I’ve always loved a quiche. The buttery and flakey crust, just cooked egg custard, and vegetables is the perfect lunch. I swear I could eat quiche all the time! We don’t have a microwave in our home, so reheating food can sometimes be a pain (ie: waiting for the oven to reheat or setting up a steamer). But what I love most of all about a quiche is that it is delicious hot, cold, or room temperature.
This quiche recipe is an ode to leftovers. Thinking about conscious eating and consuming, I am always looking for ways to reduce waste. We compost at home, both worm composting for the garden and other compost that gets picked up by the city. The city takes our citrus peels, egg cartons, pizza boxes, meat or fish bones, and lint. Our personal compost is mostly leftover vegetable scraps and egg shells.
I had some delicata squash from a Friendsgiving, half of a large leek, milk that was about to expire, and marinated feta that was questionably still edible. Baked into a quiche this will now turn what could have been throw into the compost as 6 new servings for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Squash and Leek Quiche
Makes 6 servings
5 whole eggs
1/4 TSP ground nutmeg
1 oz sheep’s milk feta (or any other cheese you like)
1 small leek, sliced 1/4” thick, sautéed
1 cup of cooked squash (delicata, butternut squash, acorn, etc), chopped 1/4” pieces
1/2 C whole milk (cow or goat)
1/2 C sour cream
Kosher Salt
Ground pepper
1 frozen savory crust (use your favorite pie crust recipe)
Heat the oven to 425F. Roll out your crust into a 9” tart pan or pie dish. If the pan is not non stick, use a little unsalted butter and paper towel to grease the pan. Roll out the crust large enough to hang 1” over the pie crust. Trim the crust once in the pan and using a fork prick the bottom of the raw pie crust a few times. Top with parchment paper as you will lightly “blind bake” the crust by pre-cooking it with pie weights or dried beans for 10 minutes. While the crust is baking, take out a medium bowl and whisk in the eggs, milk, sour cream, salt and pepper, nutmeg until well combined. Fold in the vegetables and cheese.
Remove the par-baked crust from the oven and place the pie or tart dish on a baking sheet. After removing the weights and parchment paper, pour in your custard until it’s filled almost to the top. Place the tray in the middle of the oven and lower the temperature to 375F, baking for 30-40 minutes until the custard is set and lightly browned.
