I grew up in a large city and loved everything that the New Orléans area had to offer. I now live in a small town. I love everything that it has to offer as well. When I visit a large city, I fall in love with the new and big flavors restaurants offer. I become infatuated and long to eat my way across the city.
After a couple of days of cooking for company, I was running through the staples at the farm house. My ever faithful peeps, always keep me and mine in the prettiest eggs. Farm fresh eggs are the best. It is a good staple to keep on hand whether you have chicks or not.
A quiche or egg pie is a simple breakfast or brunch item to serve. They are great to cook when you have the ingredients and time on your hands. With 1 cup of dirty rice left over and basic ingredients, this pie is a breeze.
Cook pie, cool and then wrap properly and place in the freezer. If your house is like mine, you have house guests coming and going. It helps to have a couple of items in the freezer. Especially as we head into a busy time of year.
1 Pie Shell, room temperature
1 cup Dirty Rice*
3/4 cup parmesan cheese (use cheddar, Monterey jack, gouda etc)
2 Tablespoons Green Peppers, chopped
2 Tablespoons Onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
7 eggs, beaten
Sprinkle cayenne
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a glass pie dish, unroll pie shell and place in middle. Center shell as needed. With fingertips press down on crust in dish. Using your fingertips, pinch the dough and press down on the side to form crust edge. Using a fork, place many holes into the sides and bottom of crust.
Evenly place dirty rice on bottom. Sprinkle grated cheese, green peppers and onions. Add salt to beaten eggs and stir well. Pour over the layered pie ingredients. A fork may be used to level the eggs. Sprinkle on top with cayenne. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden. Allow to rest for a couple of minutes before cutting and serving.
Lagniappe: Serve with a heated salsa on the side. Sprinkle green onions for extra color and flavor.
Lunch Suggestion: Serve with a small salad and its an easy hot meal.
*Dirty rice is a Cajun and Creole dish. Typically white rice cooked with the trinity, chicken livers and heavy on the spice. Due to the lack of fondness for liver, it is usually replaced with ground beef or pork.
When the little peeps arrived at our house, they were a couple of days old. Being the non-farmers that we are, our peeps moved into first class real estate, the rabbit cage. Little peeps are too cute too watch. After watching a clutch or two grow, I am still amazed how they develop. Before they grow very big, the male peeps stand out over the females. The male chicks will strut about like they “own the rabbit cage”. The females learn to tolerate the males. Just about the time that there is not enough space to do so, they are ready to move to the big house. Continue reading “Peeps, chickens and Egg Pie”