last a few days covered in the refrigerator; reheat at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.