Three-Cheese Quiche —rsquo; The Pie That Feels Like You Earned It

September and fall is coming. I can feel it in the morning air on the drive to work and in the way the light hits differently by late afternoon and in the section of the grocery store that is suddenly full of butternut squash and pumpkins. The kids at the daycare are in new routines now that their older siblings are back in school and the adjustment has gone smoothly, which is not always the case. September can go either way.

I have been thinking about the five years I have been at the daycare. I started there two months after I aged out of foster care, at eighteen, making eleven dollars an hour and not knowing what I was doing but knowing children and knowing how to be steady in a room that needed steadiness. My director Mrs. Holloway hired me over the phone after a fifteen-minute interview because she said she could hear in my voice that I was not going anywhere. I do not know what she heard exactly but she was right.

I am twenty-two now and I have been the lead teacher in the toddler room for two years. I know every family in my room, know the siblings and the grandparents who do pickup and the parents who are going through divorces and the parents who are not sleeping and the ones who are doing wonderfully. I have become something to these children and their families that I did not expect to become, something steady and known, and that matters to me more than I say out loud.

I made a chicken pot pie this week that took all of Saturday to finish and was worth every minute. The buttery crust, the thick cream sauce, the vegetables. James called it the real thing when I brought it Sunday. That is a very good review.

That Saturday I spent on the chicken pot pie reminded me how much I love cooking something that actually takes time —rsquo; something with a real crust and a cream filling that has to be coaxed into the right texture. The Three-Cheese Quiche lives in that same spirit: a buttery shell, a silky egg-and-cream custard, three cheeses that each bring something different, and the kind of quiet satisfaction when you pull it from the oven and it is exactly what you hoped. After five years of being steady for other people, a whole Saturday in the kitchen cooking something real is how I come back to myself.

Three-Cheese Quiche

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shell
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Gruyère cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat. Heat oven to 375°F. Place the unbaked pie shell in a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and crimp the edges; set aside.
2. Blind-bake the crust. Line the pie shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the weights and parchment and bake another 5 minutes, until the crust is just set and faintly golden at the edges. Remove from oven.
3. Mix the custard. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs and heavy cream until fully combined and slightly frothy. Stir in the salt, white pepper, and nutmeg.
4. Layer the cheeses. Scatter the cheddar and Gruyère evenly across the bottom of the par-baked crust. Sprinkle the green onions over the top.
5. Fill and finish. Pour the egg-cream mixture slowly over the cheese and onions. Scatter the Parmesan evenly across the surface, then dot with the small pieces of butter.
6. Bake. Return the quiche to the oven and bake 35 to 40 minutes, until the custard is set at the edges but has only a slight jiggle at the very center when the pan is gently shaken. If the crust edges brown too quickly, cover them loosely with foil.
7. Rest before slicing. Let the quiche rest on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before cutting. This allows the custard to finish setting so slices hold their shape cleanly.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 348 | Protein: 11g | Fat: 27g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 418mg