Asparagus & Bell Pepper Quiche

Several people have commented that they might try to make my crustless quiche recipe, so I thought I would post another variation of my crustless quiche here today. This one features grilled asparagus and slices of a small red bell pepper.

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 1/3 pint of half & half
• 1 medium size onion
• grilled asparagus tips (from Trader Joe's frozen food section)
• 1 small red bell pepper
• white cheese (mozzarella or monterey jack)
• sea salt
• pepper
• olive oil

Sauteed a medium white, red or yellow onion in a small skillet with a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. You can sweat the onions until they are soft or cook longer to get a little brown carmelization -- your preference.

Break the eggs into a bowl and add the half & half. Whisk well and add the sauteed onions.

Prepare a glass pie dish by spraying the bottom and sides with olive oil. Layer the bottom of the dish with slices of cheese until the bottom surface of the dish is completely covered. When the quiche cooks, the melted cheese on the bottom creates a natural crust. Pour the egg and onion mixture over the top of the cheese.

As you will see in the photo above, I then floated spears of grilled asparagus in a cartwheel pattern around the top of the egg mixture, the thick end of the spears toward the center of the pie. I spaced the spears approximately to the size of each slice of quiche. I like to use the pre-grilled asparagus spears that you can find in the frozen foods section at Trader Joe's. I removed from the freezer what I needed for my quiche beforehand so the spears could thaw out before adding to the quiche.

If you don't have pre-grilled frozen asparagus spears in your freezer, you can always use fresh asparagus, but you will need to cook the beforehand so they are now completely raw. You could grill them, saute them in a small skillet or blanch them in boiling water. Don't over-cook them, because they will continue to cook in the quiche.

The final touch is adding slices of a small bell pepper in a circular pattern around the top of the quiche between the asparagus spears. I found a package of small baby bell peppers at Trader Joe's. I used a red one, but you could also use a green or yellow one -- your choice. If you like your eggs jazzed up, you could also use a spicy pepper like a jalapeno.

Sprinkle the top of the quiche mixture with grated cheese and then bake in a pre-heated over at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until slightly brown on top. While cooking, the quiche will appear to rise above the rim of the pie dish -- don't be alarmed -- it will settle down again once it is cooked and you remove it from the oven.

You can tell if the quiche is done if you stick a toothpick in the center and nothing sticks to it.

I served the quiche with slices of avocado and a fresh fruit salad.

You can throw together a fruit salad with just about any combination of fruit that you have on hand or whatever you prefer. I used mango, raspberries, grapes and watermelon.