If it’s fair to mock Diane Keaton for ordering pastrami on white bread with mayo in “Annie Hall,” then it’s fair to mock me for not knowing much about savory tarts and quiche-like items. In my Jewish upbringing both in New York and Boca Raton, Florida I never encountered a savory tart or a quiche. Naturally, I’m sure I’ll get a flood of responses: “I’m Jewish and I ate quiche every day!” “My name is Shlomo Quichey and I resent everything you stand for.” Fair enough. I’m just saying from my experience, at many Jewish people’s homes, Bar Mitzvahs and buffet tables there wasn’t a savory tart or quiche in site. Satisfied?
My point is that savory tarts and quiches are unfamiliar to me. They are difficult for me to wrap my brain around: who would want to eat something that looks like a pie that isn’t sweet? It isn’t human. It isn’t right.
But it just so happened that at the end of last week I found, in my refrigerator, bacon, eggs and cheddar cheese. I entered those ingredients into Epicurious and came up with this, a fabulously well-reviewed bacon, egg and cheese tart. I had all of the ingredients. My interest was piqued. And as I said, this was fabulously well-reviewed. People wrote things like: “I was suicidal and this tart saved my life”; “This tart is better than my child. I sent my child to camp so I could spend more time with this tart.”
So for the specific tart-making directions, follow the recipe link. Here’s a vague overview.
First, you make and bake the tart crust:
I had some trouble, but I overcame.
Then you fry up some bacon:
In the bacon fat, you cook up onions (that’s a genius move). Then you add the onions to the tart:
Now to the onions, you add the bacon, cheese (I had cheddar, the recipe requires the other kind), and a cream mixture with nutmeg and other flavors.
You bake for a while and it comes out looking like this:
I must say, the result was truly excellent. The bacony, carmelized onions are transcendent, and the consistency of everything else–the egg/cream mixture, the tart dough–is sheer perfection. This is a savory tart for the savory tart doubter.
As you can see in the top pic, I served it with an arugula, yellow cherry tomato salad simply dressed with olive oil, champagne vinegar, salt and pepper. ‘Twas a winning dinner served with a crisp white wine. Was also a winning lunch served the next day without wine because I’m not a drunkard. As for how this new affection for savory tarts affects my religious affiliations, all I have to say is that Mel Gibson is my Co-Pilot! Now we’re all in trouble.
That looks amazing (especially the onions..)… :) I love baking quiches too.. However, something bad always happens when i bake one.. so i kinda got a phobia about baking one…
I’m jewish and I never eat bacon.
I’ve never seen bacon in any of the Bar-Mitzvahs I’ve been to.
My parents sent me to camp so I could spend more time away from bacon, and it made me suicidal.I reccomend you try a kosher Quiche. Like a matzo-ball and shmaltz quiche maybe.
Savory things in pie form – did you never have something like chicken pot pie growing up?
hey ag. i’ve been reading your site for the past couple of weeks and absolutely love it.
i was wondering if you have the silver spoon cookbook? i think it was recently released for the first time in english- it was originally italy’s equivalent to “the joy of cooking”. anyways, i receieved it as a gift a few months ago and i think you’d really like the recipes. very simple, delicious italian. visually, i like the layout of the book too. plus, it has guest menus in the back with recipes from mario batali and lydia bastianich!
just a suggestion. thanks again for the enjoyable reading.
How could something with cheese, bacon and whipping cream NOT be good? *oops* My heart just stopped there for a second.
I’m in the same club as you when it comes to savory things in pie form. I want my desserts sweet and my dinner savory, thankyouverymuch. However, this tart looks and sounds wonderful and I might just have to make it.
This has to be one of the funniest posts you’ve ever written. Thanks for making laugh yet again!
You keep me coming back to read, this is so good I need to try it myself.
If there is bacon in it, its likely good.
The highest maintenence of all food, but so worth it.
-Charlottecritic
Funny, I used the pastrami on white with mayo scene in a post myself not too long ago (http://anopencupboard.com/2006/05/15/the-scourge-of-the-american-nation/).
True, we Jews don’t have quiche. But we do have kugel, quiche’s distant, slightly poorer cousin :).
Hey! I’m jewish and I had quiche growing up! My mom used to make this yummy mushroom and swiss cheese quiche whenever there was a brunch. And frozen chicken pot pies when she didn’t feel like cooking.
We didn’t have bacon in the house growing up though, but now that I’m older, and we’ve all admitted we don’t beleive in any of that crap and that we all eat pig in restaurants, I think this would fly. (Except my dad would look at the cholestoral-y ingredients and say “what? you’re trying to kill me?” in a New York Jew accent – even though we’re from Toronto.)
This is really a long-lost sibling of the Tarte Flamb\’ee, an Alsatian dish which is basically thin-crust pizza with bacon, caramelized onion, and cr\’eme fraiche!
Bacon is a wonderful addition to food, with its crispy, salty, sharp taste. I like it with farfalle pasta cooked al dente, with sauteed red kale and caramelized onion, topped with generous portions of parmesan.
Yum!
I made this tart for dinner tonight. It was very good. My husband, although not ready to leave me for it, gave it two thumbs up.
NOOOO NOT BACON, flesh of the pig?!?!
Good Jews do not partake, you know better…
looks good. now where do i get the recipe for the egg mixture and so on?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????