One of my latest and greatest discoveries

I was really hoping to start this blog off with some insight and inspiraton, but the kids I babysit were running high fevers all week, so here I am on Friday afternoon with some body aches brewing. Not so full of inspirational words this evening, but I did want to get into the habit of maintaining an active blog here and talk about one of my favorite recent food discoveries...

Quiche.

Quiche is a classic. Apparently, my mom used to make it when I was a very little kid, but when I got older and pickier, I refused to eat it, so it pretty much fell off of our rotation. My first exposure to quiche as a young adult was at a wedding, when they served mini quiches as hors dourves during cocktail hour. A couple of years later, I encountered quiche again, this time on a diner menu. Sick of omelets and veggie burgers (I only eat Kosher meat, for religious reasons, so most restaurant outings mean vegetarian or fish entrees), the quiche caught my eye. Broccoli and cheese - always a favorite combination for me. So I ordered it, and was quite honestly more impressed than I was at cocktail hour. For starters, this diner made their quiche from scratch, fresh daily -I'm pretty certain the hors dourves, though delicious, were popped out from the freezer. It was light and fluffy, but also filling, and SO flavorful. There was a sweetness to it, too. Definitely became my diner favorite (and they offered a few different varieties daily). I never thought to make it, though.

I'm the only one in my family who follows the Kosher restriction, so my holiday meal options are limited. The meat is rarely Kosher, and when it is, I have to opt out of the dairy sides. Truthfully, while I could ask my aunt to buy a Kosher turkey for Thanksgiving, I'd rather eat vegetarian. It's just what my taste buds prefer. But I also like to try to incorporate protein (in addition to carbohydrates and fats) into most meals. Certainly I don't always succeed, and some meals are more balanced than others (that is the grey "weigh" of life, after all), but I wanted to contribute to the meal with a vegetarian-friendly protein option. Last year, I made an awesome edamame salad, but I have an aunt who recovered from breast cancer and has to stay away from soy because of the estrogen, and I have cousins who don't touch such "health foods" as edamame, so I figured I'd try something different, to appeal to the masses. Quiche!

Quiche was on my mind, and a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, I had a delicious lunch at the Yankee Candle Factory with my girlfriend and her parents, and she ordered a harvest vegetable quiche that had squash, onions, spinach, and grueyere cheese. I was a little sad that I didn't order it for myself, after tasting it (though my black bean quinoa burger was delicious as well), but I left there saying, "I know what I will be contributing to Thanksgiving dinner!"

Having never made a quiche before, I had to google to find a basic quiche recipe, and wanted to get some practice in before making the final product for Thanksgiving. After all, I wasn't sure how hard it would be to mess up quiche, so it was essential to have a practice round. I settled on a recipe that included butternut squash, caramelized onions, and gorgonzola cheese.

I really love the combination of butternut squash and kale, and thought about integrating some kale into the final product (girlfriend does not like dark green leafy veggies so I opted to leave it out of the practice quiche), but the practice quiche came out SO GOOD, that my decision for Thanksgiving was to leave it alone. I didn't make the crust from scratch, and ended up using a gluten-free pie crust, as my sister was recently diagnosed with Celiac and anticipated limited options for Thankgiving as well (okay - it was also all we had in the house). 

Quiche is awesome because it can be modified to meet a variety of dietary needs. I chose to use whole eggs, but if you have someone who is watching their cholesterol, there are lots of quiche (including my diner favorite) that are made with egg whites only. The veggies and cheese, of course, can be modified to your taste. Gluten-free pre-made or homemade crust is just as easy as the traditional wheat flour options, and there are also grain-free crusts with almond flour, and even crustless quiches. My personal recommendation is that you don't skip the crust, though. Helps make sure it's satisfying, not just filling in the moment. 

ALSO: This recipe taught me how to caramelize onions. A very valuable life skill I cannot believe I've gone 28 years without.

Here is the recipe I used - my modifications are in italics.

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 medium onions, sliced
water, as needed
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced into bite-sized pieces (I used frozen butternut squash, and it watered itself down a little. If you can, I bet it would be better with fresh squash, but butternut does the trick. I found that with the frozen squash, it helped to add a little bit of extra, maybe an extra quarter cup or so.
salt and black pepper, to taste
8 sheets phyllo dough, thawed according to package directions (I chose to use Pillsbury gluten free pie crust - but basically any pie crust will do just as well if you don't feel like doing phyllo...but I bet it's delicious)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup 1% milk
2 oz gorgonzola, crumbled (I found  that the first quiche was a little bland and I added a little extra gorgonzola the second time, maybe closer to 3 oz or so)
1 Tbsp sage, thinly sliced (I actually didn't use any sage - and maybe that's why I needed extra squash and cheese, but if you don't have it lying around and don't feel like heading to the store, it works just fine without!)

Directions:

Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until the onions are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Reduce the heat to just a bit below medium. Add 1/4 cup water, cover and cook until the onions turn a deep golden brown, about 50 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes. (*** if you've never caramelized onions before, this was my experience: every time I stirred them, I needed to add a little water, otherwise the sugar from the onions would caramelize, stick to the pan, and burn. Just a tablespoon or so, every 5-10 minutes, to keep it from burning)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place butternut squash on a baking sheet lined with foil. Season with salt and pepper and roast until tender, about 30-40 minutes. Set aside. (You can skip this step if you use frozen - just defrost in the microwave)

Lower oven to 375 F.

Brush a sheet of phyllo pastry with the remaining olive oil and fit it into the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan with the ends hanging over the side of the pan and repeat with the remaining sheets, placing them on top. (or just put your regular crust into your pan however that needs to be prepared, before you pour in the mixture)

Mix the onions, squash, eggs, milk, gorgonzola and sage. Pour into the crust.

Bake until golden brown and set in the center, 25-45 minutes. Yield: 6 slices. (It took me WAYYYYYY longer than 45 minutes, closer to an hour or hour and a half...just watch and test. Sticking a fork or toothpick in the center to test for doneness...should be soft but not liquid)

I actually did not take a picture of mine - though it looked and tasted amazing - but here's the one from the website I modified  the recipe off of: PreventionRD.com

Does anyone have a favorite quiche combination? I really want to try this again with some kale, and maybe subbing goat cheese for gorgonzola. If you try this, let me know how it goes!