“Real mean don’t eat quiche,” or so the saying goes. But this week’s French Friday’s with Dorie entry shows Dorie Greenspan is not afraid to challenge that philosophy. Her Quiche Maraichere is indeed quiche, but quiche that is light on the eggs and heavy on the veggies. As seems to be my custom, I took a few liberties with Dorie’s recipe. First, I skipped making the tart pastry, instead using a Pillsbury Pie Crust as the base. A Pillsbury Pie Crust is a real time saver for those with a day job and makes a perfectly acceptable crust. Second, I added to the veggie mix a little asparagus for variety and taste and Piment d’ Esplette for some heat. The day I made this dish was hot, the harbinger of the heat that will envelope the desert for the next six or seven months. Maybe the heat made me think of smoke, but whatever the reason I substituted hickory smoked Gruyere Cheese and combined it with an English Cheddar to create a really flavorful, interesting topping.
So do real men eat quiche? Yes, but they grumble the entire time. Sous Chef felt this version was too light on the eggs and overly heavy on the vegetables. So next time we will increase the eggs by one for a total of 2 ½ eggs (2 whole eggs and 1 yolk). Overall, this quiche was a winner in my book from both a taste and utilitarian standpoint. This one preparation yielded two lunches and one dinner for Sous Chef and me. A rather wonderful return on one’s investment.
Join in the fun and cook along with us at www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com!
- 1 Pillsbury Pie Crust, defrosted
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 2 medium sized carrots diced
- 3 stalks of asparagus, trimmed and diced
- 4 green onions diced, including green part
- 1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
- 1 teaspoon Mrs. Belem 5 pepper blend
- 1 teaspoon Piment D' Espelette
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ⅔ cup non-fat milk or heavy cream
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- ⅔ cup hickory smoked Gruyere cheese, shredded
- ⅔ cup English Cheddar cheese, shredded
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place pie crust in pie plate. Prick pie crust with fork to allow steam to vent. Place tin foil over pie crust and then weigh down with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. Leave oven on at 400 degrees.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter, and add vegetable mix to cook until softened approximately 10 minutes. While vegetable mix is cooking, whisk the eggs, egg yolk milk/heavy cream together, then add pepper seasoning, salt, and Piment D' Espelette. Set aside.
- When vegetables are softened, transfer vegetable mixture to the pie crust and spread to cover bottom. Pour egg mixture over top of vegetable mix, and place on a baking sheet. Place baking sheet in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add cheese to top of quiche and return to oven for 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden in color, and quiche is uniformly puffed.
- Transfer to rack and let cool. Serve just warm or at room temperature with a salad.
Great job – your quiche looks delicious:)
The delight for me was the lack of egg to impede the veggies. Same with cheese. Just enough of each to hold it all together but no more. Nice idea to add some pimente.
Whatever works for us is just fine! Great results!
Yeah, my man grumbled about this one, too, but he was pleasantly surprised! I’m going to shake up the veggies and cheese next time, too 🙂
Perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, snack, late night… Okay perfect anytime!
Real men do eat quiche when they’re hungry! Great post!
Of course we both added asparagus!
Funny you should ask about Palm Springs – John’s sister has a timeshare there and I’ve never been, so she wants to plan a trip – I’m a heat wimp, so it will definitely have to be in the cooler months. But, I will definitely let you know when we make plans.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying your new camera! xoxo
I’m loving all the quiches with asparagus in them. Looks great. It’s just getting warm (not hot) here. I can’t imagine it being “summer” for half the year. At least quiche is good to eat all year long.
YOU CERTAINLY STRETCHED THIS OUT – YEA! I LIKED THAT THIS QUICHE WAS LIGHTER BUT THINK YOUR ADDITIONS IN SPICEAND CHEESE CERTAINLY ADDED TO THE FLAVOR. I ALSO ADDED ASPARAGUS. IT WAS GOOD.
Your quiche looks lovely. I liked the fact that it was not so heavy on the eggs, but if Sous Chef likes more, then so be it!
Dear Christy, you certainly chose tasty additions to this recipe for a Market Quiche – the spices sound delightful and the choice of cheeses must have added so much flavor to your fabulous looking quiche!
Christy, I was quite surprised that my hubby enjoyed this one…he is usually the one who turns his nose up at anything with veggies. I almost used a Pillsbury crust on mine, but I had none in my fridge. Yours looks lovely…and I love your choice of cheese and spice! Have a great week!
Smoked cheese! what a great substitution! I skipped cheese altogether – need to loose some kilos before the summer – but I was to make the full version I would go for smoked cheese too!
Getting multiple meals from one recipe is always a good thing 🙂
Harbinger of heat that is coming? – by the looks of things, you went straight from summer (last summer) and skipped over winter into the next summer. Y’all have had some warm weather.
A few weeks back the CG and I were on a trek to the Grand Canyon and stopped in Yuma, Arizona to try some famous tortilla soup at this quaint garden restaurant. While there we decided we needed something else from the menu to accompany the soup and I suggested the quiche, which was also supposed to be famous at this place. When the waitress came I ordered the soup, not even thinking, and the CG ended up having to order the quiche. This fact made him grumble the rest of the meal even though we shared: he was the one seen ordering quiche … LOL!
We really loved this one. I would like to say it made a couple of lunches but we ate it all while we drank our Manhattans. I agree the Pillsbury Crust is acceptable. I make my own when I can but sometimes I need a faster option! I added red pepper flakes, something I seem to add to everything these days, and the heat added some zip!
Your changes sound delish! I finally made this last night and we liked it too, though my husband also felt it was too light on the eggs.
Asparagus is a great thing to add. Next time i’m going to throw some into the mix. And I have become a big fan of that smoked Gruyere. It just adds so much flavor.
Your version sounds delicious! I enjoyed this fairly custard light recipe, but I love a more traditional quiche, too. I also love how well they last over several meals – it’s nice to have leftovers that feel sophisticated.