Quiche of the week: zucchini-salmon

I'm sure most of you are familiar with quiche, a quintessential French dish.  It's one of my favorite things to cook, for a number of reasons: firstly, it works anywhere, anytime.  Packed with meat and vegetables and served with a side salad, it makes a satisfying main dish. The simpler varieties could easily be served as an appetizer.  Tiny, crustless squares of quiche (even leftovers!) on a pretty platter make a très chic addition to cocktail hour.  Secondly, it's fast - once you get down the basic pattern, you can whip up a quiche in less than half an hour.  And finally, I love quiche for its endless variations.  Although the "classic" is, of course, the quiche lorraine, the simple combination of an egg-based batter and a flaky crust lends itself to any number of seasonings and toppings.

Which brings me to the quiche of the week, our very first recipe here on French Lessons: 

Zucchini-salmon quiche

Serves 4-6 for dinner, 6-8 for appetizer

Ingredients:

store-bought or hand-made round pastry crust (unbaked)

4 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup cream

2 zucchinis, thinly sliced

3 slices smoked salmon (or enough to thinly cover the bottom of the quiche)

2 tablespoons chopped chives

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a quiche pan with the pastry crust and poke several times with a fork (to avoid it inflating in the oven).  In a bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream, salt and pepper.  Place the salmon in the bottom of the quiche pan, then cover the salmon with the slices of zucchini.  Pour the egg mixture over the top and garnish with chives.  Place the quiche in the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until the top of the quiche is golden-brown and the zucchini is cooked.

As I said above, quiche is infinitely variable, so feel free to be creative with the above recipe.  If you're not a fan of chives, dill could be a good substitute; if you're a fan of thicker quiches (this one comes out rather thin, especially if you have a large quiche pan and not a 9-inch pie pan), use up to 6 eggs and more milk and cream as you see fit.  The crust can be negotiated as well:  when I'm in a hurry, I use a store-bought crust; when I have more time, I make my own - I'll post my recipe soon.  If you're buying your crust, just make sure that you're not buying a sweetened dessert pie crust - anything without sugar in the first few ingredients should work fine.

Bon appetit!