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There are certain recipes you see that you expect to have certain ingredients just from reading the title.

Like macaroni and cheese. I always expect macaroni, and I always expect cheese…but that’s not necessarily true. Take cauliflower “macaroni” and vegan “cheese”; true it doesn’t taste exactly like the original, but still, it’s macaroni and cheese-ish and delicious anyway.

Or fudge. I hear the word fudge and my mind goes to chocolate. But flavors like cappuccino, cinnamon bun, and peanut butter show that isn’t the case. Chocolate obviously doesn’t have to be included in a fudge-like confection for it to be tasty.

And then there’s quiche. When I think of quiche, I inevitably think of buttery pastry and loads of cheese…a rich dish, made even richer by a splash or two of cream. This quiche took away my preconceived ideas about what quiche is.

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I got the idea for a healthier version of quiche when I was looking through Hillary Davis’ beautiful cookbook Cuisine Nicoise: Sun-Kissed Cooking from the French Riviera. I found this book incredibly interesting; the recipes in it aren’t at all like the foods you’d find in a Parisian-style cookbook. From the south of France, the recipes in this cookbook are Mediterranean-style. Making plentiful use of heart-healthy ingredients like olives, legumes, seafood, and nuts, the dishes remind me of the types of foods I experienced in the Middle East; they are the types of recipes I shared in my Middle Eastern cookbook.

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Cuisine Nicoise. Photo from my Instagram feed.

The only trouble I had with Cuisine Nicoise was deciding which lovely recipe to make first. I was fantasizing about a full Nicoise-style summer meal…Eggplant Caviar as an appetizer, followed by Herbes de Nice Salad, and then a main dish of Little Stuffed Vegetables and Chickpea, Eggplant, and Zucchini Fritters. And not to forget dessert, maybe Peach and Raspberry Salad with Dark Chocolate Sorbet to cap off a perfect evening. Alas, I decided to start simply; I took inspiration from this lovely book and made my own recipe, using a couple different Cuisine Nicoise recipes for ideas: Nicoise Zucchini Tian (which is actually more similar to a crustless quiche than a layered tian) and Swiss Chard Omelette. Both of these dishes are chock full of veggies, and so is my Roasted Vegetable Crustless Quiche.

With a generous amount of zucchini, red bell pepper, and onion, the only thing this quiche is heavy on is vegetables. I added basil for bright flavor and toasted pine nuts for nutty complexity. You won’t even miss the crust.

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Print
Roasted Vegetable Crustless Quiche with Basil & Pine Nuts
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Yield: 4 servings
 
Ingredients
  • 2 medium zucchini, diced
  • 1 large red bell pepper, seeds removed and diced
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • Butter, to grease the dish (use clarified butter if possible)
  • 8 large eggs
  • ½ cup (120 ml) plain, unsweetened almond milk (or any kind of milk you like)
  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted and cooled
  • 3 tablespoons thinly sliced basil leaves
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450F. Toss together the zucchini, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; spread in an even layer on a large baking sheet. Roast the vegetables until tender and starting to turn brown in spots, about 30 minutes, tossing once halfway through. Cool.
  2. Lower oven to 375F and grease a 2½ quart casserole dish with butter.
  3. Beat together the eggs and milk, then mix in the roasted vegetables, toasted pine nuts, and basil.
  4. Pour into the prepared dish and bake the quiche until it’s golden, the eggs are set, and a paring knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 55 minutes.
  5. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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If you love the food of Nice, you are in luck because I’m giving away a copy of this beautiful book! One lucky winner will receive a copy of Hillary Davis’ cookbook Cuisine Nicoise.

To participate in this giveaway, leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite French food is.

For extra entries, you can do any of the following (please leave a separate comment for each):

You do not need to have a blog to enter this giveaway! This giveaway is open to anyone anywhere in the world. This giveaway ends Thursday, August 15, 2013 at 11:59PM EST. After that the winner will be randomly selected and notified by email; the winner will have 48 hours to claim his/her prize before a new winner is selected. Good luck to all!

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of Cuisine Nicoise (Gibbs Smith; August 2013); as always, opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links to products I believe in, which means that even though it doesn’t cost you anything extra, I will receive a small amount of money from the sale of these items, which helps me keep this site alive – thank you for helping to support An Edible Mosaic!

Faith, author of An Edible Mosaic.
About Faith

I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.

Meet Faith

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92 Comments

  1. Pingback: 95 Egg-cellent Dishes! - MarocMama

  2. My favorite French dish, which I just finished by the way, is Rattatoulli. I’ll eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Weekly Meal Plan & My Happy Things: Rock Climbing | The Spicy RD

  4. What a gorgeous quiche! Can’t wait to try it. (Sorry I missed the cookbook giveaway!)

    Reply
  5. Levanah Darlene Ruthschild says:

    You’re gonna laugh: escargots!…with plenty of crusty, chewy bread for sopping up all that fantastic butter-w/shallots-&-garlic-&-crumbs sauce!!
    My answer on another day could be completely different – but i suddenly realized how much i love these when they’re well-prepared!

