Meatless Monday: Broccoli & Cheese Quiche

Fresh eggs are a sign of spring and a quiche made from those fresh eggs is just simply to die for!
Co-worker, Maryellen, has hens-a-laying, and she’s offering up her girls’s eggs for a modest price. If you have never cooked with fresh-from-the-farm eggs, you just haven’t lived.

I knew, when I placed my egg order with Maryellen that I was going to make a quiche. I took a look through The Fresh Egg Cookbook for a recipe. I found what I was looking for, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The pie crust is has been filled with onions, broccoli,
spinach, and gruyére cheese — it is ready for the egg
and milk mixture. The beautiful multi-colored eggs (pictured
behind the pie dish) from Maryellen’s hens will be used.

Make this quiche for lunch, dinner, or your Easter brunch. I served mine with a simple salad tossed with balsamic vinaigrette for dinner, then had the leftovers for lunch the following day. Even my 17-month old daughter loved it!

Gruyére & Broccoli Quiche

Serves 6

The poor quiche has been much maligned, the word still equated with “wimp” in some circles, due to the runaway success in the early ’80s of Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche, a satire of male stereotyping and a kitschy call to male independence. Essentially a creamy egg and milk custard in a crusty open pie shell that can include (or not) any number of ingredients, quiche is one of the most versatile dishes. Serve it hot or cold and fill it with vegetables, meats, or whatever cheeses you have in the bin. Quiche is a keeper, as they say in my family, and shouldn’t be underestimated. I guess we could call it an egg tart. After I make it, I’m going to go out and pump some iron. 

Ingredients

• Pastry for a 9-inch single-crust pie
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 cup chopped yellow onions or scallions
• 1 cup broccoli or raw spinach*, steamed
• 1½ cups cubed gruyère cheese (or cheddar, Monterey jack, or swiss)
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk or light cream
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme or oregano
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

* I used both broccoli and spinach in my version

How to Make

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. 
2. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the pastry and prick the bottom in several places with a fork to prevent bubbling. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven.
3. Heat the butter in a medium skillet and sauté the onions until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Spread the onions over the bottom of the pie shell. Layer the broccoli over the onions. Layer the cheese on top. 
4. Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the milk, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the cheese. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool slightly before serving.

Note (from author): Chopped cooked bacon is tasty sprinkled in along with the broccoli.

Note (from Kristy - keeping it meatless): I used an applewood smoked gruyére, and added no bacon. The smokeness of the cheese really added depth to the flavor — no bacon needed!

Recipe from The Fresh Egg Cookbook by Jennifer Trainer Thompson © 2012. All rights reserved.

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Meatless Monday posts are my effort to pitch the idea of eating meatless one day or one meal a week — for health, for the well-being of animals, and for the environment. I encourage you to give it a try. I also suggest trying variations of these recipes with the produce you have on hand. Additionally, if you are not yet ready to go a full day meat-free, try using these veggie-packed recipes as the focus of your meal.

Our Meatless Monday Recipe Archives:
Vegetarian Lasagna
Braised Chard Pizza and Farmhouse Salad
Mini Frittatas and Shaved Zucchini Salad
Beet Soup, Roasted Plum Quesadillas, and Peach Kuchen
Garden Vegetable Pasta and Grilled Eggplant-Tomato-Basil-Mozzarella Stacks
Indian Spiced Eggplant and Pad Thai
Corn Risotto and Corn Sauce
Spicy Tomato Basil Soup
Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Winter Vegetables
Minestrone Pot Pie with Parmesan Biscuit Topping