Quiche!

 
Quiche. It’s a peculiar word, isn’t it? Sort of like a cross between kiss and kitsch. And eesh. Since I tend of fixate on how some words sound funny when you say them over and over again (I’m real mature like that), my head exploded with all sorts of quiche-related puns, most of them really bad or pathetically lame. For example, I almost called this post, “Quiche On My List.” Then I had visions of Hall and Oates barging into my house and mercilessly hitting me on the head with a club that looked a lot like a keytar, so I stopped myself.

But I digress.

A quiche is basically a savory custard tart, the custard formed by baking a mixture of eggs, milk or cream, and any other add-ins of your choice. Spinach seems to be a popular choice of filling, but mushrooms aren’t too far behind. Now that spring is upon us, there are so many great fresh local veggies available, so you can pick your favorites!

 
 
 
As much as I love my veggies, I think it can’t hurt to throw a little bit of meat in there, too. Maybe it’s because the first really good quiche I ever had was filled with ham and cheese, or maybe it’s because growing up, one of my favorite things for breakfast was a ground beef frittata. For me, eggs and meat have always been a perfect match. And hey, it doesn’t have to be red meat either. Check out the smoked salmon quiche below!

 
 
 
A quiche typically uses a pastry crust but if you need to forgo the crust, we’ve got some crustless versions to show you. I’m pretty sure you could also just omit the crust in any of the other recipes. Or do the opposite and add a crust to the recipes below if you want one! Looking for a good pie crust recipe? You can’t go wrong with this perfect pie crust. And if you need some guidance, Calli has a really great step-by-step tutorial for rolling out beautiful pie crusts.

Don’t forget, you can also get creative and replace the crust with something else unexpected. Spaghetti squash crust, anyone? Or how about the potato crust from cookincanuck’s quiche above? Genius, I tell you.

 
 
 
If you can’t decide what kind of filing to make, why not make them all? You can create individual-sized quiches in tartlet pans, muffin pans, or ramekins. Then your guests can choose their favorite. Or, if you’re like me, you can pretend you can’t decide and pick one of each. I just tell people I work in culinary research and then start taking photos of my food. At that point, they pretty much just shrug their shoulders and leave me alone. (I sometimes hear them whispering to each other as they point in my direction but I’m usually too busy chewing to hear what they’re saying.)

 
 
 
And last but not least, there’s this quiche, with a photo taken by TK member and TK Blog contributor missamy that pretty much speaks for itself.

Amy did a step-by-step blog post of this recipe by Nancy in New Mexico here in the Tasty Kitchen Blog, and I’m telling you, I never get tired of looking at this. In fact, every time I have the photo up on my screen and some random cable/appliance repair/heating guy walks by, he always—and I mean ALWAYS—stops in his tracks, gazes at the photo, and then I swear, a barely-audible sigh escapes his lips. And I’m talking big, burly guys here. One of them even has a tattoo and all.

Which pretty much proves that real mean do eat quiche, especially when it’s loaded with bacon and cheese.

So this weekend, whether you’re cooking for Mom or Mr. Mom, or just for yourself (because we all deserve something special sometimes), why not try something different? I’ve had very little quiche-eating experience in my life, and my quiche-making experience is almost non-existent. But I know that after putting this roundup together, I’m excited to try making my very first quiche. Hey, I might even sing some Hall and Oates while I’m at it!

But only if I find a helmet first.