Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Vegetable Quiche




I know Mother's Day was ages ago but I'm just now getting around to posting about it. When I'm home I'm usually outside weeding or watering or taking care of something in the yard. I love the extra daylight hours. I always feel like I'm getting gypped out of time when I come home from work during the fall and winter. Spring and summer make me feel like I'm gaining that time back. Makes me happy.

I made a lovely brunch for my Mom for Mother’s Day. I hadn’t done a brunch before. Usually I'd make dinner or just recently over the past few years we went out, but I was feeling the breakfast vibe and wanted to test out a few recipes so brunch it was!

Let me just tell you I am in love with this quiche recipe. I followed basic foolproof quiche instructions from The Kitchn and then tweaked it to my likings.

It was everything a quiche should be. The ratio of veggies to custard egg mixture was perfect. I doubles the recipe and made two. We loved it so much I'm thinking that I might make Sunday's quiche day. Cook one up and use it for breakfasts through the week.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever veggies (or meat) that you like. I used leeks, mushroom and julienned zucchini. I have a nifty julienne tool so my zucchini was like thin string of  spaghetti. It cooked really quickly too! I topped it off with some grape tomato slices and a few sprigs of fresh thyme just so it looked pretty too. It was Mother's Day after all.

Just make sure to cook your veggies before they go into the quiche. You don't want watery mushroom or spinach to ruin it.

I used a combination of mozzarella and cheddar in my quiche too cause it's what I had on hand but a nice Gruyere or Swiss would do nicely too.



Vegetable Quiche
Printable recipe
1- 9 inch pie crust
2 cups filling ingredients (whatever you like, i.e,  bacon, mushrooms, onions, spinach, etc)
1-2 cups (3 oz - 6 oz) grated cheese, like Gruyere, Swiss, or Cheddar
3 large eggs
¾ cup milk
½ cup half and half or heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
teaspoon Italian seasonings
½ teaspoon fresh thyme

9-inch cake or pie pan - straight-sided is traditional, but a pan with sloped sides works fine.

Blind-Bake the Crust: Line a 9-inch pie plate with parchment and spray the sides with non-stick spray. Roll out the pie crust and fit it into the tin. Heat the oven to 375°F. Line the pie crust with parchment and fill with pie weights or beans. Make sure the weights are snug against the sides of the pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or just until lightly brown. Remove the weights and parchment. Let cool.

While the crust is baking, prepare your quiche filling. Make sure all ingredients are cooked through and are fairly dry. (i.e., make sure spinach has wilted and that cooked mushrooms have released all their moisture.)

Sprinkle half the cheese over the bottom of the pie crust and top with the fillings. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over top.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, salt, pepper Italian seasonings and thyme until frothy. Pour the custard into the pie crust.

Bake the quiche at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes, until the edges are set but the quiche still jiggles just a little in the center. Cool for at least 20 minutes. Quiche can be served cold, room temperature, or warmed. If serving warm, heat in a 300°F oven until just warm to the touch.

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