There's No Q in Pi

As we recently wrote on Pi Day, we purchased a couple of cook books -- including a Pie Cook Book -- but we did not make any pi. The closest we came was a local pizza pi. We also promised to follow up soon, and today we came through.

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Breakfast Pie with a Hashbrown Crust was actually on the family menu for last night, but a college tour of a certain very hilly campus had us returning home with groceries with too little time or energy to tackle this dish. And dish is an important word here -- quite a few were used, including almost all of our indispensable cast-iron skillets.

Knowing that our daughter does not like quiche, we maintained author Teeny Lamothe's ruse of calling this breakfast pie as we answered the repeated query, "what's for dinner?"

This pi begins with hashbrowns. I shredded a half dozen russet potatoes, squeezed out the excess moisture, tossed with salt, pepper, and rosemary. I then cooked them on hot oil on a hot skillet. I resisted the urge to stir as they cooked; rather I came close to Lamothe's standard of browning on one side and then turning (that is, scraping). I then pressed this mixture into a large, skillet in which I had heated some oil (good thing olive oil is good for us).

Meanwhile, I had cooked some leeks (which Pam had lovingly thawed and rinsed from last year's farm box) and mushrooms in butter (good thing butter is good for ... oh, wait ...), along with a bit more pepper. Also meanwhile, I whisked together a half dozen eggs and a cup of cream (good thing ...) and a half cup of shredded Parmesan. Then I placed the vegetables in the potato crust, topped with another half cup of Parm, and carefully poured over the egg mixture.

I placed all of this in a pre-heated oven, and convected at 350 for 30 minutes. The results?

"Is this quiche?" were the first skeptical words from our darling daughter as she eyed what was obviously a form of quiche on her plate. "I had a big lunch," were her next words. Nonetheless, she ate quite a sizeable portion of what we all agreed was ...

pretty good pi.