Love for Food

New Yorkers love weekend brunch. Brunch is part of our culture. I succumbed to the itch in the past few years. But as the weeks went by I became increasingly frustrated. I had to find the perfect brunch spot. One weekend I was determined to make it to Clinton Street Baking Co. & Restaurant. Clinton Street is known for the best pancakes in town and also for celebrity sightings. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Good thing that it was a nice spring day because when I arrived I was greeted by a curt hostess who informed me the wait was three hours. Not only did I have to wait three hours to get a table but I was required to check in once an hour. If I did not check my name would be automatically scratched off the list. The place is tiny I believe on purpose as if to flaunt its exclusiveness. The food was good but nothing memorable. As I write this I can't remember a thing anyone ate.Another time I waited about two hours at Essex despite having a reservation. Essex did attempt to compensate us by offering us plenty of free drink tickets. They hope to get you tipsy enough you don't notice how much time has gone by. On other occasions I thought I could find that hidden gem. It always turned out the food was mediocre and the decor lacked atmosphere. There was a reason why these places are empty.
Maybe it was laziness, impatience or wanting to save a few bucks but I decided to invite my friends to my apartment instead of continuing my weekend ritual. The first thing that came to mind was quiche. Pancakes and French toast crossed my mind but I wanted something fool proof. It had something I could make in advance. I'm definitely not a morning person; there was no way I could wake up and be alert enough to cook. First thing that came to mind was quiche. I had made a prosciutto broccoli quiche for a pot luck many years ago and everyone loved it. At this point I had no idea where the recipe was. I tried about five times before I found the perfect recipe again. It was quiche that inspired me to start a blog. My online cook book with notes of recipes that I know would work. Something to replace all of those scraps of paper and magazine cut outs which often became misplaced. Quiche is easy and there are hundreds or recipes out there. Being the inexperienced cook, I wanted a concrete recipe to go to. No matter how easy something is to cook I can manage to ruin it. Quiche was my case in point. I tried about five times before I got the recipe just right. I've tried it with mayo (too rich), more milk (too watery), more cheese (too heavy), no cheese (too much egg) and so fourth. My final version is below. Any veggie or cheese combination may be substituted.Recipe: makes six servings
Ingredients:
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 cups fresh broccoli
3/4 cup grated cheddar
5 eggs beaten
1/2 cup milk, evaporated milk, or half and half
salt, pepper to taste, dash nutmeg optional
* Note: I tested recipes with pie crust/no pie crust and with the addition on bacon. I did not find either addition to be worth the extra calories.
Method:

• Preheat oven 350 degrees
• Melt butter in pan and cook onions, garlic and chopped broccoli for about five mins.
• Stir together eggs, milk, salt, pepper and cheese.
• Mix veggies (wait a few mins to cool) and egg mixture
• Pour in a 9 in. pie dish and bake for 35-40 mins or until center comes out clean (after being poked with a knife).