Eat to live, don't live to eat!

I spent a good part of my summer with my dear friends Donn and Diane, who run a restaurant called Mabel's on Block Island. Diane said they could use a hand in the restaurant Wednesday and Saturday mornings doing food prep, but I would have to be there by 6 a.m. Believe it or not, my customarily up-at-7-or-8-am-ass said, "Okay!"

View of Old Harbor, Block Island from Mabel's patio. Tough gig, huh.

BONUS: Driving in to town before most vacationers were even out of bed as the sun was rising over Old Harbor, sipping tea and puttsing (yes, I said "puttsing") around the kitchen before all the crazies want breakfast is a pretty sweet way to start any day in paradise.

My standard duties on Wednesdays and Saturdays were to make a frittata of  my choice, prep fruit for fruit salad, then "sugar" the donuts, which meant to take the fresh donuts (READ: FRESH DONUTS!!!!), after they had come out of the fryer, and dip them in one of three sugars: cinnamon sugar, plain sugar, powdered sugar. Tough gig, huh.


One day, I told Diane I wanted to make lobster quiche for the restaurant. After studying countless recipes for lobster quiche, I decided this quiche would be a lobster and crab quiche with corn and fresh basil.

My recipe is based on several that I looked at, but most of them tried to take the fat out of the recipe. Yikes! A real French quiche has heavy cream, people! It is not made with SKIM FRIGGIN' MILK! Okay, well maybe half-n-half instead of heavy cream cuz that's what the restaurant has in abundance on hand.

The real lump crab meat definitely takes this recipe up a notch. Rich yet delicate, with a little sweetness from the corn, big flavor from the fresh basil, you will want to eat half the pie! I guarantee it!

We made six quiches for the restaurant so I tried to break down the recipe to show what you need for just one quiche.

Lobster and Crab Quiche

• 1 cup cooked lobster meat, pulled apart and shredded
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup cooked real lump crab meat, pulled apart
• fresh corn cut off one cob (when it's summer you have no excuse for not using fresh)
• 1/2 sweet onion, chopped and sauteed (you could use leeks or shallots if you haven't spent your wad on lobster and crab meat)
• fresh basil leaves, roughly 7-10 large leaves, chiffonade
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup of half-n-half
• nutmeg (because anything with egg needs a hint of nutmeg)
• salt
• pepper
• mild white cheddar cheese, shredded

First, MAKE A PIE CRUST. Don't be lazy. Don't buy one. It's not that hard. Don't argue with me, JUST DO IT!

Pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes and then let it cool I can't tell you what a difference it makes to pre-bake and cool a crust for quiche. It will make the crust of your quiche light, flaky and delicate, even though it will be soaking in creamy eggs for a time before the quiche gets cooked through.

Toss together in a large bowl the lobster and crab meat, sauteed onion, fresh corn, and basil. Sprinkle with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Dump the mixture into the pie crust.

I am estimating 4 large eggs, but it will depend on how big your pie pan is and how tall you build up the sides of your crust. It might take 5 eggs. So if you dump your egg mixture in and it is not completely full, crack another egg, help it along with some half-n-half, and keep filling up that pie crust til it's brimming.

Sprinkle with shredded cheese all over the top. A little more nutmeg wouldn't hurt either.

Bake at 350 degrees F until it is golden brown on the top and it stops "jiggling." It will take some time. Probably 50 minutes. I don't walk away from things cooking in the oven. I prefer this method over using timers. But if you insist on using a timer, set it for 45 minutes and then start checking. It will probably take less time in a convection oven.

We served it with a couple slices of watermelon and one of Diane's famous muffins.

Chef's note: You can seduce a fisherman with this quiche.

I'm mixin' margaritas at the following fiestas:

Our Delightful Home Show Me What You Got Tuesday
Boogie Board Cotttage Masterpiece Monday
Debbiedoo's Newbie Linky Party
The Ironstone Nest Transformation Tuesday
Made in a Day Made U Look Linky