Sunday, June 22, 2008

VTV: Bell Peppers


Well, I’m barely under the wire with this week’s VTV entry. It’s been hot as Hades here in southern California this week. Houses here don’t have air conditioning and many are poorly insulated. Last night, at 11:30 pm, the internal temperature of my house was over 100° F. One of my bedroom candles melted. Needless to say, baking is not a pleasant activity at the moment.


I had all the ingredients for this quiche on Friday, except for one, which I had forgotten, even though it was written on my list. So, Saturday, I returned, yet again, to Trader Joe’s to buy my cheese. And, I didn’t get it baked until early this morning, because last night I was at a Solstice/Goddess party. And, the quiche won’t be eaten until tomorrow because I was cooking a special birthday dinner, which will be described in a future post. This is much more drama than normal around here.


But, at any rate, I’m offering this pepper quiche for Vindicate the Vegetable. I’ve amended the original recipe as the notes will indicate. It is so popular, that I usually bring copies of the recipe with me when I bring it to potlucks and luncheons.



If you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does. Thanks to Nina (Love, Sweet, Love) and Jen (Beantown Baker) for hosting.




Tri-Color Sweet Pepper Quiche

1 10” pie crust

4 T. olive oil

3 medium bell peppers, preferably each of a different color, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced into 1/8” strips

¼ c. dry white wine or water

salt

1 c. loosely packed basil leaves *

2 T. grated Parmesan cheese *

2 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks

1 c. half & half

½ c. heavy cream

1 c. grated Provolone cheese **

½ c. pitted and chopped Kalamata olives

Pre-bake the pie crust and set aside. Pre-heat the oven to 400°. Heat 2 T. of the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat and add peppers, stirring occasionally until the peppers wilt, about 10 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and stir in the wine and a pinch of salt. Continue cooking until peppers are soft, not browned, about 15 more minutes.

While peppers cook, put basil, Parmesan cheese and remaining 2 T. of olive oil in blender and puree until as smooth as possible. Set aside. Whisk together eggs and yolks in a bowl. Add half & half, heavy cream and about ½ tsp. salt and whisk again to smooth.

To assemble the quiche: spread basil puree on bottom of pie crust, top with half the Provolone cheese and thenall the peppers. Dot the olives over the peppers. Spread remaining Provolone cheese over peppers and pour in the egg and cream mixture. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges of the crust turn golden. Remove and let sit for 10 minutes and serve.

Cook’s Note *: may use pre-prepared Pesto Sauce in place of the Basil, Parmesan cheese, olive oil step.

Cook’s Note **: may substitute equal amount of Trader Joe’s Quattro Formaggio Cheese Mixture for the Provolone cheese.

No comments: