Quiche in a pie dish topped with fresh basil and prosciutto

Crustless Italian Quiche

When I shared my sous-vide egg bite recipe, I confessed that I don’t like eggs. However, there are a few egg based breakfast items that I like and this Crustless Italian quiche is one of the them (this being another one). Gooey chunks of mozzarella and sharp shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Fresh, vibrant pesto with a slight crunch from walnuts. Salty prosciutto and almost sweet, roasted to perfection whole cloves of garlic. The egg and cream mixure is literally holding everything together. It has all of the good things and they all happen to be of Italian descent – hence the name of the dish.

It’s so easy to make a day ahead and serve the next morning at brunch, or divide into portions and pack for easy meal prep. The combinations are endless and you can use whatever cheese/meat/ herbs you like. This one is my favorite, and regardless of what you might omit or add, I highly recommend taking the time to roast the garlic – you will see why!

Crustless Italian Quiche

Yana, babushkacooking.com
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

Roasted Garlic

  • 10 small garlic cloves
  • 1 Tb butter

Pesto

  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 Tb nuts
  • pinch salt
  • 1 C basil, packed
  • 1/2 C olive oil
  • 1/4 C Parmigiano-Reggiano

Quiche

  • 8 eggs
  • 3/4 C half-and-half
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 6 pieces prosciutto, cut in strips
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1/2 C Mozzarella pearls
  • 1/4 C Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
  • olive oil spray
  • freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
 

Pesto

  • Place the garlic clove, salt, and nuts in the food processor and pulse until mixed. I use the smaller bowl of the food processor for this unless I double or triple the recipe.
  • Transfer to a bowl, add olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Mix well.

Roasted garlic

  • Heat the butter over medium heat in a small pan.
  • When hot, add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until golden-brown on all sides.
  • When done, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to absorb excess grease from the butter.

Quiche

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350F and spray a 10-inch pie dish with olive oil.
  • Beat the eggs, half-and-half, and salt in a bowl.
  • Pour the mixture into the pie dish.
  • Distribute the prosciutto, roasted garlic, mozzarella pearls, Parmigiano-Reggiano, tomatoes, and pesto on top. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.
  • Bake for 40 minutes, but check on it after 30 minutes using a bamboo skewer or a toothpick to pierce the center of it. If it comes out dry or without visible egg lumps on it, it’s done. If not, give it 10 more minutes.
  • When done, take it out of the oven and let it sit for 5-10 minutes to puff down. Slice, and serve!

Notes

1) For pesto, I use whatever nuts I have on hand. In Massimo Bottura’s book “Bread is Gold”, he describes various world class chefs using different types of nuts and even bread crumbs for pesto. I think it’s a wonderful idea and I do that all the time!
2) If you need it cooked faster, use a larger size pie dish such as 10-inch diameter. Monitor time closely, if you do.
3) You can further decorate it by gently rolling prosciutto pieces to resemble a rose, and adding couple of basil leaves. 

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