ON DUTY // anna

When you arrive at your sister's house for a week-long stay only to find that she is close to bedridden with a sinus infection, you have a duty to fill.  You help get Sally off to day care and, when she comes home, you bake zucchini bread with her and help her tuck her baby doll into bed.  You take Fisher out and make sure he doesn't run away or eat the compost.  You queue up the Glee episodes on Netflix (shhh…don't tell Alex) and you empty the dishwasher when it's done.  When dinner rolls around and you haven't given it a second thought all day, you make quiche.

Quiche is the perfect meal for those days when there's nothing planned for dinner.  If all else fails, you probably have eggs, milk, flour and butter.  You may also have leftovers or sorry-looking veggies that you aren't sure what to do with.  Quiche is kind of like the dinner version of those compost cookies bakeries make to use up extra ingredients - whatever you have on hand will work.  

On this particular day in Wellfleet, I didn't find much in the fridge: a bunch of kale, some sharp cheddar, and some leftover butternut squash from these enchiladas we had made earlier in the week (pssst: MAKE THEM! They are delicious, especially with shrimp added).  I made a quick pie crust, sautéed the veggies together, topped it all off with eggs, dotted it with cheese, and within an hour we had a meal.

KALE, BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CHEDDAR QUICHE

This is really more of a loose guideline than a recipe, and it can be tweaked depending on your filling and the size of your pie pan.  I used three cups of filling for a 9-inch pie pan.

1 pie crust
1 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1 onion, diced
1 small bunch kale, cut into 1/4-inch ribbons

5-6 large eggs

1 cup milk (optional - I've also made this without milk, just expect the final product to be eggier)

Sharp cheddar cheese for topping

Make the pie crust and press it into a pie pan.  

Place the butternut squash in a medium pot and cover with water.  Bring water to a boil and cook squash until soft.  While the squash is cooking, begin to sauté the onion in olive oil over medium heat.  Add the kale to the onion mixture and stir until it begins to soften.  When the squash is soft, drain the water from it and add it to the kale and onion mixture.  Stir well, so the squash begins to get mashed into the rest of the veggies.  

Once the veggies are cooked, pour them into the pie crust.  Lightly beat the eggs together with the milk, and pour this mixture over the veggies.  Dot the whole thing with chunks of cheddar cheese.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until the center of the quiche no longer jiggles when moved.  If you're daring, turn on the broiler for 30 to 60 seconds to get the cheese all gooey.  (Note: Do not take your eyes off it while the broiler is on!  It will burn.  I know this from experience.)

This would also be delicious with mushrooms, leeks, crab, potatoes, sweet potatoes, any greens you have on hand.  Really, the possibilities are endless.  Enjoy!