Years ago there was a book that became popular that stated real men don’t eat quiche. What a crying shame!!! Quiche is actually one of the most versatile, easy to make and healthy meals you can make. It’s a great way to clean out the veggie drawer and use up all those veggies that are nearing their last legs.
There are a million and one ingredients you can incorporate into a quiche. Bacon, ham or sausage are delicious proteins, and just about any veggie you can think of works in a quiche. The main ingredients though are cheese, cream and eggs. Once you know the ratio of cream to eggs you can customize a quiche a million ways from Sunday.
Quiche Ratio: 1/2 cup milk or cream to every 1 large egg. A standard 9 inch pie needs 3 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of cream to fill it.
Quiche is perfect served for brunch or for a light supper. Pair it with a crisp green salad to round out the meal. Quiche can be prepared and baked ahead of time and can be served either hot or at room temperature. It’s versatility makes it the perfect prepare ahead dish that’s elegant enough to serve guests for a tasty summertime meal.
You can use a refrigerated pre-made pie crust to make this quiche even easier to get onto the table but today I will show you how incredibly easy it is to make your own pie crust. It takes just a few short minutes and then you have bragging rights to let everyone know that you made this quiche completely from scratch. I guarantee everyone will be impressed.
So let’s start with that crust.
Get out a mixing bowl and combine the flour, salt, and shortening.
Use a knife to cut the shortening into small chunks, about an inch in size, and add it to the flour and salt in the bowl.
Use a pastry cutter to cut shortening into the flour until the shortening resembles small peas.
Add ice cold water, a tablespoon at a time, and mix into the dough until it comes clean from the sides of the bowl. Use your hand to form the dough into a ball.
Sprinkle your work surface with flour.
Use a rolling pin and roll out dough until it is about 2 inches larger than your pie pan.
Gently lift dough into pie pan. Use the rolling pin to loosely wrap the dough around it, then unroll the dough into the pie pan. Gently press it into the corners of the pan with your fingers.
Once you have the dough in the pie pan, use your fingers to tuck any excess dough under and crimp edges.
Set crust aside while you prepare the filling. That’s it for the pie crust! See I told you that it was easy; you didn’t believe me did you?
Now let’s focus on the yummy filling!
Preheat the oven to 425° F.
In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter and sauté veggies until crisp tender.
Other veggie options that would be delicious additions:
- Broccoli spears
- Spinach, cook it down to release all the liquid before adding to the filling
- Red onion
- Green onions
- Green, yellow, orange bell peppers
- Sliced carrots
- Sliced zucchini
Start with the mushrooms and cook them until they release their liquid and it evaporates, about 8-10 minutes.
Add asparagus and cook for another 2 minutes.
Finally add the red bell pepper and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Don’t overcook the asparagus and bell peppers; cook them just until they are crisp tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together, cream, milk, eggs, nutmeg, salt & pepper. Set aside.
Now it’s time to assemble the quiche. Start by layering ½ the cheese into the bottom of the pie crust.
Spread the sautéed veggies in an even layer over the layer of cheese in the pie crust.
Top veggies with the remaining Gruyere, Mozzarella and/or Cheddar cheeses.
Pour cream/egg mixture evenly over the filling in the pie crust.
Top the quiche with a layer of tomato slices. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and some freshly cracked pepper.
Bake at 425° for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325° and continue to bake for another 50-60 minutes or until center of the quiche is no longer jiggly when you shake the pie pan back and forth.
Keep an eye on the crust. If the crust starts to get too browned, use a pie ring to keep the crust from getting too dark along the edges. If you don’t have a pie ring just cover the pie crust edges with some foil.
Once center has set up, remove pie from the oven and let it rest for at least 15-20 minutes before cutting into it and serving. This ensures the center sets up and you are able to cut nice slices to serve it.
This quiche is creamy, and cheesy, and packed with loads of good for you veggies. It only takes about 20 minutes of effort to get it in the oven. Once it’s baking all the hard work is done.
Be sure to give this recipe a try. It’s a handy one to have in your arsenal for when you just aren’t sure what to make for dinner. If you have a few veggies, some cheese and milk in the fridge, you can easily whip up a quiche for dinner when you just don’t know what the heck to make. Bonus…leftovers taste great reheated the next day for lunch too!!!
Don’t have fresh veggies on hand? Try this Gruyere & Roasted Red Pepper Quiche instead. It’s delicious and tastes just like the egg bites from Starbucks…only better!!!
Veggie Quiche
Equipment
- 9 inch pie pan
Ingredients
For Crust:
- 1 cup flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup shortening
- 3-4 tbsp cold water
For the filling:
- 2 cups assorted veggies, i.e., sliced mushrooms, red bell pepper, sliced onions, asparagus, sliced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1½ cups heavy cream or milk
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
- 1 cup Mozzarella or Cheddar cheese, grated
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
For the crust:
- In a mixing bowl combine flour, shortening and salt. Use a pastry cutter to cut shortening into the flour until the shortening resembles small peas.
- Add ice cold water and mix into the dough until it comes clean from the sides of the bowl. Form dough into a ball.
- Sprinkle your work surface with flour and gently roll out dough until it is about 2 inches larger than your pie pan.
- Gently lift dough into pie pan and tuck excess dough under and crimp edges.
- Set crust aside while you prepare the filling.
- Preheat oven to 425° F.
For the filling:
- In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and sauté veggies until crisp tender.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together, cream, milk, eggs, nutmeg, salt & pepper. Set aside.
- Layer ½ the cheese into the bottom of the pie crust.
- Spread the sautéed veggies in an even layer over the layer of cheese in the pie crust.
- Top veggies with the remaining Gruyere, Mozzarella and/or Cheddar cheeses.
- Pour cream/egg mixture evenly over the filling in the pie crust.
- Top with a layer of tomato slices and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
- Bake at 425° for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325° and continue to bake for another 50-60 minutes or until center of the quiche is no longer jiggly when you shake the pie pan back and forth.
- Let quiche rest for 20 minutes before cutting into it and serving.
Notes
Did You Make This?
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