Table Talk » It's always a good day for brunch

Last fall I clipped a recipe for Individual Ham-Crusted Quiches with Leek and Smoked Cheese from the Boston Sunday Globe magazine. All that was missing was a brunch to make them for. That brunch finally materialized last weekend.

The recipe is simple, arrange ham slices in muffin cups, bake the muffins cups to crisp up the ham, saute leeks and red bell pepper, cool that mixture, grate some smoked cheese, mix eggs, half and half, the veggies, and cheese. Spoon into ham cups, and bake. Easy, delicious.

If you've ever cooked with leeks, you know that they can be loaded with sand. My tip for working with leeks is always cut them up and then soak them in a large bowl of water. The chopped leeks float to the top, the fine sand floats to the bottom. DO NOT remove the leeks from the water by pouring them into a colander or you'll add that fine sand back into the leeks. Use your hands or a slotted spoon to remove the leeks from the water. Regardless of how clean the leeks seem, I always do this and I'm always amazed by how much fine sand is left at the bottom of the bowl after I remove the leeks.

Once the leeks are soaking, I arranged the ham in the muffin cups. I used Hormel Natural Choice Ham. I picked it because it is a no-nitrate ham. The slices are small, larger ham slices would have worked better. Once baked, the ham slices shrink and the small ham slices shrunk a little more than I wanted them to. When I make these again, I'm going to try them with prosciutto. Here's the ham arranged in the cups before baking and after baking.

While the ham baked, I sauteed the leeks and red peppers. To cool them quickly, I scraped them into a shallow bowl and set that bowl in a bowl of ice water.

While the leeks cooled, I grated the cheese. Then I mixed the eggs, half and half, salt, and pepper, and the cheese with the leeks and red peppers.

Next, that mixture was spooned into the ham cups.

Into the oven... After cooling in the pan for a few minutes...

These mini quiches were delicious. And easy to make. I'll definitely make them again. Everyone loved them. The vegetable and cheese combinations are endless.

Individual Ham-Crusted Quiches with Leek and Smoked Cheese
Recipe by Adam Ried, Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, October 5, 2008

You'll need a 12-cup muffin tin; if your pan is nonstick, then don't bother oiling it. Make sure to buy low-sodium ham, otherwise the quiches will be too salty. (Patti's note: I didn't use low-salt ham, my quiches weren't too salty.)

Vegetable oil, for greasing tin
24 slices (about 3/4 pound) low-sodium deli ham
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small leek, white and light green parts cleaned and finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped (about 2/3 cup)
Salt and black pepper
2 eggs plus 1 yolk
1 1/3 cups half-and-half
6 ounces smoked Gouda, grated (about 2 1/2 cups)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil the muffin tin cups and fit 2 slices of ham into each, making sure that the ends extend well over the edges of the cups. Bake until the ham cups dry out and shrink a little, about 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet set over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leek, bell pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste, stir to coat with the butter, and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Scrape the leek and peppers into a medium bowl and cool to room temperature. Add the eggs, yolk, half-and-half, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and whisk to beat the eggs and incorporate all the ingredients. Add the grated cheese and whisk to combine.

Divide the custard mixture among the muffin cups (use your fingers to hold the ham crusts open, if necessary). Bake until just set and slightly puff y, about 15 minutes. Place the muffin tin on a wire rack, cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. To transport the quiches, keep them in the muffin tin. Use a soup spoon to carefully remove them from muffin cups, and serve at room temperature.

Posted May 18, 2009 10:18 PM in Recipes

« Read all about it | Table Talk Main | Quick tip: easy cleanup for cutting watermelon »

More Information

Search Table Talk

My Favorite Blogs

I Recommend

Visit My Amazon Store

Monthly Archives

4 Comment(s)

Marcia said… (on May 19, 2009 at 08:36 AM #)

I cut out this recipe too and still haven't tried it... Yours look SO good... Maybe our next family gathering can be a brunch so you can make them for me!!

Patti Anastasia said… (on May 19, 2009 at 15:02 PM #)

Quiche is good for any time of day. They'd be a good appetizer too. Maybe in mini muffin cups.

Cindy Barnard said… (on May 19, 2009 at 20:44 PM #)

Well, OK. I need a brunch to try out these babies.
This recipe is going in my FILE for future use.
Thanks, as always, Patti.
P.S. Your pics are terrific.

EAT! said… (on May 28, 2009 at 06:45 AM #)

This recipe has been hanging out on my desktop for some time. I always love little packages of food. I wish I had a couple of these for breakfast today.


	© 2003-2009 Patti Anastasia and Anastasia's Table, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
	Powered by Moveable Type.