miniature crustless quiche.

Well, you probably all remember my post about eggs that my friend gave me. After all the lovely suggestions, I ended up hard boiling all 6 of them and eating them plain with a pinch of salt, haha! (Not all in one sitting, of course.)

But, a funny thing happens when people find out you're kind of a nerd about food, especially home-grown food. People just start GIVING YOU AWESOME STUFF! I remember the same thing happening when I was younger and I began my camera collection- people just started coming out of the woodwork, "Oh, you like old cameras? Here, have this Argus! I've had this Canon in my closet for 15 years, would you like it?" No complaints over here, dudes. So, imagine my delight when my husband handed me an egg carton loaded with half a dozen blue-green eggs, given to him by a coworker.



Just like last time, I was faced with the decision of WHAT TO DO WITH THESE FANCY EGGS? My husband scrambled 2, and ate them for breakfast with my son. The remaining 4 hung out in the fridge for a day or two, until this evening, when I came home from work STARVING. We'd had something else planned for dinner that we didn't get around to prepping for, so I was halfheartedly getting stuff together for some plain pasta when I saw the eggs. I knew I wanted them, but I didn't know what on earth I wanted to do with them. I had a fridge full of food (we do our grocery shopping on the weekends) but nothing specific in mind. I wanted something distinctly eggy, but not too rich or filling. Then, duh- quiche! Except- I was too lazy to make a crust, and I don't have a pie tin. The simple and obvious solution is to grease up my muffin pan and make mini crustless quiches, duh.



I did a quick google search for 'crustless quiche' and snapped up the first recipe I found. All I really wanted to know was how much milk to add and how long to bake it, which ended up being moot, because I used a muffin tin, so the cooking time was pretty much cut in half. Here's what I ended up doing:

4 large eggs (BLUE ONES! BLUE ONES!)
3/4 cup milk
Vegetables! (I had 1 grated carrot,& a handful of chopped purple cauliflower, and some finely chopped fresh spinach)
1 small shallot, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
handful of chopped fresh parsley
salami cut into small chunks
large handful of grated cheddar
about a tablespoon of flour (Why did I add this? Did it do anything? I don't know.)
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350ºf.

Quickly saute grated carrot and cauliflower with shallot & garlic (or like, whatever other vegetables you want/have on hand) until they soften, then set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, fresh parsley, fresh spinach, grated cheddar, and pinch of flour. Season with a small pinch of salt & some fresh cracked pepper.

Grease the bejeesus out of a muffin tin (or use muffin cups, I guess. I didn't have any.) with some butter. In the bottom of each cup, spoon in a small amount of sauteed vegetables. Add a few chunks of salami on top of that. Use a large spoon to drizzle egg mixture over each muffin cup, fill almost to the edge, they won't really puff up.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until firm and puffy. Allow to cool a little before attempting to remove.



I had mine with an english muffin that I grabbed on my way out the door when I left work tonight. The english muffin came from Toast, a cafe near my work that makes all kinds of ABSOLUTELY AMAZING pastries from scratch using local organic blah blah you know the drill. I've been in love with their pastries for ages, and if you're in Portland you should really check it out. Plus they have awesome breakfast and they're just very nice people. Go there! The english muffins are to die for.

Anyway, this was my first attempt at making any kind of quiche all by myself, and I couldn't have been more pleased with the results. This is getting filed away for future use, especially since I often have the crucial ingredients (eggs, milk) on hand, and it's a cheap way to get protein on the table. Plus, it's kind of like breakfast for dinner, which rules.