Even when the centerpiece of your Easter brunch is a spiral-cut ham – that does not mean you can’t throw in a little bacon too!

The original Southern Living recipe called for a cast-iron skillet. Since my cast-iron skillet was in a storage cupboard in the garage that was blocked by a bunch of boxes and folding chairs, I used a large heavy skillet instead.

I’ve mentioned this tip before, but it’s worth repeating. If you have a pot or pan that needs to go in the oven that does not have an oven-safe handle, or even if you’re not quite sure if it is oven-safe or not. You can still use that pan. Just double wrap the handle in heavy-duty foil (or wrap 4 times with standard foil) and just like magic, you have an oven-safe pan.

Hash Brown-Asparagus-Bacon Quiché

• 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 8 ounces fresh asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 4 cups frozen shredded hash browns (about 12 ounces)
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese (about 4 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• Fresh minced chives, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook bacon in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or another oven-safe heavy skillet over medium until browned and almost crisp, but still tender, about 6 minutes. Transfer bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Reserve drippings in skillet, and let cool slightly.

Add asparagus to skillet, and cook over medium-high, stirring often, until lightly browned and just beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer asparagus to a medium bowl.

Add hash browns, bacon, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper to hot drippings in skillet over medium-high; stir to combine.

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The three quiche recipes I worked up for The Arizona Republic food section over six weeks ago are finally in the newspaper today.  Although I am extremely pleased with the article written by the lovely Karen Fernau, the photos leave a lot to be desired. The cover shot’s color is off and the inside photos are an unappetizing black & white.  Luckily, the beautiful color photos that food photographer extraordinaire, Michael McNamara, shot are on the AZCentral website, along with all three recipes.  Find the full article and links to all three recipes, plus the basic crust recipe, HERE.

And this is what you will find there…

Jalapeno Popper Quiche                  Photo credit: Michael McNamara

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Our sweet little cold spell has come to a screeching halt… it’s going to get up into the low 80’s today and up to 85 throughout the weekend. Darn, I was soaking up as much of the cold as I could. Yesterday’s hot soup may have been the last for quite a while. OK, enough lamenting, back to “Kim Week”.

Kim’s friend with the urban farm, Chris, sent over eggs from her chickens and duck. Or maybe it’s ducks, as in more than one. I haven’t visited the garden yet, so I’m not sure. But look at those gorgeous eggs! Kim said that the two white eggs on top were the duck eggs, they look a bit small for duck eggs to me, but maybe they are small ducks! Hopefully, I will learn more soon, after a tour.

Doesn’t that basket look sweet in my fridge? Makes me wish I still had my chickens and a cool chicken coop.  There are so many pretty coops on Pinterest, it has me dreaming of one of my own.  Speaking of Pinterest, I’ve added a “Pin It!” button at the bottom of each post, so if you see something you’d like to share, feel free to pin away!

Even though the basket of pretty brown and colorful Araucana eggs in my fridge makes me feel quite wealthy, I had better use them up. And there is almost no better way to use up eggs than to bake up a quiche or two… or a half-dozen individual quiches.

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I thought this was a cooking blog!  I know, I know – I haven’t posted a recipe in nearly a week. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking, it’s just that so many much more interesting things have been going on.  In fact, I was cooking up quiches like a fiend for the last couple of days but I won’t be able to post those recipes until after an article about their runs in the Arizona Republic food section in a couple of weeks.

Food editor, Karen, and food photographer extraordinaire, Michael, were here at the house this morning.  My plan to was to take pictures of Michael taking pictures of the food, but yeah, I forgot and just chatted it up with the two of them instead. Darn ADD gets me every time! 

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Quiche is such a versatile dish. It is perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner. It’s wonderful on it’s own or alongside a salad, drizzled with a vinaigrette. Delicious served hot from the oven or at room temperature… No wonder real men not only eat but love quiche! Bake this the day ahead, reheat and enjoy on Christmas morning as gifts are being opened.

Believe it or not, I’ve never used a frozen pie crust before. I really enjoy making crust from scratch, but a friend told me that the new pie crusts at Trader Joe’s were as good as homemade, so thought I’d give them a try with a quiche recipe.  Here’s what I’ve discovered; the frozen crusts look great, you can see the little bits of real butter in the dough, just as with homemade dough, a good start! After reading the ingredients, found there is palm oil… not good… but it is the third to the last ingredient listed with only water and salt after it, so I’m hoping it isn’t too much in there. The crust shrunk quite a bit more than a homemade one would during the blind bake, but the real test – the taste? Pretty darn good, I’d give it about an 8 out 0f 10, with the homemade crust being a perfect 10.

So what exactly is blind baking? It is when you bake and brown a crust without the filling. Blind baking a crust is necessary when it will be filled with an unbaked filling or when the filling has a shorter baking time than the crust needs to become cooked through.  Blind baking also helps prevent the crust from becoming soggy from its filling. To accomplish this you can either poke the uncooked pastry with a fork or line the pastry shell with foil or parchment paper and weigh it down with ceramic or metal pie weights. This allows the steam created by the butter to escape in the case of poking or prevents the crust from puffing up, when weighted. If you do not want to invest in pie weights, no problem, just weigh down the shell with dry beans or raw rice.  You can use the beans or rice a couple of times for this purpose, but after that, toss them in the trash. As they bake over and over, they will lose their natural moisture and no longer be heavy enough to be effective.

The technique for caramelizing the onions for this quiche is different than the methods I’ve posted here before. Adding water and bringing the onions to a boil, allows the onions to completely soften without a chance of burning. Once the water has dissipated, the onions caramelize evenly and easily.
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