Ham and Leek Quiche
The Quiche Basics
My mom sense really kicked in after last week’s recipe, chocolate peanut butter cup bars. They were delicious, but not exactly nutritious, and I’m feeling a little guilty – like I should be feeding you better. Which is why today, we will be making a super easy and delicious ham and leek quiche.
You don’t like ham? You’ve never tasted leeks? No worry, we can change it up. This recipe is simple and adaptable. It’s also a dish that seems a little fancy, so you can serve it to guests like I did this week.
I do cook a real dinner every day – “real” meaning nothing frozen, microwaved, or ordered, with the exception of pizza Friday. That doesn’t mean, though, that I don’t try to make some of the steps a little easier. Quiche requires a pie crust and while I know how to make my own, when I make this for dinner, I use the refrigerated rolled up kind of crust.
This particular quiche includes a cut up ham steak (a single thick slice of ham), sauteed leeks, and cheddar jack cheese. The base of the quiche – like all of the quiches I make – is light cream and four eggs whipped up with a whisk. This is what makes the quiche light and fluffy.
Change It Up
There are a variety of different things you can add to a quiche: chopped spinach (I use fresh), cooked mushrooms, cooked onions, cooked bacon. What you want to avoid are things that would add too much liquid to your mix, like fresh tomatoes. Sun-dried tomatoes would probably work well.
If you don’t have light cream, you can use milk although something with some fat content will work better. We generally have 1% and that has worked. I don’t recommend heavy cream. I did that once and it was too heavy and had a bit of a curdled texture. Light cream is ideal.
You can also change up the cheese. I have used Monterey Jack, grated Swiss cheese, and grated Gruyere.
No matter what you choose, quiche is an easy, delicious, versatile dish that pairs well with a side salad for a balanced meal – after which you can go eat a chocolate peanut butter cup bar.
Ham and Leek Quiche
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch pie crust prepared
- 3 leeks
- 1 ham steak
- 1-2 tbsp butter
- 1 1/2 cups light cream
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese
Instructions
- If you are using a prepared pie crust, as I did, let it sit out of the fridge for about 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut and clean the leeks. Cut the bottom off and discard. Slice the white layer into rings and a little bit of the green parts. Discard the rest of the green.
- You need to clean leeks very well because they are often full of dirt. I separate the rings with my fingers and wash them very thoroughly in a colander. Shake off the excess water.
- Dice the ham steak into quarter inch pieces.
- Melt the butter in a frying or sauté pan. I start with 1 tbsp and add the other if the pan seems dry.
- Add the leeks to the melted butter and sauté gently over medium high heat. You will cook the leeks until they are wilted and slightly translucent (like you can see through them), but not brown. Lower the heat if you find they are getting brown.
- Once the leeks are cooked, lower the heat to low/warm.
- Add the light cream to a bowl.
- Add the eggs to the cream and whisk until foamy. You can use a fork if you don't have a whisk.
- Set the pie crust evenly in a pie pan. I use glass.
- Put the prepared pie pan and crust onto a rimmed baking sheet.
- You can fold the edge of the crust over and crimp it with a fork or you can make the pattern you see in mine. I do this by forming a V between my thumb and index finger and pushing a little bit of crust into the V with my other thumb.
- Begin layering your quiche.
- Turn off the heat and remove the leeks. Layer them into the bottom of the prepared pie crust.
- Place the diced ham evenly over the leeks.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the leek and ham layers.
- Carefully pour your cream and egg mixture over the cheese layer. Go slowly since you may find you have a bit too much liquid.
- Bake the quiche for about an hour until the top is brown and the middle is set. If you tap the edge of the pan and it is still jiggly, it needs more time. I believe I needed 70 minutes for this one.
- Let your quiche sit a little bit before cutting, about 15 minutes. If you cut it too early, it may not be neat. It's not neat after it goes in your stomach, either, but you might care about that kind of thing.