    Reply

  6. I follow Hillary on Twitter! @wild4wednesdays

    Reply

  8. I follow you on Pinterest (Lana756)

    Reply

  9. I follow you on Twitter!

    Reply

  10. I love all French food but especially crepes!

    Reply

  11. i would just love to win this one

    Reply

  12. J’adore bouillabaisse! Such a lavish yet healthy dish and only properly consumed with at least 15 people.

    Reply

  13. My fav French food is Chicken Normandy instead of Veal Normsandy. The chicken and apples swimming in that luscious sauce of Calvados and heavy cream. Yum!

    Reply
  14. Michelle Gauer says:

    I would have to say Crepes…they are so versatile and wonderful! Would Love, Love, Love the cookbook!

    Reply

  15. Saladgoddess following MarcheDimanche on Twitter.

    Reply

  16. Saladgoddess following on Pinterest.

    Reply

  17. Saladgoddess following on Twitter.

    Reply

  18. Baguettes. And creme brulee.

    Reply

  22. Oh what a great looking quiche and recipe book. Love pine nuts. My favorite French recipe? Wow tough one. Top off my head: Paris Brest, Rognon aux champignons and a cassoulet.

    Reply
  29. Sarah H.P. says:

    I love croissants!!

    Reply
  30. Kathy Rittler says:

    Can’t wait to make this! I love quiche Lorraine.

    Reply
  31. Kathy Rittler says:

    Can ‘t wait to try this! My favorite French food is chicken, wine, mushrooms, onions, cooked together.

    Reply

  32. Favorite french food? That is a tough one, and would garner a different answer based on the season. As it is incredibly hot right now, I would have to say Salade Nicoise.

    Reply

  33. Hands down, it’s fois gras

    Reply

  34. Like An Edible Mosaic on Facebook.

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  35. Follow An Edible Mosaic on Twitter.

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  36. Follow An Edible Mosaic on Pinterest.

    Reply

  37. Follow An Edible Mosaic on Instagram.

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  38. Follow Hillary Davis on Twitter

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  40. this looks fabulous! will try it this coming week. favorite french food? that’s a tough one, but I would say tarte normande would be it.

    Reply
  42. Urban Wife says:

    And I also follow you on Instagram. (Urbanwife)

    Reply
  43. Urban Wife says:

    I’m already a Pinterest follower of yours. (Urbanwife)

    Reply
  44. Urban Wife says:

    I don’t want to sound lame but the truth is, my favorite French food is a warm buttery croissant!

    Reply

  48. this is lovely. I like how thick you made it, remembers of a Spanish version (can’t remember the name now) of the Italian “frittata di verdure”, both packed with veggies and eggs. lovely book too -but don’t consider me for the give away… my bookshelf needs some sorting first ;) xo

    Reply
  50. Jan Peters says:

    Favorite French food is cheese with lovely baguette! Cannot wait to try this quiche!

    Reply

  51. I have a love story with tarte au Citron. All french pastries are delicious. As for savory, tapenade is one of my favorites.
    Thank you for sharing the recipe with us Faith.

    Reply

  53. Any French Pastry, my favorite being a very light and flaky Napoleon.

    Reply

  54. French baguette fresh out of the oven. :)

    Reply
  55. Jayme Job says:

    I tweeted the contest on Twitter!

    Reply
  56. Jayme Job says:

    I’m following Marche Dimanche on Twitter:)

    Reply
  57. Jayme Job says:

    I like Edible Mosaic on Twitter!

    Reply
  58. Jayme Job says:

    I like Edible Mosaic on Pinterest!

    Reply
  59. Jayme Job says:

    I like Edible Mosaic on Facebook:)

    Reply

  60. My favourite French food is the pissaladiere – unlike this recipe, that DOES contain a certain amount of pastry! Plus the best ingredients of Southern France – anchovies and olives.

    Reply

  66. My favorite French dish is a Nicoise Salad–if it is on the menu, I WILL order it, plus I make them at home regularly! This cookbook looks incredible!

    Reply

  67. My favorite French dish is ratatouille. I make it once every autumn in a huge double-burner cooker and use the basic recipe from the Dean and DeLuca cookbook, but I add in celery & carrots. We use produce from our own garden. It is delicious and my family eats it on everything, from couscous to crusty bread, until it is gone.

    Reply

  72. That looks like a gorgeous, healthy cookbook – RIGHT up my alley! I love making crustless quiches and this recipe looks incredible! Have a great weekend, Faith!

    Reply

  82. I love the chicken roulade my brother-in-law made for me once. Although I have to say bouillabaise is right up there too. I love your crustless quiche – the pine nuts sound like such a nice addition.

    Reply
  83. Jayme Job says:

    My favorite French food is definitely ratatouille! (Although bouillabaise is a close second!)

    Reply

  85. This looks wonderful–love the addition of pine nuts! I love the transformation of simply ingredients in french cooking, but if I had to pick one thing, it would be sweet crepes. I was lucky enough for go to Paris for a few days a few years ago, and I still cannot forget that taste!

    Reply

  91. A lovely sounding book! This crustless quiche looks mighty good.

    One of my all-time favorite dishes is gratin Dauphinois…

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply

  92. Wow! SO book marked for this week. I think I’m going to throw asparagus in as well! My favorite french food Chocolate Mousse!

    Reply

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