Vegetable Quiche with Polenta crust

With an abundance of eggs around quiche seems like a great idea.  It took me 30 minutes to deal with two kids under 5 years old and to make the quiche.  It will take another 30 minutes or so to cook it.  Not bad for an in season dinner treat!  I considered naming it "Busy Mom's Quiche" and "Lazy person's Quiche" as it is relatively easy and quick, but instead decided on a more descriptive title.  What do you think?

Vegetable Quiche with Polenta Crust
makes 1 pie, doubled you have dinner for 2 days

Polenta crust:
1/2 cup polenta, dry
1 1/2 cups water
1 chicken bouillon cube to flavor the water
2 TBS olive oil 

Quiche:
Equivalent of 2 cups chopped broccoli and cauliflower, or other vegetables.  I added some beet greens.
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
olive oil for stir frying
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 F bake.

Begin by making the polenta crust.  Boil 1 1/2 cups water.  Crumble bouillon on the water and mix well.  Slowly add the polenta grits when the water is boiling.  Stir continuously and lower temperature to medium.  Cook until corn has solidified, just before it sticks to the bottom of the pan.  It should be thick.  Pour 2 TBS olive oil in a pie dish and evenly oil the bottom of it.  Add the thickened polenta, spreading it evenly along the bottom of the pan.  It is unnecessary to put it up the sides of the pan as well.  A nice 1/2 inch layer at the bottom is perfect.

Meanwhile, stir fry the broccoli and cauliflower in some olive oil until it turns bright green ( broccoli) but is still rather crunchy.  Spread evenly on top of the polenta layer.

Mix 4 eggs with 1 1/2 cups of milk.  Salt and pepper to your taste.  Pour over the vegetable and polenta layers.  The mixture should come close to the top of the pie dish, but beware of overfilling and over-spilling!  Cover the quiche with aluminum foil or a well fitting lid and put in preheated 350 F oven.  Quiche will take about 30-40 minutes to cook.  Check to see that the top of the pie (eggs) are solid feeling.  The top should not feel slimy, if it does then you'll need to cook it for longer.  Overcooking will make the eggs a bit tough, so watch closely.  The lid helps cook the polenta and keep it moist, I highly recommend a lid or foil!

Great served with a green salad and fresh shredded beets with rice vinegar and olive oil vinaigrette and a glass or so of cooled Chardonnay to drink.  

~Enjoy~

broccoli and cauliflower stir fry

Polenta crust

Pictured: polenta on the left, egg-milk mixture on the right