BLT Quiche

Since I made the Pear pie last week and my pie crust recipe yields at least 2, almost 3 crusts (probably would be 3 if I was better at rolling it all out!) I had some crust left over this weekend. I was going to make another sweet pie, but the sis requested a quiche and since I haven't yet made a traditional quiche, I decided to try it out. We had some bacon leftover in the fridge and a large assortment of cheese so I figured I would make a quiche that would use up some things we already had. I found this recipe for a Ham, Leek & 3-cheese Quiche that I used for my initial inspiration and combined it with this one for Madame Quiche's Quiche au Fromage.

Bacon Leek & Tomato Quiche

1 pie crust
5 strips of bacon - slices into 1/2" pieces
3 leeks - white & light green parts cut in half and sliced to 1/4" pieces
7 grape tomatoes - halved
1 cup of shredded Gruyere
1 cup of shredded Monterey Jack
1 cup of grated Parmesan
16 oz creme fraiche
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 large eggs

1. Roll out pie crust and place into a 9" deep dish pie plate. Crimp edges and poke bottom with a fork or sharp tipped knife. Place in the freezer for 30 mins. (Doing this makes a huge difference in the flakiness of the crust)
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line the pastry with aluminum foil and pastry weights and bake in the bottom third of the oven until the pastry is golden at the edges, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the aluminum foil and pastry weights. Return the pastry to the oven to bake until the bottom is golden, an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve. Lower oven to 350 degrees.
3. Place sliced leeks in cold water and mix them with your hands, to clean and separate the pieces. Drain in a colander and pat dry.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and cook the bacon pieces until crisp and brown. Remove bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon to drain on a paper towel, leaving the bacon renderings in the pan. Lower the heat to medium/medium-low and saute the leeks until tender, approx 8-10 minutes.
5. Line the bottom of the pie crust with the bacon pieces, they may overlap. Toss cheeses together and sprinkle on top of the bacon. Top cheese with the leeks.
6. Whisk together the eggs, nutmeg and pepper until combined. Add in the creme fraiche and whisk until smooth.
7. Carefully pour the egg mixture into the pie shell. Moving the leeks and cheese as necessary to allow for even distribution of the mixture. Top with the halved grape tomatoes, cut side up.
8. Cover the quiche with aluminum foil, being careful not to let the foil touch the egg mixture. Place on a cookie sheet and into the oven heated to 350 degrees.
9. Bake for 1 1/4- 1 1/2 hours until center of filling is puffed and set (center will be slightly wobbly but not liquid). Allow to cool for 20-30 minutes before serving.

I made this right before the sis and I went to the movies for a double feature. So when I got home I topped it with some extra Gruyere and popped it back in the oven to heat up and let the cheese melt. I love how easy quiche is and much like fritatta is a great way to use up extra things you have in the fridge.