Cheesy Broccoli & Red Pepper Quiche with Potato Crust

It all started with a random trip to Williams Sonoma.

Wait, what? What does this have to do with Cheesy Broccoli & Red Pepper Quiche with Potato Crust?
Have a little patience, dear readers.

A few weeks ago, I stopped by Williams Sonoma before dinner with my friend Jenn {we went out for Korean in case you were wondering}. I looked around for a bit and, of course, made my way to the sale section. After all, I wasn't looking for anything particular.

That's where I found a gorgeous red pie dish by Emile Henry. Did I need a pie dish? No. But it was discounted to $16, and I just could not pass it up.

Of course, then I had to decide what to make in the pie dish. I did not want to actually bake a dessert pie. I wanted something savory. That's when my friend Cecilia suggested I make a recipe she tested for Robyn Webb's The Diabetes Comfort Food Cookbook: Potato Crusted Bacon Quiche.

Robyn's recipe called for frozen potatoes and broccoli, low fat bacon, and low-fat cream cheese. I decided to use the basic elements of the recipe, but fatten and freshen it up. Since I already had a bag of potatoes and broccoli at home, I decided to forgo their frozen versions. I also took out the bacon, added red peppers and changed up some of the spices. What follows is my version of Robyn's recipe.

Cheesy Broccoli & Red Pepper Quiche with Potato Crust
Ingredients

For the crust
oil spray
2 1/2 cups grated potatoes {make sure to squeeze out as much liquid as you can}
1 egg
salt & pepper
1 teaspoon fresh chopped fresh thyme

For the filling
2 cups broccoli florets, blanched
1-2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 package cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup shredded Asiago cheese

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. In a bowl, combine potatoes, an egg, salt & pepper and thyme. Spray a 9" baking pie dish with oil spray and form a crust from the potato mixture. Make sure both the bottom and the sides of the pie dish are evenly covered. Spray the top of the potatoes with more oil (thank you for the tip, Cecilia), and bake for 15 minutes.



2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet and saute red onion and red pepper for about 10 minutes.
3. Whisk together eggs, milk and cream cheese. Add blanched broccoli florets, cooled sauteed onions and peppers, and shredded Asiago cheese.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the pie dish.

5. Bake the quiche for fifteen minutes at 425F, then lower the oven temperature to 350F, and continue to bake for 25-35 minutes. Let the quiche stand at room temperature for about ten minutes before slicing.

Notes:
1. I was hoping the bottom of the quiche would be crispy, but I'm not sure that's realistic. At least the sides were crispy!
2. I baked the quiche on top of a cookie sheet: this made it easy to slide the pie dish in and out of the oven.
3. I've had this dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner: it keeps excellent as leftovers.

This last photo is just for fun: I found this plastic place mat while shopping at Target with Stacey. Since I rarely use cutlery in my photographs, I thought it was rather hilarious.

Have a wonderful weekend!