Muffin tin quiches made using vintage tin.
Too many eggs in my refrigerator inspired my search for a savory recipe to use them up. I thought I would be resigned to making a full-sized quiche or frittata until I spied several recipes for mini-quiches made with muffin tins. The instant portion-control, flexibility, and ease of this recipe is brilliant -- perfect for GERD stomachs in size and ingredients! And, it is delicious!
I was going to wait until I perfected this recipe to post it (mine were slightly overdone, and I'd pre-cook all of the veggies next time) but it's so lovely that I'll share it now with links to other online recipes for comparison. Here is the version I made, with a few notes.
1. Prepare fillings. When I made this dish, I caramelized onions in advance, and added them to half my tins. I added chopped fresh spinach in the other half. The onions definitely resulted in a better flavor and texture; pre-cooking the vegetables is suggested in similar recipes, so this small prep seems to be essential, and I recommend it after my experience.
As I've mentioned, onions and tomatoes do not trigger my GERD; both provide great flavor and texture in recipes, so I use them often. Experiment with high-flavor ingredients to see what works for you. As for caramelizing onions -- it's a process that cannot be rushed (as Thomas Scocca explains in his fabulous post about the time caramelization really takes). Be prepared to devote 35-40 minutes. You can make these hours or a day before.
3. Crack eggs into bowl and beat well. You can use whole eggs, or mix whole eggs with egg whites, if desired. I use pastured eggs exclusively in my cooking and seek them when dining out; they are just so much better all around. And, sometimes you find unique eggs in your carton!
Add the milk. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, herbs, and other spices as desired. Beat together well.
4. Grease tins and add vegetable fillings. Fill them liberally -- I found the more full the tin, the better the quiche cooks, looks, and tastes.
5. Pour egg mixture into tins, over fillings until about 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until set and tops just starting to brown.
7. Cool slightly and use a knife to loosen from tins. Several recipes online strongly advocate using silicon pans for their ease of removal. Others use some kind of "crust," from bonafide mini pie crusts to phyllo dough to a dusting of flour. In my case, using no crust at all in a metal muffin tin, my quiches were difficult to remove intact.
SERVE! I served these with a side of grits and string beans. We agreed they are a delight, and something to try again (and again!) -- so versatile.
MORE MINI-QUICHE RECIPES -- MY INSPIRATION!
Crustless Mini Quiches from food blogger Smells Like Brownies
And here is a dairy-free Healthy Crustless Veggie Quiche which uses rice milk! This is courtesy of Danielle's wonderfully photographed Eating Curiously blog.
RECIPE: MUFFIN TIN QUICHES
For 6 quiches; increase recipe as needed to fill more tins/baking dishes.
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
- 5-6 pastured eggs
- Milk -- cow, coconut, rice, soy, as you wish -- about 1 cup to every 3 eggs. Depending on the size of the eggs, you may want to increase or decrease the milk. NOTE: In my attempt, I omitted the milk altogether. This probably is why my quiches came out too dry and slightly "porous." I was not pleased with the texture, and was probably missing the "creaminess" which results from the dairy (or non-dairy) milk fat.
- Vegetable fillings as you wish: spinach, onions, leeks, peppers, herbs, broccoli, chard, tomatoes would all work well -- a good way to use up whatever is on hand. Fillings should be sauteed/steamed/roasted/cooked in advance.
- Seasonings as you wish: salt, pepper, nutmeg, etc. to your taste
- Oil for greasing tins
1. Prepare fillings. When I made this dish, I caramelized onions in advance, and added them to half my tins. I added chopped fresh spinach in the other half. The onions definitely resulted in a better flavor and texture; pre-cooking the vegetables is suggested in similar recipes, so this small prep seems to be essential, and I recommend it after my experience.
Onions getting caramelized -- a little work, a lot of flavor!
Chop and saute/wilt before adding to tins.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Crack eggs into bowl and beat well. You can use whole eggs, or mix whole eggs with egg whites, if desired. I use pastured eggs exclusively in my cooking and seek them when dining out; they are just so much better all around. And, sometimes you find unique eggs in your carton!
Eggs with interesting markings from Garden of Eve
Add the milk. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, herbs, and other spices as desired. Beat together well.
4. Grease tins and add vegetable fillings. Fill them liberally -- I found the more full the tin, the better the quiche cooks, looks, and tastes.
5. Pour egg mixture into tins, over fillings until about 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until set and tops just starting to brown.
7. Cool slightly and use a knife to loosen from tins. Several recipes online strongly advocate using silicon pans for their ease of removal. Others use some kind of "crust," from bonafide mini pie crusts to phyllo dough to a dusting of flour. In my case, using no crust at all in a metal muffin tin, my quiches were difficult to remove intact.
SERVE! I served these with a side of grits and string beans. We agreed they are a delight, and something to try again (and again!) -- so versatile.
MORE MINI-QUICHE RECIPES -- MY INSPIRATION!
This recipe is what got me inspired to make mine: Egg Muffins Revisited, by food blogger Kalyn Denny, whose blog Kalyn's Kitchen features her marvelous step-by-step photos. While Kalyn focuses on South Beach recipes which often incorporate meat, you can quickly locate promising dishes like this butternut squash-kale-farro soup and just substitute veg-friendly ingredients (i.e. veg broth for the chicken broth).
Scoochmaroo's Easy Mini Quiche Recipe
Crustless Mini Quiches from food blogger Smells Like Brownies
And here is a dairy-free Healthy Crustless Veggie Quiche which uses rice milk! This is courtesy of Danielle's wonderfully photographed Eating Curiously blog.
One more dairy-free entry -- Andrew Cordova's Dairy Free Crustless Quiche minis, made with coconut milk. Some of the comments note the coconut taste overwhelmed them when they made the recipe, but the author suggests using highly flavorful fillings to negate (overwhelm?) the coconut.
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