Chipotle Tomato Butter and Spring Veggie Quiche

by Jessica Jacobson April 13, 2021

Spring comes and goes in waves here in CO. Sometimes we get spring starting in February with warm 60 degree days. But we’re also prone to a lot of April snow. Which is what we’re getting today, on April 13th. I grew up in the rainy Pacific Northwest. I’ll take a few days of late season snow over the seemingly unending gloom up there. We still boast an average 320 days of sunshine per year and with those springtime snows and warm days brings beautiful blooms and shoots. I love spring in CO, despite the cuckoo temperature swings. I can’t get down about it as a gardener here. The snow is much needed as Colorado is a drought state. The upside is that by mid May everything is gorgeous and green. Feelings of summer up ahead brings a warm buzz to our town. Everybody gets outside. Trail heads and bike paths are teeming with people. Farmers markets are now underway (with new Covid restrictions of course) and nothing says summer is coming more than buying fresh local veggies.

We are in the midst of our egg inspired month here, and as promised I practiced making a chipotle tomato butter and spring veggie quiche here yesterday. The results were every bit as good as I’d hoped! It’s a velvety smooth eggy inside with a toothy bit of gruyere crunch on top. When I was young and had more time and energy, I would make the crusts from scratch. Anytime I would come visit, my mom always begged me to make her a quiche. I think she knew how tasty and limitless the options were with them. I admit, I didn’t make a crust from scratch this time, but who cares. To me, it’s the inside that counts. For best results, shop for the freshest, brightest veggies you can. Quiches are super adaptable to whatever veggies, cheeses and/or meat you have on hand. Here, I used a bunch of swiss chard that needed to be used. Sauteed spinach or kale work equally well. I also wanted to eat this for meatless Monday so mushrooms were a must. I used a large portobello but any variety would work, so long as its sauteed first.

Chipotle Tomato Butter and Spring Veggie Quiche- recipe is adapted from Eating Well (Apr 2021)

1 Store bought roll out pie crust (I used Immaculate Baking Company)

1 bunch fresh swiss chard, tough stems trimmed and discarded

1 portobello mushroom, about 1 cup chopped into one inch chunks

1 medium size leek, thinly sliced, and soaked in water for 15 minutes to clear out the dirt

4 large eggs

1 cup shredded gruyere cheese

1 ½ cup buttermilk

1 Fireworks mini chipotle tomato butter (about 2 ½ tbs), divided

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp fresh thyme

Basil leaves for garnish

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350. Place pie crust into pie plate and flatten. Pinch down the crust and push fork tines all around the top for design. Set pie plate aside. Then, in a cast iron skillet, on med heat, melt 1 tbs butter and sauté the mushrooms for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next, add another 1tbs butter and sliced leek rings. Sauté another 3 minutes, add the remaining ½ tbs butter and chard and sauté all together for about 6 minutes. The veggies should appear cooked through.

Remove from heat and let cool for about 7-10 minutes. For the egg mixture, use a medium to large mixing bowl and beat together the eggs and butter milk, salt and pepper. Toss in the cheese, thyme and cooled veggies. Mix well. Fold the egg mixture over the pie crust and gently stir until everything is well combined and equally spaced.

If you have a crust ring, use that to prevent uneven browning or burning of the crust during baking. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. Serve warm or room temp. Sizzle. Spread. Boom.