Quiche

A few months back, on a brief overnight stay in Gainesville, my Mom fixed an amazing quiche that was so good I couldn't wait to recreate it.  We have since made quite a few of these breakfast dishes, often with slight variations.  Here is the original recipe: 

Ham and Potato Quiche
1 box Pillsbury pie crust-softened as directed on package
1 cup frozen southern-style diced hashbrown potatoes- thawed
1.5 cup fresh asparagus cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup chopped ham (I used deli ham- the original recipe called for Canadian bacon)
1.5 cups (6 oz) Havarti cheese- shredded
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 tsp salt

1- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place pie crust in 9 inch glass pie pan.  Bake 8 minutes.
2- Layer potatoes, asparagus, ham, and cheese in pie crust.
3- Beat eggs, milk, and salt.  Pour mixture over pie ingredients.  Crust will be very full.
4- Bake about 45 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving. 

My variation: I don't own a pie pan so I purchase a package of 2 frozen pie crusts in the throw away aluminum tins.  I use the same amount of potatoes, asparagus, ham and cheese as the recipe calls for but divide it in half to fill the 2 pies equally.  I then add the egg/milk mixture with enough to fill the crusts to the top.  I believe it usually comes out to about 3 eggs per crust.  Also, I often have to fashion a pie crust shield out of aluminum foil to avoid the crust from becoming too brown.  I will soon be investing in a real shield as this is a tricky task! 

Tip: bake them on a baking sheet to avoid egg spillage in your oven

Because my method makes two quiches, I usually put one in a gallon-size Ziploc and freeze it.  When I'm ready to enjoy it, I just warm it in a 300-degree oven until heated through.

We have made variations using onions, broccoli, and bacon and have decided the asparagus is the key!