I don't think I've ever made quiche before. Which is funny for a few reasons: 1) because we have chickens and usually plenty of eggs on hand and 2) because I loooooove quiche. I had some luxurious, blessedly peaceful alone time this week while Adam took the boys to his parents', which left me with time and energy to experiment a bit. As is my usual recipe methodology, I read a dozen recipes, picked and chose what I liked from them, and this is what I came up with, using ingredients I had on hand. And it was sooooooo good! Hot, warm, or cold; for breakfast, lunch, or supper - add a little salad on the side and you're good to go. I posted a picture on Instagram after I made it and had an instant request for the recipe, so here it is.
Tomato, Kale and Feta Quiche
For the crust:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup salted butter, cold
- 1/4 cup ice water
Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Cube the butter, and blend into the flour until crumbly. I use a pastry blender, but quick hands work well, too - you don't want to linger too long or the butter warms and your crust can get gummy rather than beautifully flaky. Once it's uniformly crumbly, add in the ice water, and mix until it comes together. Don't be too enthusiastic or rough - you want it to just come together. Press into a disc and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and up to three days.
For the filling:
- one yellow onion, finely chopped
- one smallish bunch of kale, ribbed and finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 6 eggs
- 1/2-3/4 cup cream (the creamier the better)
- salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 375. You'll need a large, deep-dish pie plate for this quiche; you could probably also use a baking dish of some other shape or a deep cast-iron pan. (I have a fantastic stoneware pie plate that I bought at a house party several years ago, and I loooooove it.) Roll out your dough (always roll in the same direction; a trick I learned from Martha, and it works so well!) until it's large enough to fit your dish. Lay it out on the pie plate, trimming the edges and moving around any extra bits and generally making it even and decent and sturdy and crimping or pressing the crust to make a firm edge. Lay a piece of parchment paper cut into a larger round over the crust, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. (This blind-baking will ensure a crispy crust that doesn't get soggy, and the pie weights help the crust to keep its shape.) Bake for 20 minutes, until edges are lightly golden. Meanwhile, sauté the onion until translucent and softened, about 5 minutes. Toss in the kale, and cook, covered, stirring every now and then, until it wilts - just a couple of minutes. Toss in the cherry tomatoes to warm and soften a bit, and remove from heat. In a bowl, combine the eggs and cream, and whisk until combined. Gently stir in the feta and a generous dose of salt and pepper. Remove the beans or pie weights from the crust. Add the kale, onion and tomato to the crust, spreading evenly. Then pour the egg mixture over the top, jiggling a bit to make sure it distributes through the filling evenly. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, until the middle of the quiche is set. Enjoy!
You can totally modify this to use up whatever you have on hand. I really like the sweet juicy pop of tomatoes; they'd be very good combined with salty parmesan and any other green, like spinach or swiss chard. You could add a bunch of chopped herbs (tarragon is my favourite!) to the eggs. You could use bacon and cheddar and caramelized onions. I think a salty cheese, nice texture-y vegetable (kale or broccoli - something with bite) and something sweet-ish (tomatoes, caramelized onions) is the perfect combination. Have fun!