Easy Vegetable Quiche

Quiche is something that my mom would make for family gatherings a lot and they always went over well. I really like savory pies of any kind, and quiches are by far the easiest to put together, so it's a win for me. I shortcut the crust with a Marie Callender deep-dish 2-pack, which taste great with quiches... they're not sweet at all and tend to hold up well to the hot ingredients being poured into them while still frozen. They're not the most amazing lard-filled flaky crust you've ever had by any means, but they get the seal of approval from me.


Anyway, this takes about 20 minutes of actual cooking/prep depending on what all you're putting into it. The best part about quiche is that you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and since the crusts come in a convenient 2-pack, you can make an extra one laced with poison for your mortal enemies to share. Here's the recipe:


A handful of spinach (which I tear up slightly before I add it to the pan)
1/2 average-large red bell pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 white onion, diced
1 jar marinated artichoke hearts

This is the egg custard mixture:

4 large eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half (you can use regular milk too actually and it doesn't turn out bad.. but just use the fucking cream)
pinch of basil
pinch of onion powder
dash of oregano
salt
pepper

This one was perhaps a little under-filled, mostly because I had less vegetables than I normally would.. and I normally fill these with bacon as well. Point being, adjust the egg/cream amounts slightly if you have less stuff inside the quiche.

Saute the vegetables together in some olive oil -- medium heat. Add the peppers and onion first, then the garlic, shallots, and artichoke hearts. Tear up the spinach after the rest has cooked for 3-4 minutes and is fairly tender and toss it in, cook for another minute then set aside.

Veggies into the crust. This is a good time to add cheese if you're a dairy person. I certainly am, and I added some Italian blend shredded cheese (provolone, parm, mozzarella). I LOVE goat cheese (or feta if you're making a Greek-style one) in this, but sadly I was on barebones supplies.

Pour the egg mixture over the veggies until it nearly fills to the rim of the pie crust. Quiches puff up a bit, but they shouldn't run over unless you really load it up. To be safe, I always cook mine on a pizza pan lined with foil. I threw in some extra cheese and baked the quiche at 360 for approximately 35 minutes.

As I said, I was short on supplies as I had been cooking for a work luncheon all week. My favorite quiches normally have goat cheese, bacon (lardons inside, crispy on top), artichoke hearts, spinach, asparagus, and red peppers... so customize the hell out of this. Seasoning the egg mixture is a must in my mind even though many traditional quiche recipes don't add herbs -- it makes the whole package much more flavorful.

Zorro was not impressed, but he eats horselips packaged as "savory chicken with rice", so I don't respect his palette.