Thought I had this post all set to go, and then realized I never hit the “schedule” button. Oops! Well, now my secret is out and you know not only do I schedule a lot of my posts beforehand, but I screw it up, too! Anyway, hope you enjoy!
I’m a big believer in the value of starting the day with a good meal, but most of the time, we keep that to light fare – being happily full in the morning helps prevent snacking through the day, but being too full means I’m going to be tired and listless. However, there are some occasions where a luxurious breakfast meal is called for. Brunch, for example.
My dad makes an excellent crab quiche. The first time I tasted it, I knew I had to make one – both because it was good and because I wanted to do my own take on it. Dad believes the more spices the merrier, and since his food is delicious, I can’t argue with him. When I make my own recipes, though, I like to keep them simpler so that I can pick out and savor the individual flavors. This version is slightly streamlined from his, but my husband and I absolutely love it. If you want the rich luxurious original, check out my dad’s recipe, but if you just want a special occasion brunch dish, try mine on for size. Both are delicious.
Single Crust Pie Pastry
What you’ll need:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 tbsp water
How to make it:
- Mix together the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Let the butter sit and soften just a little, and then cut it into the flour mix with a pastry cutter. The mixture should look crumbly when you’re done.
- Sprinkle in the water a tablespoon at a time. When you’ve added the water, flip it through the dough with a fork until the dough is softened. Then move that bit of dough out of the way and fluff the rest. The idea at the end is to get all the crumbly dough moistened so it sticks together.
- Lightly flour your breadboard, butcher block, or whatever you use to roll bread on, and roll out the pastry dough until it’s nice and thin. Wrap it around the rolling pin and then unroll it into your pie pan. Trim the edges, crimp them, or do whatever your fancy little heart desires. Just make it neat so it doesn’t glop all over the place. This is a word, glop.
- Get ready for filling and baking!
Crab and Spinach Quiche
What you’ll need:
- 1 pie pastry – see above if you want to make your own, or you can always buy one {I promise, it’s okay! Not everything has to be 100% from scratch for you to feel accomplished in life}
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 6 slices Canadian bacon
- 6 beaten eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup cream
- 1 tbsp brandy
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 2/3 cup shredded cheese
- 1 cup shredded spinach
- 6 oz crab meat
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
How to make it:
- Preheat oven to 325F. Once it’s heated, bake your crust for 8-10 minutes just to get it started.
- Dice the bacon into little pieces and saute it up with the onions and celery. Add in the spinach toward the end. Saute the crab meat in the brandy. Yummm.
- In another bowl, mix up the beaten eggs, cream, sour cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cheese. Then mix the bacon mix and crab meat into the egg mix until everything is nice and blended.
- Pour everything into the pie crust and bake at 325F for about 45 minutes, or until you can insert a knife into the center and pull it out clean. No gloppy pie crust and no gloppy quiches around here!
- Serve and enjoy! I personally like topping mine with some nice fresh avocado.
In case you were wondering, this dish is not calorie friendly. Don’t eat it all at once, but it’s nice for those special occasion mornings where you want something a little bit more luxurious than the norm.
Hope everyone’s having a fantastic week!
