Cowboy Quiche (aka Bacon and Sharp Cheddar Quiche with Caramelized Onions)

You are in luck.  I own both the Pioneer Woman’s cookbooks.  And reading her cookbooks is the only way you will find this gem of a recipe.  It’s not on her website; I checked.  It’s not on the Food Network site; I checked.

So, you found it here first, my friends, but all credit must go to Ree.  Another winner from her recipe box.

Melt-in-your-mouth lovely.  With the homiest of ingredients.

Cowboy Quiche

This Cowboy Quiche is one that should make it into your recipe box.  It’ll be on our table regularly.  I mean, who would have thought bacon and caramelized onions and cream and sharp cheddar could be so delicious?

I jest, of course.  We are born knowing these foods are delicious.  My fourteen-month old gobbled up an entire slice.  (Except he wasn’t a big fan of the homemade crust.  What’s up with that?)

Hold on.  I must amend a statement.  This quiche will be on our table regularly, so long as we are also regularly hitting the pavement in our running shoes.  My only issue is its title: Cowboy Quiche.  It conjures images of strong, husky men wearing plaid shirts, hunkered down at a split-pine table.  Not a bad image, admittedly, but girls can eat this quiche, too.  Girls like me with an appetite for rich, indulgent foods and a convenient ability to selectively ignore obvious calorie counts.

Now, I will admit, I do have a little trouble with the actual execution of quiches.  They never bake for me in the suggested time.  For instance, this quiche is supposed to bake 45 minutes.  Mine took 1.5 hours, no joke.  So you might want to consider baking this well before you plan to eat it.  You can always recover it with foil to keep it semi-warm, and it is absolutely amazing even at room temperature.

Maybe if I didn’t have to bake it an additional 45 minutes, it wouldn’t have been quite so brown on top.  But then maybe it wouldn’t have tasted quite so lovely.  We all know that’s when cheese and eggs start to take on an epic taste all their own.

Cowboy Quiche
or, to more aptly describe it, my lengthy title “Bacon and Sharp Cheddar Quiche with Caramelized Onions”
Makes 8-12 slices (I suppose it depends on whether you’re feeding actual cowboys, or just girls who like to eat, or a small toddler, or a combination)

1 deep-dish pie crust
8 slices bacon, fried until chewy (preferably thick-cut)
2 yellow onions, sliced
2 Tbsp butter
8 eggs
1 1/2 c heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste
2 c hand-grated sharp cheddar

Preheat oven to 400.

Roll out the pie dough and lay gently in a large tart or deep dish pie pan; press into grooves and trim as needed.  Set aside (don’t bake!  I wanted to bake at this point… but don’t!).

Chop the fried bacon into small bite-sized pieces.  In a heavy skillet or pot over medium-low heat, caramelize the onions in butter until deep golden brown.  Set aside to cool.

Mix the eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Add the bacon, onions, and cheese; stir to combine.  At this point, you can refrigerate the mixture up to 3 days before using.

If you wish to bake immediately, pour into pie shell.  Cover lightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes (or 105 minutes, whatever…).  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the quiche is set, jiggling very little when shaken, and the crust is golden brown.  Remove from oven when done and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

DELISH.  Enjoy!