Who doesn’t love the combination of broccoli and cheese?  Even people who claim not to like broccoli, will often tolerate it if it is doused in some sort of cheese sauce.  This coming Saturday brings the last farmer’s market of the season in Collingswood, NJ.  I’ve enjoyed this market for the past 17 years and it just keeps getting better every year.  This year I really loved the addition of Muth Family Farms– a certified organic farm in Williamstown, NJ and last week they had the most beautiful broccoli!  Coupled with Hillacres Pride organic pastured eggs and Hot Pepper Jack Cheese, this broccoli inspired the most delicious quiche I have ever made.

One of the reasons I choose to focus my energy on galettes rather than pies (I LOVE pie!!), is the mere fact that I am completely untalented in forming a pie crust that doesn’t look like a toddler created it.  Galettes are forgiving.  They are meant to appear a little rustic and freeform.  On the other hand, even though a quiche crust takes more precision than a galette, it’s much less daunting than a double crust pie.  That said, my crust did not come out even close to perfect, but it sure is good.  For this quiche I used my go-to ready-to-bake pie dough from Immaculate Baking Company.  It is always buttery and SO easy to work with.  The other thing that really makes this quiche pop is diced yellow onion sautéed in butter until the edges are lightly browned and softened a little but still retain a slight bite.

Broccoli & Hot Pepper Jack Quiche

Makes (1) 9″ Quiche- 8 servings

1 Immaculate Baking Company ready-to-bake pie crust

1 Tbsp. Butter

3/4 cup yellow onion, diced

2 cups broccoli florets, blanched, shocked and drained

4 oz. shredded Hot Pepper Jack cheese

3 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 cup 1/2 & 1/2

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Bring pie crust out of the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  This makes the dough pliable so it won’t crack when you unroll it.   While the dough rests, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Sauté onion in butter until the edges are lightly browned and are they are softened, but still have a bit of crunch.  Set aside.

Unroll pie crust into a 9 inch pie pan and crimp the edges.  Make a foil guard and place over the edge of the pastry to prevent over browning.  Line the crust with a piece of parchment paper and fill the lined crust with pie weights (I use dried black beans that I keep specifically for this purpose).  Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.  Remove from the oven, remove the parchment and weights and brush the bottom of the crust with beaten egg.  Return to the oven for about 4 minutes.  Remove and let cool completely.  Reduce the oven temperature to 375 F.

Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, 1/2 and 1/2, salt and pepper until well blended.  Mix onions, broccoli florets and most of the cheese (leave some to sprinkle on the top) together and pour into the prepared pie crust.  Cover the vegetable and cheese mixture with the custard and top with cheese.   Bake at 375 F for 40 minutes until the top is browned.  Let the quiche cool on a rack for 30 minutes before slicing into 8 wedges.