Crustless Ham and Cheddar Quiche

The light is retreating again. Not dramatically yet — sunset is still after 10 PM — but I can feel the turn, the way you can feel a change in barometric pressure before the storm arrives. August in Alaska is summer's last act, the light still generous but the air carrying the first cold edge, the birch leaves starting to think about gold, the whole state exhaling before the long inhale of winter.

I'm finishing the summer cooking marathon. This week: the final undocumented recipes from Lourdes's repertoire. Adobong pusit — squid adobo, the ink-black version where you cook the squid in its own ink, the sauce dark as night, the flavor deep and oceanic. Ginisang ampalaya — sauteed bitter melon with eggs, the dish that divides families (Reynaldo loved it; Mark refused it; Angela picks the bitter melon out and eats everything else). And torta — Filipino omelette, thick and dense, filled with ground pork and potatoes, cooked in a pan until golden on both sides.

The torta is Lourdes's weeknight default — the thing she makes when there's ground pork and potatoes and nothing else, the meal that feeds four children without complaint because even the pickiest Filipino child will eat a torta. It's not glamorous. It's not photogenic. It's the food equivalent of a warm coat — practical, unremarkable, essential.

I wrote about the torta with particular tenderness: "The Tuesday Night Torta: Filipino Omelette and the Meals Nobody Photographs." The post argues that the weeknight meals — the tortas, the ginisas, the simple rice-and-fish dinners — deserve as much attention as the lechon and the lumpia. The ordinary meals are the real meals. They're the ones that fed us on Tuesday nights when there was no party, no occasion, no celebration — just a family that needed to eat and a mother who made sure they did, with ground pork and eggs and the particular efficiency of a woman who could feed four children from a single pan.

Lourdes read the post. She called me. She didn't say much — just "You got it right. The torta. You got it right." This is the highest praise Lourdes has ever given my writing. Not "good writing" or "I liked it" but "you got it right" — the accuracy of the portrait, the fidelity to the original, the proof that I was paying attention all those years at the Mountain View table. I got it right. The torta. The Tuesday nights. The mother who cooked from a single pan. I got it right.

When Lourdes said “you got it right,” I sat with those words for a long time — and then I went into the kitchen, because that’s what you do when something moves you and you don’t know what else to do with it. I didn’t have squid ink or bitter melon, but I had eggs and ham and cheese, and I remembered what the torta had always really been about: the honest, unhurried act of filling a pan and feeding people who need to eat. This crustless ham and cheddar quiche isn’t a torta, but it carries the same spirit — thick, egg-forward, built from what’s on hand, made for a Tuesday night when there’s no occasion except hunger and the people you love.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 1/2 cups diced cooked ham
1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for greasing the pan
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or flat-leaf parsley (optional, for serving)

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Generously butter a 9-inch pie dish or oven-safe skillet and set aside.
Make the egg custard. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and heavy cream until smooth and fully combined. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Layer the fillings. Scatter the diced ham and onion evenly across the bottom of the prepared dish. Sprinkle 1 cup of the shredded cheddar over the ham and onion layer.
Pour and top. Carefully pour the egg custard over the fillings. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar evenly over the top.
Bake. Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 35—40 minutes, until the center is just set and the top is lightly golden. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean.
Rest before serving. Let the quiche rest for 5—10 minutes before slicing. This allows the custard to firm up and makes for clean, satisfying wedges. Garnish with fresh chives or parsley if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Crustless Ham and Cheddar Quiche — The Egg Dish That Feeds a Family Without Fanfare