Guest Post: Bacon and Bell Pepper Quiche

It's high time my long-ago college roommate turned BFF, Tori, was invited to guest post.  Our freshman year of college, we would haul all the kitchen items she had stored in her dorm room down the stairs to our sad dorm kitchen and make elaborate things that the kitchen was not built for, like lemon olive oil muffins. Her kitchen skill and dedication was an important starting point for my own love of cooking. Most importantly, she's a kind soul who on a recent visit to the sisters' childhood home made our loving Mum some of this in mini-quiche form to freeze for breakfast for the coming weeks:

Crust:
1 ½ cups cold salted butter cut into small pieces
3 cups flour
1 egg
5 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt

Filling:
Onion, thinly sliced
1 ½ bell peppers, chopped
8 slices bacon, fried and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
8 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Any crust will work for the quiche. I made an extra crust awhile back and had stuck it in my freezer so I used it for this quiche.

Here’s what I did to make the crust. In a large bowl, combine the cold cubed butter with the flour using a pastry cutter (or forks if you don’t have a pastry cutter) until the mixture is crumbly. Beat an egg in a separate bowl. Add the beaten egg to the flour mixture. Then add the cold water, vinegar, and salt. Stir all ingredients together until combined. Divide the dough in half and put each half in its own gallon sized plastic bag. Slightly flatten each ball of dough until it forms a disk about ½ an inch thick. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer. If you want to use the crust right away, pull it out about 15-20 minutes later. Otherwise pull the frozen crust out and leave it on the counter for about 30 minutes before rolling it out.

Preheat the oven to 400°. To make the filling, melt the butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5-7 minutes. Remove the sautéed vegetables from the heat and allow them to cool. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, pepper, and a bit of salt. After it is whisked well, add the vegetables, bacon and cheese to combine. In a pie dish, place your crust and then pour in the egg mixture. If you have extra egg mixture, you can spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and then fill the tin with leftover mixture. These will bake faster than the quiche, but will still taste really good. Also you can freeze them after they are cooked. Cover the quiche lightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

making mini quiches for the Mom! These had spinach and tomato, and you can use crust for the mini form as well.

food allergies and considerations: Could easily be made crustless, just be sure to grease the pan really well. Filling additions are easily adjusted, so you could leave out the bacon to make this vegetarian, but otherwise...bacon!