Camp -- Vegetable Quiche

We have had little call to prepare vegetarian meals at the Northern California FC Camp in the past five years. This year, several campers noted they had a vegetarian preference on their application forms.

In response, we prepared several vegetarian alternatives. Admittedly, we didn't offer a vegetarian dish every meal. The call for vegetarian meals isn't that great at this point in our camp's history. If this year is an indication, we may need to pay more attention to this trend in the future.

We found the easiest way to prepare a vegetarian dish is to remove the meat the main entree when it works. On Tuesday evening my second cook prepared two 12x20x2-inch hotel pans of meatless lasagna (she assembled six pans of beef lasagna as well). At the end of the night, approximately 25 percent of the campers ate the vegetarian lasagna.

Friday's breakfast consisted of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, sausage link and a breakfast casserole. I used leftover bacon and an unopened bag of frozen French fries to form the base for a breakfast fritatta.

Since I had already prepared a savory custard mixture for the fritatta, it was easy to saute several quarts of aromatics for a vegetarian quiche. The vegetable quiche was more popular with the staff than the campers. The campers favored the fritatta.

VEGETABLE QUICHE

I raided the salad bar cart for the diced bell peppers and shredded carrots. The broccoli was left from an earlier dinner. Any combination of vegetable should work for this quiche.

Don't heat the custard higher than 185 degrees F. This is the point in which the custard mixture coagulates. If the quiche is heated any higher, the eggs tend to curdle. An over baked custard becomes watery as moisture separated from the toughened protein.

If desired, evenly divide cooled vegetables between four 9-inch patially-baked pie shells. Pour custard mixture into pies and bake as directed. Cut each pie by six.

Filling:
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups diced bell peppers
1 cup shredded carrots
1 quart steamed broccoli
6 tomatoes, diced

Custard:
12 eggs, beaten
1 pint heavy cream or half-and-half
1 quart milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Saute the vegetables in butter over medium-high heat until soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Empty vegetables into an oiled 12x20x2-inch hotel pan and cool.

Beat together eggs, cream or half-and-half, milk and seasonings. Pour over cooled vegetables. Place the pan in a 375-degree F oven. Bake until the filling is set, about 20 to 30 minutes. A knife inserted in the center of the quiche will come out clean when it's done. Cut the quiche 4x6 to serve 24 campers.