Gang aft Agley

I got an urge for quiche last week and thought it was a great opportunity to take advantage of local suppliers in support of the Eat Local Challenge. I had some local smoked bacon in the freezer and figured that Saturday morning I’d cruise by the farmer’s market for fresh eggs and then the Horn of Plenty market for local cream and butter.

The only local cheese available is a cheddar that’s not very good, but my friend, Q Correll, makes the lightest quiche I’ve ever eaten using imported Cheshire and I thought it would be particularly good with the smoked bacon. I could tell this was going to be a kick-ass quiche.

So Saturday Morning I started the bacon thawing and headed for the market. Neither of the two egg suppliers was there. Major let down.

Then the Horn of Plenty only had buttermilk — no cream or whole milk — and was also out of butter. Suddenly the wonderful quiche using super-fresh local ingredients I’d been anticipating had become just another very good quiche.

As I said, the Cheshire makes a surprisingly light quiche and the smoked bacon was, indeed, an excellent match. I wrote yesterday about pie crusts and that post was prompted by the pastry I made for this quiche. Although I had to use half and half and butter from the supermarket that didn’t hurt (it just didn’t help). To the pastry I added dried thyme and, on a hunch, grated parmesan. I could have skipped the filling and just eaten crust for supper.

Quiche
Recipe by Q Correll

1 1/2 c Cheshire cheese — shredded
8 slices smoked bacon — cooked and coarsely chopped
1 ea small onion — diced and sauteed until translucent
1 1/2 c half and half
3 ea eggs
1/2 tsp powdered mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
dash of cayenne
9″ pie crust

Heat oven to 375F.

Sprinkle cheese, bacon, and onion in pie shell. Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour into pie shell. Cook on middle rack of oven for 45 minutes or until center is set. Serves 6.

All in all a very good meal (the cakes in the photo are actually fried green tomatoes), even if my plans did go astray. And I’ll get another chance to do it with fresh eggs and cream.