Herb Quiche

Summer rolls around and CSA shares overflow weekly with large bunches of herbs. One trick to using your herbs is to remember that they are by and large just as nutritious as any other leafy green (some are more nutritious that some greens). So count them as the new exciting vegetable in your diet!

Herb Quiche/Fritata
Yes, this recipe can be done in a conventional quiche crust, but is also delicious crustless.


Equipment
This recipe is for a 9x13 pyrex baking dish. but the same mixture could be spread thinner in a larger lasanga pan, or cut in half and make it in a smaller square dish or a pie pan. I used the 9x13 because I had a lot of herbs to cook with and was bringing it to a pot luck.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of milk or 1/3 cup of yogurt
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard (optional)
• one plum or beefsteak tomato for slicing thin (option, but very pretty)
• 10 eggs (this can be made entirely with egg whites or with a combo. You will need ~14 whites. If you want to reduce the overall amount of eggs, you can use more yogurt, and decrease the total amount of eggs up to 25%)~4 stalks scalions or one very small red onion finely chopped. (if you have extra time you could saute a red or white onion) (the onions of any sort are optional, but if you dont use them you should make it up w more herbs for more volume and more seasoning)
• 1 tbsp crushed garlic, or 5 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 - 2/3 cup shredded cheese (I like sharp cheddar, but mozarella, jack, munster, swiss, etc all work fine). also optional.
• salt & pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Herbs:

• You want a total of 2- 3 cups of herbs. more if you want a "veggies with a touch of eggs & milk" effect, a little less to get a fritata/standard quich effect.)
• I used: 1 & 2/3 cups dill, 1 & 1/3 cup parsley, and whatever basil leaves I had around

herbs to consider:

• dill
• parsley
• basil
• chives
• (Im a huge cilantro fan, but havent tried it in this dish. If you do, let us know how it works)
  

herbs to skip:

• rosemary (small amounts of sauteed rosemary is fine. but dont try and use it like a green)
• mint
• basically anything you wouldnt want to eat a large amount of in a salad
  

Directions

• preheat the oven to 375 F
• wash the herbs and let them dry in a collander, salad spinner, or by wrapping them and patting them in a clean hand towel
• chop the herbs finely, including the stems.
• whisk eggs and milk or yogurt into a mixing bowl.
  
• add the mustard, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and wisk
• add the herbs, and mix.
• grease the baking pan (unless youre using a crust)
• add the mixture to the pan and spread it out evenly
• slice your tomato very thinly, and place the rounds ontop of the mixture.
  
• bake in oven until it is golden brown around the edges (time will depend on the depth of your dish. Took ~30 min in my oven, but could easily be +/- 10 minutes in yours.

Short Cuts:

• skip the mixing bowl and whisk eggs directly into the pyrex along with all the other whisking ingredients. then add the herbs in and mix.
  
• if you're not sure how much egg you want, place all the herbs into the baking tray. start whisking 3 eggs with the rest of the whisking mixture, and pour that over the eggs. Add one whisked egg at a time until you get the consistency you want.
• NOTE- these short cuts will ruin any crust.