Rainbow Chard + Mushroom Quiche

Enjoy this healthy quiche with a side of fruit or greens. Store leftovers in the fridge and you’ll be set for a few meals.

Inspiration:

I love to eat quiche. As an athlete quiche is high in protein, contains veggies, can be tailored to nearly anyone's liking, serve it for breakfast / snack / lunch / dinner and lastly… mmmmm, leftovers. It only seemed fair to have a quiche on H&B.

First, let's talk about the difference between a quiche and a frittata: a frittata is almost like a baked omelet, cooked in a skillet or baking dish, with eggs and any type of veggies or meat and cheese. A quiche is baked in a pastry crust and the filling is a rich custard, made with eggs and cream as the base, and optional veggies, meat, and cheese used more sparingly than a frittata.

Once I delved into what quiche REALLY was, I of course wanted to make a “healthier” and “athlete-friendly” version. I quickly learned, this would create a challenge. It took a few rounds of recipe testing, and I can now call myself a quiche master - the more I made, the quicker I got at it.

Making pie crust is hard, but equal parts fun. If you want to skip this step - go with a store bought crust. If you’ve ever been intimidated by making a pastry dough from scratch, I’m here to tell you that it’s actually very simple, it just takes a little extra time because it has to chill well and then par-bake before the filling is added (no soggy bottoms here!). My go-to dough for pies, tarts, and quiche uses only butter, flour, salt, and ice water and makes a flaky, delicious crust. To save time, you can make the dough up to a week before and keep it in the fridge, or use a store-bought crust (just look at the ingredient list for unnecessary additives).

Onto the main event, the quiche part. I wanted to tinker with the dairy a little bit while still staying true to what a quiche really is. I tried a few different options and ultimately I found that 1 cup of half-and-half (or milk), combined with the eggs and a little bit of cheese made a delicious, luxurious custard and no one could tell the copious amounts of cream was missing.

Enjoy this healthy quiche with a side of fruit or greens. Store leftovers in the fridge and you’ll be set for a few meals.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

Crust:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons ice water

Filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 bunch rainbow chard, leaves and stems separated and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
½ teaspoon chili flakes
6 eggs
1 cup half and half (or milk)
½ teaspoon salt plus more
Black pepper
½ cup parmesan, grated

Instructions:

Let’s make some pie dough! If you aren’t into this step or need a meal in a hurry - remember, it’s not hard, but it does take time… skip this portion and purchase store-bought dough.

In a food processor, quickly pulse the flour and salt together. Add the butter and pulse about 8 times until the texture is like coarse sand. Add the ice water and mix for about 30 seconds until a soft dough forms. Remove dough, pat into a thick disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 1 week.

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Time to shape a pie! Remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to sit at room temperature for just a few minutes. To roll, sprinkle some flour on the dough and counter. Roll out slowly, pushing the rolling pin in one direction and then rotating dough 90 degrees. Add a little more flour to the counter or rolling pin if dough sticks. Roll dough to a 14-inch diameter, and lay it loosely into a 9-inch pie plate or tart pan. Make sure to let the dough ‘fall’ into the bottom edges of the plate so you don’t have any gaps. Fold any excess dough under itself to make a doubly-thick crust, or simply cut with a knife so the dough has just a little overhang. Press the crust firmly against the rim of the pie plate and add any decorative edging (use fork tines or your fingers, or skip the edging all together). Refrigerate again for 15 - 30 minutes.

Lightly prick the dough with a fork to help prevent big bubbles from forming in the oven. Line the crust with a piece of parchment paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 15-20 minutes until light golden. Set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, make the filling: Heat the olive oil in a large pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until they’ve released their juices and are starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the chard stems, garlic, thyme, and chili flakes and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Stir in the chard leaves, season with salt and pepper, and cook until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, half and half, ½ teaspoon salt and a few cracks of pepper. Stir in the parmesan.

Place the pie plate on a parchment-lined sheet tray and spread the veggies into the bottom of the crust. Pour the egg mixture over the veggies. Carefully transfer the sheet tray to the oven and bake at 375° F for 50-60 minutes until the top is golden and the center of the quiche gives a slight jiggle when you tap the pie plate. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

A few notes:

This pie dough can easily be doubled. I usually make a double batch (if you’re going to the trouble to make one….) and freeze one in the freezer for a later time, and use one for this recipe.

A tip for working with pie dough - you want to keep things cold. Keep your butter cold. Keep your dough cold. And don’t “overwork” it. Also, if you don’t want your dough to “shrink” - don’t skip the step where you let it sit in the fridge before par-baking it.

This recipe is fairly adaptable. If you are in the mood for adding bacon or sausage - go for it. You can also substitute kale or spinach. Want to try a different cheese? Go for it.

As a word of warning, don’t be tempted to add extra veggies to the filling. You want room for the egg mixture to fill in. .

If you don’t have ½ and ½ on hand - you can substitute whole milk.