Low Carb Crustless Quiche

I experimented for a while with various quiche recipes, but almost all included either flour or milk leading to carbohydrate content higher than my goal .

Eventually I made this simple version myself tonight from basic ingredients. It was intended to be the next in a series of new experiments. I was quite surprised to find that it set well and tasted delicious. Even better, my spouse, who will not eat eggs in any other form, loved it.

Ingredients.

4 whole eggs, free range if possible
200ml reduced cream
¼ tsp baking powder
2 rashers bacon, chopped (one rasher is 3 or 4 American strips)
1 medium onion, sliced
1 cup sliced swiss chard or spinach (1/4 cup if frozen)
30gm (1oz) of grated or sliced cheddar cheese
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
A grating of black pepper
Salt to taste – remember that the bacon will add salt too.

Method.

Four eggs and 200ml cream was the right quantity for my quiche dish, but if you have a larger dish add an extra egg and cream in proportion. Beat the eggs with a whisk until smooth. Add the cream, cayenne and baking powder and beat again until smooth. Set aside.

If you do not have reduced cream use your local equivalent. The cream I used is 35% milk fat, which is a little less than UK double cream or US heavy cream. I will try it with fresh cream next, which is a little lower in fat but I see no reason why that should not work OK. The fat content will be slightly lower and the carb content slightly higher.

Turn the oven on to let it heat up to 170C (340F) . In a suitable pan or skillet cook the bacon and onion until the onion is starting to caramelise. Add the chard or spinach, remove from the heat and set aside for a moment for the chard to wilt while you prepare the dish.

Use olive oil or butter to grease a suitable quiche baking dish well. Place it in a larger baking tray and add enough water to that tray to surround the quiche dish without causing it to float. Drain any excess liquid from the vegetable mix then spread the vegetables over the base of the quiche dish. Pour the egg and cream mix over the vegetables and spread the cheese over the top. I pressed the cheese down, but if you prefer a crusty top leave it on the surface.

Bake for about 30 minutes, but test with a skewer in the centre at 25 minutes in case your oven cooks more quickly than mine. When it is almost, but not quite, set in the centre it is time to remove it from the oven; it will finish cooking from residual heat.

Let it sit for a few minutes after you remove it from the oven. Don’t be disappointed if it goes flat – that is normal, it is a quiche, not a souffle.

We cut it into four serves, but double that would still be a very low carb meal. This is not a low fat meal. We had a simple lettuce, cherry tomato and onion salad with it. Delicious.

Nutrition Table
for one serve:

Energy 340 kcal
Protein 11 gm
Carbs 5.5 gm
Fat 31 gm

Bon Appetit

Up-date added 14th January 2011. I now use 5 eggs and cook it a little longer, about 40 minutes. It provides four substantial main meal serves.

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter