Easy dish, perfect for summer. It does involve turning on the oven, but you can bake a couple at once and freeze one for later–they freeze beautifully. (Just be sure the quiche is totally cool before covering and freezing, to avoid condensation and mushiness.) We’ve been eating this quiche once a week lately, due to the wonderful tomatoes and fresh basil we’ve been getting from the farm. You can make this with canned tomatoes and dried herbs in the dead of winter, but it won’t have the same summery flavor. I’d recommend making a trip to your farmer’s market or backyard garden to capture the intense flavor of summer tomatoes for this dish.
Easy Pie Crust
Based on my mother-in-law’s recipe, and this one from AllRecipes.com. If you’re making it for something sweet, like pie, reduce the salt by half and increase the sugar to taste.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons Sucanat or sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons milk
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Place all ingredients in 9 inch pie pan. Stir together with fork or pastry blender. Pat mixture into bottom and up the sides of the pan. Poke holes gently in bottom and side of crust with fork.
- Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light brown. Use as directed in favorite pie recipe. (If making this crust for Tomato Basil Quiche, reduce baking time to 10 minutes.)
Tomato Basil Quiche
Loosely based on this recipe at AllRecipes.com. I made enough tweaks that it’s almost a different recipe entirely.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 onion or several scallions, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, sliced
- 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
- 6-8 tablepoons fresh chopped basil
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust (or Easy Pie Crust above)
- 2 cups shredded cheese, divided (try sharp cheddar, Colby-Monterey Jack, or swiss)
- nutmeg to taste (optional)
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake pie shell in preheated oven for 8 minutes. If using Easy Pie Crust above, simply preheat oven to 400, but do not prebake your crust further.
- Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion or scallions until soft; remove from skillet. Heat the other tablespoon of olive oil in the same skillet. Dredge tomato slices in flour, then gently saute 1 minute on each side. (Set a timer for this–you don’t want to over cook.) In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spread 1 cup shredded cheese in the bottom of pie crust. Layer onions/scallions over cheese, and top with tomatoes and basil. Cover with egg mixture. Sprinkle top with remaining cup shredded cheese. If desired, sprinkle cheese with nutmeg.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake for 15 to 25 minutes, or until filling is puffed and golden brown. Serve warm. Tastes best after cooled for one hour.
Enjoy!
