Ever since mama and I each noticed and commented on this dish after seeing it in this month’s Southern Living magazine, I wanted to make it. There no crust, only a thick bottom layer consisting of a mixture of cooked grits, sharp cheddar, and an egg, paired with a traditional quiche filling using heavy cream, half-n-half, and eggs. The dish does produce a rockin’ taste and has a real take-away heft to it so it makes a satisfying main dish. I can attest to all the above because I made it twice. In two days. I had to. Yesterday’s effort was not successful. It was good, but it wasn’t the quiche it was supposed to be. Of course there’s a story here and I will try to be brief in the telling of it.
The first thing to mention is that I’ve renamed this quiche three times. It started with its magazine title, Bacon Cheddar & Grits Quiche, then three more names evolved in my mind as I wrestled with creating it. This morning, while making it again, I renamed it The Second Time Around Quiche. Yesterday’s quiche, baked in a spring form pan as directed in the recipe, shrank before my eyes as it baked. When I first set the pan in the oven on a rimless baking sheet, I initially believed some of the filling sloshed out while placing it on the oven rack. But when I shut the oven door and turned away, I noticed a puddly trail of quiche filling marching across the floor. My eyes followed the trail over to the bottom cabinets then up to the counter where at least 3/4 cup of the filling was spreading! The spring form pan had sprung a leak. With no way of saving what was in the oven, I cleaned up the mess everywhere else and let the quiche bake. When I peered in the oven after cleaning up, there was another 3/4 cup of filling running off the baking sheet onto the bottom of the oven where the eggs had baked up hard and the cream was already browned. EPIC FAIL ON THE PAN!
I now couldn’t bake the paltry amount left in the pan as long as the recipe called for and by the time it did come out of the oven, the grits and cheese mixture was great but there was only a thin layer of the filling, somewhat saved by the cooked crumbled bacon and the green onions which rose to the top and baked just fine. This led to its second name, Pizza Quiche, because it looked more like a pizza than anything else in its skinny little state. It actually tasted good and I ate a large piece (not a large wedge because a wedge involves height and we were definitely at pizza level here). I also carried a piece to mama when I went up to visit and she also found it tasty; she cleaned the plate, but, it was obvious: what we ate was truly a ghost of its intended self and that meant baking it again 🙂
Another trip to the store for an 8-oz. block of sharp cheddar, more heavy cream, and a dozen eggs led to the dish now being tagged “Damned Expensive Quiche!” in my mind. A bright spot here is that it was much quicker to prepare today since the steps were familiar. I did lessen two ingredient amounts, and ended up with the recipe below. I used 1-1/2 cups less half-n-half and one less egg in the filling. And today I used my quiche dish; no spring form pan!
Ta-DA! Today: Winner! The result is as tasty as imagined. The grits, cheese and bacon marry well and the filling is rich with half-n-half, cream, and four eggs. I can definitely see, however, how nice this would look using a high-sided spring form pan, and it would be much easier to serve, but I wasn’t willing to risk losing it all to the bottom of the oven again. Knowing myself, I’ll keep tinkering with it (not tomorrow)! BUT, if any of you try it using the spring form pan and the original recipe and it works for you, down the line, please let us in on it by posting a pic!
For now, my spring form pan is back on the shelf reserved for use with cheesecakes and dishes with heavier batters. The bottom layer of this dish is thick enough to allow using a spring form pan which is surely the trick to making this the Southern Living Way IF said pan can be completely sealed. I imagine this looking even more delightful and serving at least 8-10 people. Meanwhile, the recipe below, as re-written, to serve 6-8, still makes a mighty fine supper. It’s ono, y’all.
I almost didn’t share this story because I already told you about a major flub occurring when preparing the Bacon Bundled Beans last week, and was, you know, thinking perhaps you would be thinking, “this lady writes a food blog but she’s had two flub ups in the first week she’s been blogging”, and, well, then, you know, you might just move on to somebody’s blog who knows how to cook and never has a dish turn out less than perfect.
But my next thought was that the story does testify to the fact that when we’re cooking, we all have glitches, and we don’t just give up because we are made of much hardier stock than that! Actually, in Missouri, it’s all part of our “show me” attitude. 🙂
Bacon Cheddar & Grits Quiche
6 slices of thick bacon
2-1/4 cups milk
2 T. butter
1/2 cup uncooked instant grits
2 t. sea salt, divided use
1 tsp. black pepper, divided use
2-1/2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded, divided use
5 large eggs
1-1/2 cups half-n-half
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup green onion, sliced thin
Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon; drain and crumble. Transfer 2 tsp. bacon drippings to a sauce pan.
Bring drippings, milk, and butter to a boil over medium heat. Gradually whisk in grits, 1 t. salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper; cook, whisking constantly 7-8 minutes or until very thick. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Stir in 1 cup cheese and let stand again 10 minutes. Stir in 1 egg, spread in a 10” quiche dish coated with cooking spray. Spread mixture well to the edges.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until set and browned. Sprinkle remaining 1-1/2 cups cheese over the warm grits, spreading to edges. Let stand 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 325. Combine half-n-half, cream, green onion, and the remaining 4 eggs; whisk well. Add the remaining 1 t. sea salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Whisk again to blend well then pour over grits mixture in dish; sprinkle with crumbled bacon. Place dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 325 for one hour and 15 minutes or until lightly browned and just set. Let stand 20 minutes then run a sharp knife around edges of the quiche and cut into wedges for serving.