Veggie Quiche

This quiche recipe originated from the 1986 edition of Laurel’s Kitchen. And as fine a cookbook as that is, the authors tend to over-emphasize nutrition at the cost of flavor. So I tinkered with their quiche (reduced the milk, added an egg, increased the cheese, added more salt, etc.) until it morphed into a recipe I can honesty claim is mine. Just about every home cook does this—not out of vanity so much as making sure that the resulting dish is something your family will eat.

Ingredients:

½ purple onion, finely diced

1 red or orange bell pepper, chopped into small pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

4 eggs

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon salt

dash of pepper

1 cup grated Gruyère cheese

pinch of nutmeg

1 9-inch pie crust

Process:

Sauté the onion and pepper in the olive oil with the spices until the peppers are soft. Drain on paper towels until cool. If using a store bought crust, remove it from the freezer, prick with a fork and let it thaw. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the four eggs with the milk until thoroughly blended. Add the ½ teaspoon of salt and a bit of pepper, beat again and set aside.

When the veggies are completely cool, toss with ½ cup of the Gruyère and spoon into the waiting pie crust. Top with the remaining cheese. Put the crust on a cookie sheet lined with foil and carefully pour in the egg and milk mixture. Dust the surface with nutmeg, then bake for 30 minutes or so at 350. Check the quiche by slipping a knife into the center—if it comes out clean, it is ready. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes so that the quiche will “set.”

Serve with a salad of baby spinach tossed with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a handful of toasted walnuts. Don’t forget the baguette!

Theme and Variations:

• Instead of bell peppers and onions, sauté ½ pound of sliced mushrooms in two tablespoons of butter with a dash of salt. Be sure to drain the mushrooms on paper towels before adding them to the quiche.

• Sauté a quarter of a finely chopped onion in olive oil. Add a bag’s worth of fresh spinach, lightly steamed. Cook a moment more with a dash of salt and nutmeg. Drain and cool, then mix with the cheese to fill the crust.