Tarragon and Thyme Quiche

Starman5's Note:

One of the very few recipes I've seen that use tarragon. My favorite is with smoked Swiss cheese, bacon, almond milk graham cracker crust and all of the other optional ingredients..

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 4.0 Pie sha ...

• 4 eggs
• ¾ cup milk or ¾ cup soymilk or ¾ cup almond milk
• 1 9-inch pie shells, plain dough, graham cracker or 1 oreo cookie
• 4 ounces cheese (smoked Swiss, Cheddar, Emmental, Gruyere, or Gouda cheese, shredded or sliced 1/16 inch thick)
• ¼ lb cooked bacon (optional) or ¼ lb cooked breakfast sausage, crumbled (optional) or ¼ lb ham, turkey, chicken, cooked and diced (optional) or ¼ lb shrimp , cooked and diced (optional)
• ½ cup bell pepper , chopped (optional)
• ½ cup onion , chopped (optional)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon black pepper (optional)
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme or 1 ½ teaspoons fresh thyme , finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon tarragon or 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon , finely chopped

Directions:

1. Line a 9-inch pie shell (I like graham cracker or Oreo cookie pie shells best, gives the quiche a sweet flavor) with the smoked cheese. Other cheeses can be used, but the smoked cheeses, whatever type, gives the quiche a superior flavor over that of plain cheeses.
2. Mix all ingredients except meat together and pour into pie shell.
3. Sprinkle with meat.
4. Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes, or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. .
5. Remove tinfoil and broil 2 to 5 minutes until lightly browned on top (this is just for appearance).

Reviews

[**Tinkerbell**]

I'm not afraid to try a recipe with a strange ingredient combination (see Pineapple-Garlic Upside Down Cake), but I had my doubts about this one right up until I was serving it. It smells divine in the oven & I didn't tell my family that the crust was made out of graham crackers until they'd taken the first bites & I heard a lot of, "Mmmmm!" going on. First, thank you Starman for posting this recipe, and also for kindly answering my zmail wondering if the cookie crust suggestion was a typo! :) We were in awe at the flavor balance in this dish. I used fresh herbs, smoked Swiss, turkey-bacon, white onion, green bell pepper, 2% milk & the graham crust. Every ingredient came together, melding into one beautiful harmony. The smoked Swiss and the graham crust were amazing together! Probably my favorite quiche of all time! This recipe is better than the best & you just can't beat how easy it is! It took 60 minutes for mine to cook through (no big deal) and even my toddler ate the whole piece (VERY big deal!). Thanks again for sharing this recipe, Starman. We'll be making it again & again! Made & enjoyed for Photo Forum's Undercover Pies & Tarts event - June 2010.