ramblings & roasts

Rambling

I am somewhat of a slowpoke when it comes to TV trends. I started watching Seinfeld when it was in its last season. Never saw Sex and the City until it hit mainstream cable in late-night reruns. First saw 24 on DVD when my brother loaned his Season 1 copy to me…last year. So of course I was late to Mad Men. Thank goodness for Netflix streaming. I spent the better part of this past September catching up on four seasons of this seductive serial in quick succession, not realizing that Season 5 wasn’t slated to air until March. I was watching three or four episodes a night. It was, um, unhealthy. I started drinking scotch. I craved cigarettes (I don’t smoke).

I even had a deliciously odd dream about Don Draper. In this dream, I woke up in Don’s post-Betty apartment bedroom, cuddling the maddest man…while my mother sat in a rocking chair beside us. “Mom! Oh, hi. This is Don. I mean, Jon. Meet Jon.” (Freudian coincidence: Hubby’s name is Jon.) Mom, with mild disapproval: “Now I know why you don’t call more often.”

That was a sure sign that I was a wee bit too invested in this Mad world. Fortunately, I got to the end of Season 4 shortly after that (and moved on to reliving five seasons of 30 Rock). Now, Mad Men is back on, and I am all over it. On this Sunday night, an oh-so-1960s caramelized onion quiche for dinner. In time for my weekly dose of Mad-ness, and just lovely when paired with a handsome slice of Hamm…

Roast

Caramelized Onion Quiche 

Ingredients

• 1 refrigerated pie crust
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 5 c. thinly sliced onions
• 5 eggs
• 1 c. 2% milk
• 1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 6 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
• 2 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Fit crust into a 9-inch pie plate, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until browned and soft, stirring once in a while, about 35-40 minutes. (If onions begin to burn, reduce heat to medium-low.) Set aside to cool a bit.In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, mustard, salt, and nutmeg.

Remove pie plate from refrigerator. Sprinkle cheese evenly on bottom of crust.

Scatter onions on top. Pour egg mixture over cheese and onions.

Bake quiche at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, or until eggs are set and crust is browned. At this point, the quiche looked nice, but a little too plain (think “Peggy”).

So I decided to give it a little bit of color and added interest (think “Joan”). I had some leftover yellow Cheddar and a small zucchini on hand. I halved and thinly sliced the zucchini…

…and then topped the quiche with the Cheddar and zucchini slices, and brushed on a little olive oil…

…then baked for about 5-10 minutes more, broiling for a few minutes toward the end to brown the top.

So, how do you like your Hamm…I mean, quiche?

Tags: Don Draper, easy quiche, Family Circle, Jon Hamm, Mad Men, onion quiche, quiche