Summer Vegetable Quiche

Summer Breeze by Seals & Crofts
I love how this song, through words and music, creates that most wonderful of feelings - a lazy summer breeze on a hot summer's night.  I can picture the street that this house is on, complete with light dancing through the leaves on a branch of a tree.  As the screen door opens and closes, I can even imagine the creak - a screen door MUST have a creak, right?  I can smell the dinner that's ready and waiting for the guy - and if the woman in the song is smart, the dinner she has made will smell just like this quiche as it bakes.  Filled with fresh veggies and herbs, this quiche catches the essence of summer - just as the song sings it for us.  Enjoy both!

Gardens and orchards are bursting at the seams with their bounty!  It's a great time of year!  The harvesting has begun and, right along with it, the food preserving season as well.  I have so many fond memories of this "end-of-summer, beginning-of-fall" time.  My parents were geniuses at finding ways to use the produce in it's fresh state as well as mobilizing a full-blown cannery in our tiny little kitchen.

 I don't have a large garden of my own - just a few tomato plants and some berries.  But I do enjoy going to the farmers markets and the produce stands.  As I got to thinking about dinner the other day, the idea of a quiche made from all fresh veggies came to mind and I ran with the idea.  Growing up, it was common for us to have an entire dinner of nothing but vegetables prepared in a variety of ways.  Those meals were always fresh and flavorful - some of my favorites.  I hoped to capture that same experience with my quiche.

I rounded up some summer squash, baby orange bell peppers, green onions, roma tomatoes, and green onions.  There was a little bit of colby jack cheese in the fridge so I decided to throw that into the mix as well.  I had an inkling it was going to be pretty good.  I was not prepared, however, for the intoxicating aroma that filled our home.

I will admit up front that I was pretty hungry.  But, still, the scent that that quiche put out was heady and I was salivating!!  I kept walking to the oven to peek through the glass, wishing it would hurry up already.  You'd have thought I was six years old and there were cookies baking in there!  Luckily, it baked up in 40 minutes and I had it out of the oven and onto a plate in no time flat!  A little voice in my head kept saying "Please let it be good!  Please let it be good!"  I'm happy to report that it was every bit as delicious as I had hoped it would be!  And I was immediately grateful that quiche is a dish for all meals - and, believe me, I had it for every meal after that until it was gone!

I knew right then that this was a dish I was going to have to share with you!

Summer Vegetable Quiche

makes 1 quiche, 6 - 8 servings

Printable Recipe Card

1 pie shell, unbaked, store-bought or homemade

1 small yellow summer squash, peeled and chopped

2 small baby orange bell peppers, or 1/2 large, diced

2 green onions, sliced thin

2 oz. colby jack cheese, shredded

4 eggs

1/2 c. half and half

1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and minced

1/2 t. salt 

1/4 t. pepper

2 roma tomatoes, sliced

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Fit the pie dough into a pie plate.  Trim it and crimp the edges.  

Sprinkle the cheese evenly across the bottom of the pie shell.  Top the cheese with the chopped squash, diced bell peppers, and sliced green onions.

In a small bowl, combine the eggs, half and half, fresh rosemary, salt, and pepper and whisk together until the eggs are broken up well and all ingredients are well combined.

Pour the egg mixture over the ingredients in the pie shell and give the dish a little shake to help the egg settle.  Place the sliced tomatoes around the surface of the quiche.

Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes.  You'll know it's ready when a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the crust is golden brown.  Let rest for 10 minutes (if you can!) before serving.