Quiche. It’s What’s for Dinner.

Spring is a time of new growth, longer days working out in the garden, and for those of us who keep chickens, many eggs. Sometimes it takes a lot of creativity to come up with more egg recipes to keep up with the girls’ production, but my tried and true go-to is quiche. Quiche is for breakfast, quiche is for lunch, and quiche is for dinner. It’s a creative food. You can put just about whatever you can imagine in it and it will usually turn out to be good. Maybe it’s because I grew up eating a lot of quiche in my house, but I am a firm believer that quiche can be a staple. It always comes through for you in a pinch, and can be as rustic or fancy a meal as you make it. Also, it uses up all those eggs piling up in the basket on the counter. It’s efficient.

Another thing I love about quiche is how darn easy it is to make. Here’s a little how-to for those who aren’t familiar. You start with a simple crust (I use 6 Tbsp cold butter cut into 1 1/2 cup flour. Crumble with your fingers. Stir in 4 Tbsp cold water with a fork and add a pinch of salt and sugar. Don’t even roll it, just press into a buttered pie dish.), add your cheeses of choice (I like cheddar, chevre, Swiss or cream cheese) and sprinkle on some fresh herbs if they are around. In a separate bowl, whisk 4-6 eggs, add a little milk and Dijon mustard if you’re into that, and set it aside.

Then you either saute or don’t saute your filling. Either works fine. I like to use onion, mushrooms and garlic. You can add anything at this point. This is where you add the seasonings, and I like to go French farmhouse with thyme, herbs de Provence, mustard powder, smoked sea salt and pepper.

Then you put the filling in the crust, pour the egg mixture over it, and bake at 375 degrees for about a half hour until it is no longer gooey looking in the middle. Then relax, sit down to a nice meal of some homemade farm-fresh quiche, a green salad and maybe a glass of red wine, and call it a day. If you love leftovers like we do in our house, it is a good idea to make two at a time. Cold slices of quiche are one of my favorite leftover lunches to pack, and just make me feel extra fancy.