"Ratatouille" Pie - for the real men who claim they don't eat quiche

I love making quiche.  You can use any leftovers or fresh ingredients and come up with an easy and complete meal in one dish.  Serve with salad and a piece of fruit and you have covered the recommended daily portions of the five food groups in a couple of easy steps.

We had some (fresh) vegetables leftover from the ingredients we got at the Farmer's Market last week to make the Grilled Ratatouille Salad and I decided to saute them and use them as a quiche (or pie, take your pick) filling.

Photo - Sauteeing the veggies

I also had about 3/4 cup of roasted tomato sauce leftover in the fridge from
another meal and decided to add it to the veggies in the quiche/pie. It was really quite good.

2 9 inch deep pie shells or your favorite pie dough recipe
1 Tablespoon rough mustard
1/2 cup shredded medium sharp cheddar
A couple of drizzles of thegarlic infused olive oil
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
1 crooked neck yellow squash, sliced
1 eggplant, peeled and chopped in 1/4 inch pieces
1 Roma tomato chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup roasted tomato sauce
1 small bunch of basil leaves chiffonade (*)
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmeggiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 350o F

Since we had a couple of deep pie shells in our 'emergency freezer stash', I decided to use them instead of making my own this time.

'Paint' the bottom and sides of the pie shells with the mustard and place in oven for about 8 minutes while the oven is heating up. Take out and let them cool while finishing prepping the veggies.

Photo - Filling  being added to the one in forefront - Shredded cheese on the bottom of the second one.

The sliced zucchini and yellow squash can be halved if some of the pieces are too big.

Heat the garlic infused olive oil in a large skillet and add the onions, cook just enough to start looking soft and add all the other veggies. When cooked but not too soft, add the roasted tomato sauce and mix well.

Place both pie shells on a foil covered jelly-roll pan, in case of oven spills.

Photo - Just out of the oven!

Cover bottom of each pie shell with 1/4 cup of the shredded cheddar and add the cooked veggies on top. Sprinkle the chiffonade of basil over all.

Add the milk to the beaten eggs and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the veggies in the pie shells. Sprinkle the freshly grated Parmeggiano-Reggiano over the veggies and egg custard.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until puffy and golden. Sit for a while to cool and set a bit, then cut in slices.

Photo - Yum!

We ate part of one for dinner that evening and the rest for lunch the next day when our friend Becky came over.

I waited for the other pie to cool completely, wrapped it tight with foil and placed in a large freezer baggie and stored in freezer for a later meal.

(*) A chiffonade of greens is actually any fresh greens that have been cut in thin ribbons.

To make a chiffonade, take a handful of any type green leaves; basil, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, etc. and loosely wad up in your hand over a cutting board.  With a very sharp knife and making rocking motions, cut across the wad of greens to make thin slices to form the ribbons - (From Notes on page 126 in 'Tropical Taste" cookbook by Sonia Martinez)

YIELD: 6 portions
SOURCE: Sonia's Kitchen