Gluten-free, lightened asparagus Gruyere quiche filled with roasted asparagus, leeks and Gruyere swiss cheese. The quiche is lightened with replacing some of the traditional cream with egg whites and low-fat milk. The optional crust is made with hash browns for a delicious, filling meal.
2 ½cupsshredded frozen hash brown potatoes, thawedI use Ore-Ida
¼cupunsalted butter,melted
½teaspoonkosher salt
¼teaspoonfreshly ground pepper
Asparagus Gruyere Quiche
2 tablespoonsextra virgin olive oil
1cupthinly sliced asparagus,sliced ¼" thick
½cupthinly sliced leeks,white and light green parts only
4largeeggs
½cuphalf-and-half
½cup2% milk
1teaspoonmustard powder
1teaspoonkosher salt
½teaspoonground black pepper
2egg whites
½cupfreshly grated Swiss cheese
⅛teaspoongrated nutmeg
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Optional Hash Browns Crust
Combine the thawed hash browns with the melted butter, salt and pepper. Press the hash browns into an 8 or 9-inch pie plate, making sure to work them up the sides of the dish.
Asparagus Gruyere Quiche
Toss the leeks and asparagus with olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Slide into the oven, along with the hash browns-lined-pie plate (or other crust-lined pie plate), and bake for 20 minutes.Lower the oven temperature to 350˚F.
Whisk the 4 large eggs, half-and-half, milk, mustard powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
Separate 2 additional eggs, and save the yolks for another use. Whip up the egg whites using a hand mixer, or whisk, until they have soft peaks. When you turn the mixer or whisk upside down, they should droop, but not fall back into the bowl.
Fold the whipped egg whites into the egg and milk mixture using a rubber spatula, and fold in the grated cheese.Pro tip: I find it much easier to fold egg whites into a mixture when I add them only ⅓ at a time, whether it's this quiche or a cake. See the Preparation Tips in the post for more details.
Arrange the asparagus and leeks evenly in the pie plate. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Sprinkle with nutmeg, and bake for 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle of the quiche comes out clean. High altitude tip: When baking this at high altitudes add 5 - 10 minutes to the bake time.
Cool on a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing into wedges, or cool to room temperature.
Notes
The baking time is for a 9-inch quiche. Adjust the time downward by approximately 5 minutes for an 8-inch quiche, or upward by the same amount of time for a 10-inch quiche.