This is one of my favorite meals to prepare.  It’s easy and requires simple ingredients that we already have on hand.  What I love about it is its sophistication and complex flavor.  Eggs are an inexpensive way to stretch our budget as seen with our breakfast for dinner meal and provide an abundance of protein. Quiche isn’t exactly beans and cornbread, so the family doesn’t view this as some sort of cheap meal. The ingredients are affordable but this meal does require your time and thought. When serving, it may seem that each person isn’t getting a lot, but one generous slice fills my husband up and he weighs 180 lbs. This is a very filling meal.  A salad would be a good companion to the quiche if you wish to add something else while keeping the meal under $10.00.

Filling:

8 slices bacon, crumbled ($1.50)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese ($1.25) *on sale

1/3 cup finely chopped white onion ($0.25)

4 large eggs ($0.50)

1 cup heavy whipping cream ($1.00)

1/4 teaspoon salt ($0.05)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper ($0.05)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne ($0.05)

1 teaspoon thyme ($0.25)

1 cup chopped fresh parsley ($0.25) (for garnish)

Pastry: 

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon  shortening ($0.25)

1 cup all purpose flour (I prefer unbleached) ($0.25)

1/4 teaspoon salt ($0.05)

2-3 tablespoons cold water ($0.10)

TOTAL: $5.80

RECIPE: Heat oven to 425. Prepare pastry. Cut shortening into flour and salt using pastry blender or criss crossing two knives until particles are size of course crumbs. Sprinkle with cold water, one tablespoon at a time tossing with fork until all flour is moistening and pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl. One to two teaspoons water can be added if necessary. Gather pastry into a ball and then shape into flattened round on a cloth covered board. Roll the pastry into circle two inches larger than upside down pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths, place in pie plate and then unfold and ease into plate pressing firmly against bottom and side.  

Cook bacon. Dice it and then place it back in the pan to cook with the onions and other seasonings. Skim out these items from the bacon fat. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion in pastry lined quiche dish or pie plate, beat eggs slightly, beat in remaining ingredients. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 and bake about 30 minutes longer or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

NOTE: The thyme and bacon are fairly essential to the recipe. It is conceivable that you could substitute whole milk for the cream, but you’re taking a chance on the consistency. I estimate honestly on the prices and many of the items are purchased on sale.  I use my local grocery store’s most recent price for eggs as a reference since my eggs are fresh from my mother’s chickens. I store some of the leftover seasoned bacon drippings in the refrigerator for other recipes (spinach is great with a slight bacon flavor).

Tags: Bacon, Quiche Lorraine, Thyme

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Meals for Less than $10.00. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.