Self-Crusting Quiche

I adore eggs, and I adore quiche. The only problem is the crust. I used to think I couldn't make pastry, but it turned out I was just cutting the butter too small; once I figured out how to leave bigger bits in there, it went much better, but you're left with the problem of how unhealthy it is. White flour, masses of fat. I could solve this by making it with whole wheat flour, but that never tastes very good to me, and you still have masses of fat. Then I figured out how to make a self-crusting quiche, which drastically reduces the amount of both fat and white flour. Fabulous!

Ingredients
1 onion, cut in half and then sliced into rings
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped finely
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon peanut oil (or any other kind of oil)
1 medium sweet potato
1 cup milk (any kind, but I haven't tried it with non-dairy milks so I can't promise it would work)
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup small broccoli florets and chopped stems
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I used reduced fat)
Salt and pepper

First, caramelize your onion. Melt the butter in a cast-iron frying pan* over medium heat, then add peanut oil. Cook the onions, stirring, until they are completely soft and delicately colored (not browned). It takes an unbelievably long time to do this. Some recipes lie and say it takes 15 minutes. It actually takes more like 45, but you can do other things while they caramelize.

Such as: peel the sweet potato, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and boil it for about 10 minutes, or until it's soft but not a mushy mess.

Cut up the broccoli and steam it in a small pot with about an inch of water and the lid on over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.

Beat the eggs, milk, flour and baking powder together with a whisk. Season as much or as little as you like. Stir in the grated cheese.

Now preheat your oven to 430 Fahrenheit (or 220 Celsius). Oil an 8x8 baking dish, or spray with cooking spray. (You will save yourself a great deal of washing-up if you use a non-stick one, but it will work in a dish of any material.)

When the onions are caramelized, add the garlic, and cook, stirring, for about a minute or until the garlic is a little more fragrant than in its completely raw state.

Add the onions, sweet potatoes, and broccoli to the egg mixture and stir gently. Pour the mixture into the baking dish.

Bake for around 30 minutes, or until the center is set and the outsides have formed a soft crush around the edges of the dish.

Serves 4, or 2 plus leftovers for lunch the next day.


*Non-stick is also fine, but there's something about cast-iron that produces very pleasing results. No idea why.