Real Men BBQ Quiche

The Galley Guys may not be able to achieve the impossible, but we’re always open to doing the unlikely so, while wasting a sunny Sunday afternoon on the boat we were seized by an idea – real men barbecue quiche!

It was about midday and we wanted something flavorful, filling and that would pair well with a glass of wine, but it was too early to want a heavy meal like a steak. Burgers seemed too predictable and sandwiches just didn’t seem like anything special at all.

Particularly when you will need to drive home later in the day, the idea of making a nice branch makes good sense. Relax and enjoy the best part of the day, have your glass of wine and then switch to water for the afternoon to be ready for that drive home in the summer weekend traffic – yahoo.

There’s something elegant about brunch that also appeals to the Galley Guys and part of that is to make something a little special. There are premade and frozen quiche meals on the market so that would be fast and easy, but doing the prep work with friends is perhaps the best part of any meal and the added whimsy of doing a quiche on the barbecue makes it that much more of an adventure.

The other thing is that although many cruising sailboats are equipped with an oven, it’s not so common on powerboats, even larger ones these days, but anybody who’s serious about spending time on their boat, seems to have a barbecue.

For this article and to get nice photographs, we again turned to our great friend Jan Willem De Jong, Managing Director at Neptunus Yachts and with tongue-in-cheek, we invited him to play host to our quiche barbecue brunch. He brought over his gorgeous Neptunus 550 Express with its spacious and well-equipped galley. The yacht has a beautiful dining set up on the aft deck.

The Galley Guys met up with him at Harbor West in Hamilton and we moored beside another big Neptunus. We were favored with a glorious sunny afternoon – just the kind that great boating memories are made of.

I have a simple but favorite brunch recipe for quiche and a salad that I’m happy to share. We started out with a simple salad of bitter greens with cherry tomatoes, chopped yellow and red peppers tossed in a homemade vinaigrette – just oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

For the quiche crust, we turned to a simple and inexpensive trick – we brought along a premade crust. Don’t tell anyone but the frozen Tenderflake Deep Dish pie crust, ready to bake and already in an aluminum pie pan. That’s a good feature and we’ll explain why in a moment. Here is the quiche recipe:

12 bacon slices
four eggs
2 cups whipping cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 pound natural Swiss cheese shredded

Optional:
a few asparagus spears
carmelized onions and / or red peppers

Have an Instant Read thermometer ready. We have a Weber model and for about $20, it does a great job.

We placed the Tenderflake frozen pie crust, aluminum pie pan and all, into a Pyrex pie dish. This left a little space between the Pyrexand the aluminum pie plate which helps to prevent burning the crust.

In a skillet over medium heat, fry the bacon slices until crisp and brown. This can be done ahead of time at home if you keep it refrigerated. It’s best to crumble the bacon as soon as it’s cooked.

As you are preparing the other ingredients, turn the barbecue to high and using your instant read thermometer, preheat to 425°F.

Spread the crumbled bacon pieces into the pie crust while the barbecue heats up. With a wire whisk, place the eggs in a mixing bowl and beat the eggs, cream, salt and nutmeg together. Then stir in the cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pour the egg mixture into the pie crustand place the quiche in the middle and close the lid. Back the heat down until your instant read thermometer indicates that your barbecue has reached 325°F. Plan to bake about 35 minutes at that temperature and and check by inserting a knife or the instant read thermometer into the centre of the quiche. If it comes out clean, the Quiche is cooked. By the way, the asparagus spears were perfect – tender but firm and a bit carmelized.

Let the quiche stand about 10 minutes before serving.

Because the Galley Guys are very Canadian, we paired the quiche with a Cave Spring Reisling from the nearby Niagara region. The crisp citrus and apple notes seemed to work nicely with the rich quiche and the Swiss cheese. It’s also a reasonably priced wine, but we could also have gone with Mimosas, Perrier, or just great coffee.

Not matter what your choice there, don’t be afraid to try something new and unconventional with your BBQ. Remember, real men BBQ Quiche!