Pancetta and Butternut Squash Quiche...

Men can make and eat quiche too; if you don't agree, tough it's my blog anyway.

What you need:

• Two deep dish pie shells, buy them from the store or make your own. Homemade.
• 200 grams of pancetta bacon cut into small cubes
• 1 medium butternut squash also cubed
• Sweet onion 1 large - sliced, diced, whatever you like
• Dozen large eggs
• 2 cups of 5% cream
• Gouda, lots at least 200 grams, I like it cheesy! Cut into cubes
• Spinach

• Parsley chopped
• Thyme - roughly a teaspoon chopped
• Pepper - your call
• Nutmeg - teaspoon

Add cubed squash to a baking sheet and coat with oil; I use a basil walnut oil that I got for Christmas, but you can easily use olive oil. Add a little course salt and pepper and roast at 400°F for about 20 minutes or until the squash starts to brown and soften. Don't cook it until it's mush and remember to stir the cubes around at the halfway point. When roasted mash half of the squash with a fork; set all of the squash off to the side. 

Fry the pancetta until it starts to brown and release the grease, add the onions and brown them heavily (low and slow really helps them caramelize), should also add the thyme and some pepper at this point to season. Once the onions have caramelized and the pancetta browned into delicious chewy bits, add the mashed and roasted squash pieces. Stir up the mix and let cool for a couple of minutes while you take the next step.  

Mix the cream and the eggs together in a large bowl and add the nutmeg and pepper, I'd normally say add salt to the eggs but there's enough salt in the filling to suffice for this meal. Stir in the cheese cubes.

Add the pancetta and squash mixture into the bottom of the pie shells generously, next add the spinach and some chopped parsley, then pour the egg mixture on top of everything leaving about 1/4" of rim around each pie shell as the eggs will expand slightly, much more with puff pastry.

Bake at 400°F for 20 to 30 minutes, up to 40 on a barbecue and keep the lid down.

Enjoy!