Hugs and Quiches, Woodlawn. It’s Been Real.

This quiche will rock your world. Not even an exaggeration. Also, don't forget the ants on a log. It's a classic.

Some things in life are simply hard to believe.  Like…

-the fact that it is somehow June 3, 2011—only five days before my high school graduation,

-the forecast of 100º for this coming week  (Get me outta hurrr!),

-the fact that I just made the world’s most spectacularly tasting quiche in less than two hours and devoured it in approximately two minutes

-and realizing that I have spent the last seven years at Woodlawn School and that it has truly made me who I am today.

"Mis en place" in place.

Moving on is hard.  I’m truly going to miss screaming at my brothers to wake them up in the mornings, strolling (more like struggling) down Woods Hall with eight textbooks, soaking up the sun in months like March and April, and calling each student at school by name.

 

Stirring the onions

Whisking the eggs

Don’t get me wrong—I am ECSTATIC about going to college.  Every day, my mind wanders from the class material that I should be studying to thoughts of my future roommate, the winter wardrobe in which I need to invest, the organic garden in Vermont, and the gallons of maple syrup that I will be swimming in every morning at breakfast.  I have multiple countdowns on my dashboard and in my room that remind me how far away (yet how close) move-in day is.

Crimped Crust

But it’s complicated, you know? Leaving the small town that you’ve grown up in, recipes that your mother has cooked on extra-stressful days, supportive church and school communities, your favorite strawberry-banana smoothie from the local coffee shop, and that comfortable bed and privacy of your own room is bound to be hard.  It’s kind of daunting, don’t you think?  Well maybe you can’t relate to every single one of those examples, but those are the kind of thoughts scrambling around my brain during my last days as a high school student at Woodlawn.

Mixing the Filling. Be liberal with the cheese. #goodthingswillhappen.

Speaking of the word “scramble,” I usually scramble my eggs, but today I tried something new (How’s that for a transition, huh?). Just like I’ll be stepping out of my comfort zone in the fall when I head off to college, I took a step out of my egg-scrambling comfort zone today and decided to use my eggs for a basic quiche recipe.  And believe me, if my transition from high school to college goes as smoothly as my transition from scrambled eggs to quiche, I will be completely, without a doubt, the most happy (and well-fed) girl in the world.  This quiche was flippin’ sa-weet.  It was hands-down, 100%, the BEST quiche I have ever tasted devoured in my life.  I don’t think the photos do its magical taste justice.

So the lovely crust won't burn...

Give it a go, and you will NOT be disappointed. *Disclaimer: You will be disappointed when no quiche remains in your pie plate…

Basic Quiche

Makes One Quiche

Crust:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup cold shortening

½ cup cold butter, chopped

4-5 tablespoons ice cold water

1 egg, 1 teaspoon heavy cream for egg wash

Filling:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

salt and black pepper

1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

4 large eggs

¾ cup heavy cream

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

8 ounces Italian cheese blend, grated

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425ºF.  To make the crust, pulse flour and salt together to combine.  Add scoops of shortening and pulse until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds.  Add in chunks of butter and pulse until butter pieces are no larger than small peas, about 10 pulses.  Add minimum amount of water and pulse on low.  If dough remains crumbly and doesn’t come together, add another tablespoon of water.  Add as little as is required to enable the dough to be rolled into a ball.  Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes (for our purposes, we will chill in the freezer for about 10 minutes).

Roll disk of dough out to around 2 inches larger than your pie plate and transfer it, situating it in the plate.  Fold the excess dough around the edges and crimp, trimming where necessary.  Blind bake the crust by covering it with parchment, filling it with pie weights or pinto beans, and baking for around 20 minutes.  Remove the paper and weights and bake another 5 minutes.

Heat oven to 375ºF.  Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the onions and ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 7 minutes.  Stir in the parsley.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon salt.  Stir in the onion mixture and the cheese. Pour the egg mixture into the crust. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 15-20 minutes (or more–it took me like 35).  Let sit for 5 minutes.

Recipe by: Real Simple.

No words. Just hunger.

Listen to me when I say that if you do not demolish one of these fabulous quiches tonight, you are truly missing out.  The moist (but not too moist) egg filling meshes magically with the flaky crust and leads to a sense of heaven on earth all right inside your mouth.  Even after eating a piece and a half of this quiche within the last three hours, I would easily go back for another piece of this magic.  This is Saucy Sayre signing out for the last time.  So I’ll say it one more time folks: Stay saucy, citizens.

Add parsley for sophisticated garnish. No real sophistication necessary.