“Are you making another pie?” The Farmer was letting his curiosity show with perhaps a little cautious optimism. After yesterday’s spectacular pumpkin pie, my first attempt at pie crust after many years, I’m stepping boldly forward with a personal challenge to make a pie every day until I have my pie crust mojo back. Today’s pie is our lunch: Fennel, Onion, Apple, Cheddar, Ham and a little Sage Quiche. We could call it FOACH’s Quiche using all those initials, but for such a great tasting quiche it’s a lame name. Let’s just call it good!
I started with a sweet onion and a fennel bulb, sliced them up and caramelized them in a skillet with some butter. Then I added diced apple and diced ham. While those were cooking I put together the pie crust. I used the same recipe for pie crust that I did yesterday, and today it came together a little easier. See? All it takes is practice!
The fennel, onion, apple and ham went right into that freshly made pie crust, topped with grated Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese. In a mixing bowl I had beaten 3 eggs and a cup of milk, so I poured it over the veggies, ham, and cheese. On top of that I added more grated cheddar, and then sprinkled some pepper and a little ground sage.
Into the oven at 350 degree F. with the timer set to 50 minutes. It actually took a whole hour to bake to a golden brown, puff up, and cook all the way through.
Is this not a thing of beauty? The hardest part is waiting for it to cool. You really don’t want to try to cut a hot quiche because the filling needs a little time to rest, cool down, and set. It’s much easier to slice beautiful pieces when the quiche is still warm but not hot.
I probably should have mixed the ground sage into the filling, but to be honest it was an after-thought. While I was grating the cheese I was thinking about my dad, who loved sage cheese. If he could find it in a store, he would buy a hunk of good Vermont cheddar with sage and bring it home to enjoy. He especially enjoyed his sage cheese with a piece of my mom’s homemade apple pie! So I sprinkled a little sage on top of the quiche just before it went into the oven.
Fennel, Onion, Apple, Cheddar, Ham and Sage Quiche
Author: Mimi Holtz
Recipe type: Quiche
Cuisine: American
Prep time:
30 mins
Cook time:
60 mins
Total time:
1 hour 30 mins
Save Print
This quiche is a feast with savory fennel, onion, ham, and cheddar cheese paired with a little sweet apple and a touch of sage!
Ingredients
1 9 inch unbaked pie shell.
1 tablespoon salted butter
1 large sweet onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 medium appled, peeled and diced
1 cup diced ham
2 cups grated Cabot Extra Sharp cheddar cheese, divided
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat the butter in a large skillet.
Add fennel and onions and sauté until they begin to caramelize, stirring often.
Add apple and ham and continue cooking for 5 minutes.
Pour the fennel, onion, apple, and ham into the uncooked pie shell.
Sprinkle 1 cup grated cheese over the filled pie shell.
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and milk together.
Pour over the mixture into the pie shell.
Sprinkle the remaining cup of grated cheese on top.
Sprinkle the pepper and sage on top of the cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 50-60 minutes or until the quiche is puffy and golden brown.
A knife inserted in the middle of the quiche should come out clean when it is done.
Let the quiche cool on a wire rack until the filling is set but the pie is still warm.
Serve immediately or refrigerate.
Quiche can be prepared in advance and reheated before serving.
3.4.3177
I served the quiche for lunch today and The Farmer asked for seconds! I must admit that I had seconds too!
Disclosure: I received a box of goodies from Cabot Cooperative Creamery and King Arthur flour as a participant in the Cabot Cheese Board for food bloggers. This recipe was developed for the #QuicheFeast promotion and will be entered in a contest. I was not required nor compensated to write this post. All opinions and experiences are mine.