Chef Debbie Asks "Is It a Quiche? Is It a Tart?

No! It's a Quiart...

So last night I actually had to make dinner for sweet husband since I didn't make any extra portions from my client cook day.

What in the world was I thinking? This cooking thing at night takes me away from wine o'clock...

So it was clean out the refrigerator for dinner and The Quiart was born.

Flaky puff pastry was stuffed with caramelized onions, bacon crumbles, a mixture of ricotta, eggs, garlic, spices and sun~dried tomatoes and then baked hot and golden brown.

Only limited by what's in your refrigerator, here's the basic recipe:

4~6 bacon slices
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1/8t dried thyme
1 puff pastry sheet
15oz ricotta cheese
1/2c Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2c Mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 sun~dried tomatoes, in oil, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2t dried thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
dried parsley, for garnish
your favorite Cajun spice, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400. Thaw puff pastry at room temperature, approximately 45 minutes, until soft and easy to work with.

While puff pastry is thawing, fry bacon in large skillet until it has rendered all of its fat. Remove bacon from skillet and drain well on paper towels. Reserve 2T of bacon grease in the skillet.

Over medium heat, in the same skillet the bacon was cooked in, sauté the onions until they are golden brown and caramelized ~ about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with dried thyme and a little salt.

In medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, Parmesan, Mozzarella, eggs, sun~dried tomatoes, garlic, cayenne, thyme and salt and pepper. Mix well.

Place puff pastry in pie pan, stretching sides to cover all around the pie pan. Don't worry if it's not perfectly positioned ~ once this is folded over and is baked, it looks fabulous.

Place caramelized onions in bottom of puff pastry and top with crumbled crispy bacon.

Pour cheese mixture over bacon and pull edges of puff pastry up over the cheese mixture.

Brush exposed puff pastry with a touch of water and sprinkle the dried parsley and Cajun spice all over the top.

Place pie pan on baking sheet and bake 40~45 minutes until puff pastry is puffed and golden brown and filling is hot and bubbly. Remove from oven, let sit 10 minutes, slice and serve with tossed green salad and a chilled glass of your favorite Chardonnay.

Some variations:
To lower calorie and fat content, use low~fat or fat~free ricotta cheese and part skim Mozzarella cheese
Substitute pancetta or diced ham for the bacon
Add 1/2c chopped fresh broccoli or chopped fresh spinach
Substitute Asiago, Gruyere or Jarlsburg cheese
Add 2T toasted pine nuts or chopped black walnuts
Change out the spices to your favorite flavors