Broccoli quiche in a brown rice crust
By Tali Simon | July 26, 2012
This is so brilliant. True genius.
I’ve always loved a classic quiche in a classic crust. Always have, always will. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not also open to new possibilities…like this brown rice crust. Which, by the way, is awesome.
You’d think a rice crust would be too crispy. But no, not this baby. It’s actually light and fluffy with just a small touch of crisp, and that makes it the perfect base for the light but flavorful combination of broccoli, milk, eggs, and cheese.
For those of you who avoid quiche because of the crusts made with (kind of a lot of) butter, now you have no excuse. There’s no butter at all in this version — just a nice whole grain, bound together with a scant quarter-cup of cheese and an egg.
Although I’d clearly eat this all year through, I feel like I should point out the obvious: A lightened-up quiche is so summer.
And you know what that means. Cough cough, Nine Days, cough cough.
Concept from Closet Cooking
Yield: 8 slices
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked brown rice (1 cup uncooked yields 2 cups cooked)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1½ cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar, divided
- 3 eggs
- 2½ cups frozen broccoli florets, partially defrosted (about half a bag of Bodek)
- ¾ cup milk
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- paprika, to sprinkle on top
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 F/230 C.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together rice, salt, ¼ cup cheese, and one lightly beaten egg. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a lightly greased 9-inch pie plate (such as Pyrex). Try to make sure the mixture is evenly distributed so you don’t end up with a crust that is thicker in some places than in others.
3. Bake crust 5 minutes, then remove from oven and sprinkle ¼ cup cheese on the bottom (feel free to use a bit more if you like). Lower oven temperature to 375 F/190 C.
4. Chop florets in half to create bite-sized pieces of broccoli. Place them on top of the cheese, creating an even layer. Grind some fresh black pepper over the top.
5. Beat remaining two eggs and whisk in the milk. Pour this over the broccoli, taking care that the liquid does not reach the very top of the crust — you want a bit of “breathing space” so the sides of the crust are visible. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and dust with paprika.
6. Bake 40 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick inserted in the center comes out cheesy but otherwise clean. Let cool for a few minutes and serve hot. Don’t be surprised if it quickly disappears.
8 Comments
Hindy on July 26, 2012 at 3:34 pm.
I love the idea of a brown rice crust. It sounds so much easier than a flour crust and it’s gluten free! Perfect. We also love quiches in the summer. You have inspired me to make quiche for shabbat. I think I am going to go with shallot and mushroom and use your crust idea! Fantastic!
Rachel on July 27, 2012 at 3:08 pm.
Just made this with cauliflower, since I realized I didn’t have any brocolli after I had already made the crust, and it’s really good. I roasted the cauliflower briefly so that it wouldn’t be too watery and I can see making this crust often with different veg and cheese combos.
Tali Simon on August 1, 2012 at 12:35 am.
Love the tip to roast the cauliflower.
Tzipporah on August 1, 2012 at 12:58 am.
That quiche looks beautiful! Is there really only broccoli, eggs, milk and cheese? It looks like onions on the top or something? Maybe the top just browned really nicely?
Anyhow, I’m so making this quiche this week! It looks SO good!
Tali Simon on August 1, 2012 at 10:16 am.
Yup, that’s all it is! But an onion would make a nice addition, too.
malka on August 13, 2012 at 11:35 am.
tali, this was so yummy. i haven’t been able to serve brown rice or broccoli to daniel or the boys in a million years, and they all gobbled it up!! thanks so much for the recipe.
Liat Mahler on October 11, 2012 at 8:00 pm.
This looks delicious. Is there something I can use instead of cheese (or tofu?) We are sensitive to dairy and don’t like using tofu very much.
Tali Simon on October 12, 2012 at 12:32 am.
You might want to try making this as a vegetable souffle in the brown rice crust, with extra broccoli (and maybe some mushrooms, too) and another egg or two. You’ll need to add seasoning, though, since cheese adds a lot of flavor.