egg pie (vegetarian)

recipe by mb

just the recipe

what I was looking for

This fall I made the above-pictured apple pie with a cheddar crust. It was very tasty but everyone who tried it agreed that the cheddar crust would lend itself better to a savory pie.

When we were invited over to a friend's house for brunch the other day I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try out the cheddar crust with something savory and brunch-y.

what I made

I alteRed the Bacon and Egg Pie from Tamasin Day-Lewis's Tarts With Tops On (Hyperion, 2003, pages 66-67) to make it vegetarian and made it with the cheddar crust from her Cheddar Crust Apple Pie (page 99) instead of the crust she suggested for the egg pie.

grades for my version

healthy	D	I'd suggest eating this once a year. It's big time treat food.
fast	B	There's a really quick way to make pie crust, which I tried for the first time on this recipe. It's not instantaneous, but it is damn fast. And other than the caramelized onions, the rest of this pie is super speedy.
easy	B	Yup. The fast way of making pie crust ... also easy.
cheap	A-	Eggs and broccoli and onions are all nice and cheap, but this gets the minus - because of the large quantity of cheese.
delicious	A+	God I wish this was healthier because then I would eat it every single day.

yield

Serves 8 people as a part of a brunch or 2 who are really serious about it.

equipment

   food processor

   rolling pin

   pie plate

the crust

ingredients	Day-Lewis	mb	why?
flour	2 cups all-purpose	2 cups white whole wheat	healthier
salt	1 pinch	1 pinch	no change
fat	butter and lard, ½ cup of each	butter only, hard and cold, 1 cup	tastier [1]
cheddar cheese	1 cup, grated	1 cup, grated	no change
cold water	1-2 Tablespoons	1-2 Tablespoons	no change
Notes
[1]	People use lard in a pie crust to create a very flaky texture. I don't like that flaky texture, so I use all butter, which makes the crust more solid.

   Chop the hard, cold butter into little cubes and put it into the bowl of the food processor along with the flour and salt. Pulse until the mixture is starting to have the texture of cornmeal. Then add the cheese and pulse a few more times.

While the processor is running add the cold water a splash at a time until the dough is just starting to come together and can be formed into a ball. Wrap the ball of dough in waxed paper and refrigerate it for 1-24 hours.

After the appropriate amount of refrigeration time (whatever fits into your schedule) separate the ball into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other.

      Roll out the larger piece of dough into a circle and fit it onto your pie plate. Roll out the second piece for the top, but don't do anything with it yet.

the filling

ingredients	Day-Lewis	mb	why?
bacon	6 slices	---	healthier [1]
caramelized onion	---	1 large	healthier [1]
broccoli florets	---	1 medium head	healthier [1]
eggs	6 large	6 large	no change
heavy cream	4-5 Tablespoons	4-5 Tablespoons	no change
salt	to taste	to taste	no change
black pepper	to taste	to taste	no change
nutmeg	to taste	---	tastier [2]
Notes
[1]	Taking out the bacon and replacing it with caramelized onions and broccoli is definitely healthier, so even though I really just wanted to change the recipe to vegetarian, it ends up being healthier too.
[2]	I don't like nutmeg in savory recipes. I find it to be a conflict of flavors.

Preheat your oven to 425°.

In the large crust draped over your piepan, first put the caramelized onions (heres my mom's favorite method for caramelizing them) in a layer on the bottom crust, then the broccoli florets in another layer on top of that.

Next break the eggs into the crust one at a time, leaving them whole, and pour the heavy cream over the top. Season with salt and pepper.

Moisten the edges of the bottom crust with a little bit of water and then carefully place the top crust on the pie. Press the edges of both crusts together, with a fork or your fingers, to seal in all the contents.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown.

(I decorated my pie with maple leaves I cut from the crust, but that's just because I was feeling fancy that day. Nobodys going to complain if there's no decoration on your pie. It's just that good.)

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