Quiche with a side of testasterone

So, real men don't eat quiche, eh?

Does that mean real men don't like ham? Real men don't like eggs and hearty melted cheese? Real men don't like a filling meal they can have at any hour of the day?

It seems like all that's left for all those "real men" is tofurky and kale.

Masculine posturing aside, quiche is a great dish that works for any meal of the day and is surprisingly easy to make at home. Read on for a modified version of a traditional ham and cheese quiche recipe (with pictures!) that puts more emphasis on the meat and the cheese and is perfect for whipping up on a Sunday night in advance of the workweek.

You'll need:

- A pie crust
- 4 eggs
- 5oz ham steak (turkey steak works too)
- 9 oz (~.25kg) Swiss or Emmenthaler cheese
- one onion
- garlic (fresh or pre-chopped is fine)
- some chives (about enough to have a one-inch diameter when bunched)
- 1 cup heavy cream (you can substitute skim or whole milk if you're the sort of person who does that)
- salt (sub in Vegeta if you're adventurous)

First, take the crust out of the freezer - you'll want it closer to room temperature when it goes in the oven. Speaking of which, set the oven to 425F.

Start by dicing the onions, grating the cheese, cubing the ham and chopping the chives and dumping it all into a bowl. You should have something like this:

Aww yeah... can't you see where this is going? The express train to yummyville, that's where.

Now, beat the eggs in a separate glass, pour it in the bowl, the measure out the cream in the same glass (manly men don't like doing more dishes than necessary, remember?) and toss that in too. Now add a pinch of garlic and a pinch of salt. Stir it up and you should get something that looks like this:

Pour that into the crust (it should come right up to the top) and toss that in the oven with a piece of aluminum foil over it (but not on top -- try to create an arc-like shape to drape over it so as to prevent premature burning).

Turn the quiche at 20 minutes, removing the foil. Most ovens should require another 20 minutes, but make sure it's nice and brown on the top, like this:

When it comes out of the oven, the filling will have risen a bit -- it's not ready to eat until it has settled to the height of the crust itself. Now, you can pack it up for work, nuke it for breakfast or a snack or just stare at your manly, manly creation.