When Ian and I were in Paris for a few days last winter, we ate a lot of quiche. It was so easy to just pop into a boulangerie and grab if we were hungry. I mean, we got a lot of croissants, pain au chocolat and macarons, too but we also ate quiche because it was basically a proper meal you could just eat with your hands while walking down the sidewalk staring at the Eiffel Tower. Or maybe even when you are on the top of the Eiffel Tower (true story, we ate quiche on top of the Eiffel Tower). And it was cheap compared to 99% of the restaurants.

Ian has been low key begging me to make a quiche since we got back… last March… So finally, I decided that since I have never made one in my life, I would find one, review it and share it with you all! At first, I found a plain old quiche, but that was quickly poo-poo’d by Ian who wanted a Quiche Lorraine. His wish was granted.

To start, I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again…. just buy pie pastry from the freezer aisle. You a) won’t use a ton of time making pastry and b) won’t be worried whether or not it turns out. Obviously if you want to make your own pastry, I’m not going to stop you.

According to the directions, you are supposed to bake your crust first, but I did the bacon and onion first, that way everything was ready to go and the oven wasn’t on for any longer than necessary (I listened to a podcast and the guy mentioned that if you preheat your oven way too far in advance.. it is a huge waste of energy, so I’m trying to be more conscious about that). Ten strips of bacon is a lot. But you will use all of it. Maybe cook 11 since you’re 100% likely to want to eat a piece before you actually bake this pie.

I didn’t measure the onion. I just used a whole one. Can’t help it. I just really like sauteed onion. Plus it’s not like it’s going to ruin a dish because there’s a little extra onion that has been sauteed in bacon grease….

This recipe requires that you blind bake your pie crust. I have never done this before. The directions say you can use rice, so I did, but I didn’t use enough and the crust still bubbled. This did not actually affect the quiche, though. I felt like this was a waste of rice and have a mental note to self that I should buy pie weights.

Remember how in so many of my previous posts, I said, “My grocery store didn’t have this item. I need to find a new grocery store” Well, I went to my usual grocery store. So I used Emmental and Swiss cheese because I couldn’t find Gruyere. I’m sure I could have just used a ton of Swiss, and it would have been fine because the cheese flavour wasn’t super strong in this quiche. I actually followed the directions and “finely shredded” the cheese. I think that was a good choice. It was easier to spread it around. Do I think you could do this with two cups of whatever cheese you already have in your fridge? Absolutely.

I made the eggwash, which was different because it was eggwhite and water – I had never done that before (this is a pie of firsts!). I wonder what would have happened if I had used yolk? I did have some leftover eggwash after I brushed the crust thoroughly. When it came time to fill the pie crust, I used every last bit of bacon, onion and cheese but I kept a little bit of bacon to crumble on the top. The egg filling comes basically right to the top of the crust – literally a perfect fit.

During baking, the edges of the crust started to become brown halfway through, so I covered the edges in tinfoil to prevent them from burning. Then once the timer FINALLY went off (45 minutes is a long time to wait!) I patiently waited another 15 minutes for the pie to rest before digging in. Consensus? This is a delicious Quiche Lorraine! It is good hot, after it’s 15 minute rest, but it is also not so terrible cold the next day for lunch. I am just a little concerned with the serving sizes. This recipe says it will feed 8 people.. I’m thinking if you have a large meal with lots of other things, 8 people can eat this pie. But if you’ve got this pie and only one or two other things, you’re only going to feed 4-6. But maybe that’s just me.

One last little tidbit, if you do make your own pastry, or you buy those little single serve pastry cups, you can totally make bite-size or single serve quiches! We had friends over once and they brought them and they were great (thanks, Catherine!). They kept in the fridge for a couple of days too so they were easy to grab for breakfast or a snack. Bon appetit!

Two words: Grilled Cheese

Okay, anyone who ever read my old blog, Ginger on the Loose, knows that I am obsessed with Grilled Cheese Social. So, naturally, I’m doing a recipe review of Grilled Cheese Social’s The Tasty 24/7. When choosing a sandwich, I go to the Archive page and read a bunch of them before picking. This time around, there were brussels sprouts in the fridge that needed to be used up so I searched for them specifically. I found The Tasty 24/7 and boy, am I glad that I did. This GC is loaded with flavour and you don’t feel that guilty because there are Brussels sprouts in it! And an egg! Protein! 

Now for the Review

The author (and genius) of Grilled Cheese Social, Mackenzie Smith, writes in a way that is super easy to follow. Ingredients are laid out so you can’t miss anything. Plus the directions are simple and straight forward. You’ll be chowing down on Grilled Cheese Social’s The Taste 24/7 in no time!

Process

The first thing I did was boil the eggs. This only took seven minutes and cooled quickly in freezing cold water. I started on the brussels sprouts while the egg was boiling, which was easy enough. I just chopped the sprouts and tossed them for a few minutes in butter. The flavour of the sprouts was easily one of my favourite parts of this sandwich.

Candying the Bacon

I have never made candied bacon before and let’s just say it didn’t go over quite so well (lucky for me, that meant making the sandwich again for lunch the following day). Long story short, Ian ran out of time to go to the store on his way home from work and so I went after I had already candied the bacon. I came home to hard candied bacon. I thought, “I’ll just put it back on the heat” and it over cooked and tasted almost burned and also didn’t soften. If candy is hard, this bacon was definitely candy. The next day, I was a lot more diligent making the candied bacon and I was very pleased with the result. I think the lesson learned here is not to rush.

Say Cheese!

Let’s talk about the cheese: Muenster. I don’t know how to even say that and I had never tried it before, so I was a wee bit nervous. But rest assured, this is a fairly mild cheese and it melts reeeeal nice. I used cheese from local cheese company Bothwell Cheese for this because local is always the best option! Oh, and I guess I should mention, Ian is weird and picky about cheese, but he did like this Muenster, so.. everyone will probably enjoy it.

Bread

For those of us in Canada, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sara Lee in our stores. I was just going to buy Texas Toast and then I noticed Villaggio has Artisano Bread.. the writing and the package was basically the exact same as the Sara Lee bread that Grilled Cheese Social had in the post. As I was trying to assemble a sandwich, I started Googling whether Sara Lee and Villaggio are sister companies. I came up with nothing and proceeded to sandwich build.

Verdict

The ingredients in this sandwich stack really nicely while you’re doing your assembly. The sandwich isn’t so tall that you are wondering if everything will be warm and melty and it’s not unstable when you flip it over. When all of the prep, assembly and cooking is said and done and you finally get to chow down.. your tastebuds are in for a treat! Grilled Cheese Social’s the Tasty 24/7 is SO good and I will make this sandwich again.

Be sure to check out the link at the beginning of this post to find the recipe! And if you want to show people you love them, share it with them too.

Happy cooking!

-L