Current mood:

yummers!

Apple Chard Quiche
Okay, enough heavy lifting for awhile: on to topics tasty and timely, namely, my favorite quiche. I made this quiche this weekend for a brunch and it's one of those dishes that just makes me so happy I couldn't help but take pictures along the way. I mean, seriously, is this not a beautiful gathering of ingredients? It's the chard, really, that makes it so gorgeous, all those rainbow colored stems, though the deep green chard leaves and the apple dusted in nutmeg certainly doesn't hurt either. I love this dish in particular in the winter for all its color. When we lived in Minnesota, in fact, I used to make it faithfully each Sunday and then take a slice and an orange with me to work the rest of the week to eat for lunch. Oh, it was a happy life.

So, a few notes before I pass on the recipe. First, it's pretty flexible: you can substitute many deep green leafy vegetables for the chard. Spinach works and I've had great success using beet greens (which, really, is all chard is, without the lovely bonus of the beets themselves). I've also substituted in pears for the apples and that has been heavenly. The recipe calls for milk but I rarely have it on hand--I often just skip that ingredient and can't really tell a big difference. And, of course, all the amounts are approximate. I'm going to say you need 6 or 7 big leaves of chard, but usually I just buy a bunch at the store and however many leaves are in that bunch is how many end up in the quiche. It's wonderfully accommodating that way. Also, I used to make my own crust for this, but there honestly is a fair amount of prep work with all the vegetable cutting--these days, I just buy a deep dish pre-made pie crust at the store. Frozen pie crusts these days are pretty well made; they work nicely for this recipe. But if you are a purest, feel free to use whatever pie crust recipe you do for other such dishes.

Now, all that being said, here is a happy little quiche recipe for you. Perhaps not my fastest dish to make, but on a leisurely Sunday morning I'd be hard pressed to find something I enjoy making more.

Apple Chard Quiche

2-3 T. olive oil
1 medium sized onion, diced
6-7 large leaves of quiche, stems and leaves separated, both chopped
5-6 button-sized mushrooms, stems discarded, caps chopped
salt and pepper
1 medium sized apple, diced
1/2 t. nutmeg
4 eggs
1 cup shredded Jarlsberg cheese (a quality Swiss also works)
1/2 cup milk
1 unbaked deep dish pie crust

Okay, you are going to spend a lot of time dicing vegetables. I find it handy to have three bowls ready. Into one bowl, you are going to put the onion and chard stems, both chopped to about equal size. In the next bowl put the mushrooms and the chard leaves. The leaves should be chopped into ribbons; don't panic if it seems like a lot, the chard is going to cook down considerably. In the final bowl put you apple. If you dust the apple right away with the nutmeg and toss that seems to keep it from browning before you get to it.

Preheat oven to 375. Heat 2 T. oil a large skillet. Add the onion and chard stems, cook until they onions just start to brown a little and the stems soften. Return to their bowl. Refresh the oil in your pan by adding the remaining tablespoon. When that gets up to heat, add the mushrooms and the chard. The goal is for the mushrooms to soften and give up their moisture and for the chard to wilt down. This is going to take several minutes. While you are keeping an eye on that skillet (giving it a stir every so often to keep things from sticking to the bottom), in the now empty chard-mushroom bowl, mix together the eggs (like these lovely numbers, courtesy of my my much beloved egg lady) with the cheese and milk. Fold in the apples. By this time, your chard mixture should be just about ready--add the onions and stems back to the skillet, mix for a minute allowing it to reheat slightly, then pile all those lovely veggies into the pie crust. Pour the egg-cheese-apple mixture over the top. (A little bit of egg always stays in the bowl; I usually brush this up with a pastry brush and then brush it onto the edge of the pie crust so it will brown nicely). Put the whole concoction into the oven and bake 40-45 minutes, until the quiche is set and starting to brown on top. It will look something like this. Don't you just want to eat it right now?

Let it cool ten minutes so that no one burns their tongue on the melted cheese, then slice it up and serve. It is also just lovely when cold, hence all those Minnesota lunches. It keeps pretty well in the fridge for 5 or 6 days, assuming you don't eat it all sooner. Enjoy!