Veggie Cashew Quiche

Welcome to my kitchen, dear readers. Let me show you around-there's a cute little 1940's stove, whose pilot light I must kindle each time I want to use the oven. To the right of the stove is the sink, over which is a window I can look out on downtown. I have old kitchen tools hanging on the wall, which I love to pull out and use in lieu of the fancy new gadgets. (My favorite is the hand-cranked egg beater.) The kitchen is the hottest part of my apartment, but I still spend a great deal of time there.You can walk from one side of the kitchen to the other in 4 steps. It's a bit of a juggling act to cook in there.

Today I am making two veggie quiches, which of course result in peas and chopped carrots spread far asunder in my little kitchen. I am rocking out to my Ipod, which I tucked into my apron. Barefoot and sweating, I smash escapee peas between my toes accidentally. Let's be honest-when I bake or cook there WILL be aftermath. In fact, if I may wax philosophical for a moment, I think that creation often emerges from chaos. So when I present that pretty pie with a smile today, no one will know the mess it came from. Until they read my blog. ;-)

 I guess I am in a pie-ish mood, considering in the past 48 hours I have created a strawberry key lime pie (more on that in my next post) and a veggie quiche.

Per usual, I doubled the recipe. Note that I use aluminum foil to cover the edges of the pie shell: this ain't my first rodeo. I have learned uncovered crusts may burn. No bueno. Here's the recipe I have adjusted to my liking.

Veggie Cashew Quiche
Adapted from Confabulation in the Kitchen

* Makes four generous servings or six if paired with side dishes.
* Cook time: 50 mins
* Total time to prepare: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Ingredients
2 frozen deep dish tart shells
1-16 oz bag frozen peas and carrots
A bit of butter
1/2C- 1 C coarsely chopped cashews
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a mix of gruyere and mozzarella)
4 eggs, well-beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sour cream + 1 C Greek yogurt

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
4. In a large skillet, add a bit of butter and peas/carrots. Cook until thawed. Add flour and cook about two minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in cashews, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour mixture into tart shell. (Try to keep it at or below 1/2 way full, to ensure room for the egg mixture. You may have some pea and carrot mix left over, but it's better than overflowing quiche.)

5. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sour cream, Greek yogurt and cheese until well mixed. Pour over vegetable mixture and gently mix a bit, so the vegetables are not all at the bottom.
6. Cover edges of pie shell with tin foil, to ensure they don't burn. Place pies on a cookie sheet, in order to be able to move them more easily and to catch any drip-age.
6. Bake 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake 10 minutes more. Remove foil from edges and return to oven for 20 mins, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Enjoy! I will let you know how it fares later.