Inspired by a recipe we discovered on All Recipes, this quiche satisfies both light and hearty appetites.
- 1 home made Flaky Pie Crust – for your shopping list, include 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp shortening, 3 Tablespoons water, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 can drained, stewed tomatoes OR 6 Roma tomatoes, peeled and sliced as thinly as possible
- 1/4 Cup flour
- 1 Tablespoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves – this seems like a lot but it is not a mistake
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup skim or 1% milk
- 2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, Mexican, Italian, Parmesan, etc.)
Preheat oven to 400° F.
NOTES: Bake the pie shell before filling it in this recipe. This is different from most quiche recipes. Also, there are two baking temperatures. You start it on high heat to set the eggs and milk, then reduce to medium heat to finish cooking the center of the quiche.
Drain the canned tomatoes and pat dry with paper towels or peel and slice the fresh tomatoes . Peeling the fresh tomatoes prevents the slices from curling up inside the quiche during baking.
Line a deep pie pan with the unbaked crust. Bake pie shell in preheated oven for 10 minutes; warning the Flaky Pie Crust recipe used here does not brown, so don’t over bake. Remove pie crust from oven, leave oven on 400 °F while cooling crust.
Place flour and dry spices in bowl and combine. Spread half of the seasoned flour over a large dry cutting board. Arrange the tomatoes over the flour and sprinkle the rest of the flour over the tomatoes. Dredge (rub) the tomato pieces in the flour to saturate the tomatoes with the coating.
Heat half of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion until soft; remove from skillet to a plate, then add rest of olive oil, heat and “fry” coated tomatoes in the onion drippings in the pan for 4 minutes. Stir continuously to prevent sticking. Remove frying pan from heat and gently stir in the cooked onions.
Beat the eggs and milk together.
Tear or cut the fresh basil into 2-3 pieces per leaf.
Layer the quiche in the baked pie crust as follows:
- half of the cheese
- half the onions/tomato mixture
- half the fresh basil pieces
- remaining cheese
- remaining onion/tomato mixture.
- remaining basil.
Pour the egg and milk mixture over the top of the layers and re-arrange the top layer of basil if it clumps together. The egg and milk mixture will bubble up during cooking, so don’t worry if the pie shell doesn’t seem full. No need to stir to combine the layers.
Return the pie shell now filled with quiche mixture to the 400° F oven and bake 12 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F and bake another 20 minutes. The filling will brown but the crust will not turn dark. Serve warm with a cold crisp salad and chewy bread like a sourdough baguette.
Serves 8.