This quiche was cooked in a springform pan, which was then removed before serving.

Back when I was a kid, there was a joke, “real men don’t eat quiche.” I never was sure why. My husband was a little bit worried when I first cooked it.  He could have relaxed. I didn’t mean anything, I just thought it looked good, a way to dress up bacon and eggs and get dinner on the table in about an hour without sacrificing sophistication.

You’ll need a nine-inch pie plate, a tart dish or a springform pan of about the same size for this recipe. Start with a standard, single pie crust. You can use your own recipe or use half the recipe used for Cherry Pie.  Once the crust is rolled out and laid in the pie dish, or pressed into the tart plate, fill it up with 1 lb chili beans or any type and put it in the oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Prebaking the pie crust makes it crisp, and putting in the beans keeps the crust from falling in on itself during the baking process. If you don’t have any beans you can try putting the crust in the ‘fridge for half an hour before cooking, but generally it will puff up and cave in anyway. You can press the crust back into shape after removal from the oven if needed. During the baking of the crust, fry up 1/4 to 1/2 lb bacon and grate 1/2 lb. swiss cheese. Pull the baked pie crust out of the oven. Let cool for a couple of moments and then pour the beans out. You can still use them for something else if you were planning to, or just keep them around for the next time you make a single crust pie.

Now you should have a baked pie crust dented with the imprints of the beans. Don’t worry no one will see the imprints. Put the fried bacon in the bottom, the cheese over that, and then fill up with a mixture of 6 eggs and 1 cup milk or cream.  The richer the liquid, the richer the quiche, but I usually use 2% milk with no bad results. Sprinkle or grind a little nutmeg on the top of the quiche for decoration. You don’t need any salt because you just used all that bacon, remember?

Bake the quiche for somewhere between half an hour and 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  The quiche will puff up as it cooks, then right before it is done, you will see it fall back down to its original size. A knife inserted in the center will come out clean, similar to checking a cake or a pudding. Cool for a few minutes before serving or the melted cheese will run everywhere.  Serve with rice and brocolli or salad.

And yes, real men do eat it. Voice of experience.