Midsummer Night's Quiche

It's been pretty mild in Wisconsin this summer, particularly compared to last summer. There was only a short stretch of actual heat, and I don't think it would have felt so hot if it hadn't been so cool all the rest of the summer. And while Facebook has been taunting me with beautiful farmers market produce since May, our farmers market only just this week hit a point that even comes close to that kind of excitement.

My lettuce is finally producing at a rate that suites our family, but some of it has started to bolt. I've said before that I like to blanch and freeze bolted and less tender arugula. My arugula bolted so fast this year that I hardly got any leaves. I'll be planting a second round probably in the next week and will hope for better results.

However, I took some inspiration from Jacques Pepin, and decided to try cooking other kinds of lettuce. I had one variety out of a mix bolt into tall stalks. I don't like bitter greens so I thought that cooking them might temper the bitter similarly to the arugula. I gathered some herbs and some lettuce for a side salad and I was ready to throw together a quiche. The recipe below is how I made it, but you should adapt it to make the best use of your own produce.

Who doesn't like a basket full of garden produce?

I made my usual shortening pie crust except that I did half whole wheat flour. You could use whatever you like as long as it isn't sweet. A store bought lard based crust would work really well.

Get your onions sautéing first in whatever you like to use. I did mine in butter and olive oil because it is heavenly. I wouldn't stress about getting them perfectly caramelized or anything. As long as they are very soft, just cook them for as long as it takes you to get your other ingredients prepped.

Set your onions aside and use the same pan to cook your tomatoes down a bit and wilt your lettuce. Put a cover on the pan and check periodically until you get to a point you are happy with. Now is a good time to get the pie crust in the pan and grate the cheese if you haven't already.

Now layer.

Pour the egg mixture on top (pictured) and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

Serve with a salad or fruit or both! And a toddler mom tip: it's a pie.

 

Midsummer Night's Quiche

1 recipe pie crust for 9 inch pie (you only need half, so reserve the other half for another use), prepped in pie pan

Butter and extra-virgin olive oil

1 small or medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

Bolted greens, torn

1 Roma tomato, chopped

1/3 lb gruyere cheese, grated

Generous handful fresh basil and oregano, coarsely chopped

6 large eggs

Scant 1 cup heavy whipping cream (there are many dairy options for making quiche, this is what I had on hand and it made for a great texture, light and moist)

Pinch of salt

Dash of black pepper

A couple generous dashes of nutmeg (I LOVE nutmeg!)

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until very soft or caramelized, lowering temperature as needed to prevent them from getting crispy. Transfer to a bowl.

Return pan to medium heat and add tomatoes. Once they've released some moisture, add the lettuce and cover, stirring occasionally until the lettuce is wilted and less bitter and the flavors start to come together. Remove from heat.

Begin to layer the quiche. On the bottom of the crust add 1/2 the cheese, then the onions, then the lettuce and tomatoes. Add a sprinkle of cheese then top with the herbs.

Beat together the eggs, cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Carefully pour over the layered ingredients. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake in the oven about 25-30 minutes, covering the edges of the crust at the 20 minute mark if you are concerned about over-browning the edges. It is done when it no longer jiggles and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to rest a few minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

 

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