Butternut Squash Quiche

Quiche is one my favourite recipes to make when I am only slightly pressed for time and want something light but filling – think of the full feeling you have when you eat an entire plate of sushi, and I don’t mean the rolls stuffed with tempura. I mean the fresh fish. It’s this amazing feeling that we have forgotten in North America, mostly a result of over-stuffing ourselves with too large plates of fries and cheeseburgers. Now, whenever we have a completely satisfying meal that doesn’t want to make us nap it is intriguing, enlightening even. Food isn’t heavy? It doesn’t weigh you down? Really, it needn’t do that because that is sodium and fat, my friends. Think of your holiday dinners and they reason why you wear your most comfortable pants.

Quiche, and this one in particular because it has only a moderate amount of goat mozzarella and plain goat yogurt – goat products offer a more pungent and “cheesy” flavour so you don’t need to use as much to achieve the same flavour; makes for a great lunch or fortified dinner. I think that is my favourite quality of goat milk products; just a small amount of milk in a dish can transform it into this magically creamy dish without the extra heft from cheese.

I am not usually blatant about the fact that the kids and Mr. are dairy intolerant; I am aware that I mention it but at home we do not make a big deal of it. I think it’s important to experiment and attempt to at least recreate the dishes my children won’t have the opportunity to eat. Mr. was already in his twenties when he had to stop eating milk products; it is the children who have never known any different. A funky little anomaly is that (mercifully) everyone can happily indulge in goat milk products. Goat is … more fragrant but that is what makes it so much more enjoyable if you don’t use a heavy-hand with it. Chevre has replaced cream cheese in our icing recipes.

Goat milk came into our lives out of a desire to loosen our reliance on soymilk, cheese and yogurt. Miss N was the only fan of almond milk and she was still only lukewarm on the idea and then I learned a friend of my mom’s substituted with goat milk because of her own dairy intolerance. Replacing soymilk was a slow process and at this point goats are one of Miss N’s favourite animals because “they give her milk”. Sweetness.

The crust of this quiche is oil-based despite my fondness for a lard crust (which make the absolute flakiest pies!); the oil crust is sturdier but that doesn’t mean you will be making any flaky sacrifices. I used warm water to ease the mixing process and I did find the dough to have a bit of spring to it. I think that might just be me since it happens anytime I make a pie. I won’t include the recipe here because Mari of Once Upon a Plate wrote a fantastic recipe for an oil crust and I have always followed that one since discovering her gorgeous blog nearly 2 years ago. I haven’t revisited in a very long time and I should return. The tip about the mustard also comes from Mari!

The Quiche

1 piecrust, unbaked

2 – 3 eggs –my tart pan is approx. 11 inches

1 cup milk

¼ cup plain yogurt

handful grated mozzarella

½ cup butternut squash, shredded

mustard – I used tangy mustard from a beautiful gift basket from my sister-in-law

S & P to taste

basil oil – the gift basket, again

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and yogurt until smooth. Add squash and mix gently until thoroughly blended, salt and cracked pepper. Obviously you can’t really taste the mix but a solid pinch of salt and a few turns on a pepper mill should work.

3. With the back of a spoon or a brush, smear the bottom of the pie shell with a thin layer of mustard.

4. Pour in the egg mixture. Drizzle with the basil oil (feel free to use an alternative and complementary flavoured oil), just enough to flavour it.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until very lightly brown around the edges and set in the middle. Allow to rest for about 6-8 minutes before slicing into it, other wise it can “poof” or.. In fact, I don’t know. It will be the egg will be slightly puffed up as if it were trying to be a soufflé but if you give it a few minutes the delusions of grandeur will subside and you can eat it.

I served this with Mr’s gorgeous salad in last Friday’s Photo Friday post. Enjoy.