Crustless asparagus-Gruyere quiche

 

I was in the market for a gluten-free asparagus quiche recipe for a gathering. I opted to avoid recipes that required pastry, since I'm only just now dipping a toe into gluten-free baking and that smacks of something that might involve some trial and error to get optimal results. I'm perfectly willing to make my guests guinea pigs, but I'd like them to feel like well-fed guinea pigs, so I pick my battles.

This still delivers all the cheesy custardy goodness of a quiche, and it comes together quickly enough that you could pull it off on a weeknight or for a weekend brunch. 

Crustless quiche with asparagus

Adapted from the Bojon Gourmet website. The original also includes options for other gluten free flour options, so if you don't have that combo on hand, they're not the only choice that would work in this recipe.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter, divided, plus a little softened butter to grease the pan
1 bunch asparagus, 12 to 16 ounces, tough ends snapped off and discarded
¼ cup cassava flour
3 tablespoons arrowroot starch
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Generous pinch of black pepper
6 eggs
1 cup whole milk
¼ cup heavy cream
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
4 to 5 ounces grated Gruyere, divided

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch quiche pan or 9-inch deep dish pie plate.

Cut tips off asparagus; set aside. Cut rest of the stalks into ½ thick pieces on a diagonal. Heat ½ tablespoon butter in a large skillet. Add asparagus stalk pieces and a generous pinch of salt and cook until asparagus is bright green and tender crisp. Remove from pan to cool.

Add remaining ½ tablespoon butter to the pan and cook the asparagus tips for a minute or so. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, combine cassava flour, arrowroot starch, salt and pepper. Add two eggs and whisk until smooth. Add remaining eggs two at a time, whisking mixture well in between. Whisk in milk, cream and chives.

Place asparagus stalks in base of prepared dish. Top with most of the cheese. Pour flour-cream mixture over the top. Array asparagus tips on top and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden and puffed. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before slicing. It will settle a bit, but it stays warm for quite some time if you tent it loosely with foil, so it's something you can get completely out of the way before guests arrive so you're not answering the door as the buzzer goes off.

Rating: With that much Gruyere and creamy dairy, it's really hard to go wrong, and this didn't. It's got that classic quiche flavor and custard texture.

Do I miss the crust? Well, if it's a really good one, like my favorite Julia Child leek quiche, then perhaps a bit. but so many quiche crusts I've been served turn out either mushy or dried out, so it's not always a plus. I'll have to revisit a couple of my favorite recipes to compare; it's been awhile since quiche was my go-to so I need to refresh my memory. 

I do know that not having a crust makes it super fast to make, which definitely cannot be said of the Julia Child recipe. I remember a number of angst-filled moments the first time I attempted that for company. It turned out to be heavenly, but again, that pastry came with a learning curve.

My only nit: The recipe is actually fairly attractive in the pan, but you'd be doing your guests a disservice by making them be the ones to extricate a piece, especially that first one. You really want to get the serving spatula well under the base.

Variation: Zucchini-red pepper quiche with feta

 I wanted to see how well this approach would stand up to substitutions, so I tried this variation. Make as above, only instead of the chopped asparagus stems, I substituted 2 medium zucchini/summer squash, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut into ¼-inch pieces. I used 4 ounces of feta in place of the Gruyere, 1 roasted red pepper cut into narrow slices in place of the asparagus spears (no need to heat them) and 2 tablespoons fresh oregano for the chives.

Rating: The soft cheese didn't result in quite the same quiche texture while it was warm that the Gruyere provided, so I was a bit disappointed. I suspect hard cheeses work better in this recipe in that regard. But the leftovers, served cold, were quite nice, since cold quiche always has a more custardy consistency, so it wasn't a detraction there. The flavors had intensified, and the oregano and feta really came through. I seriously could see making this ahead and just eating the entire thing cold for office lunches or a picnic. 

Our deep blue hydrangea finally bloomed. All it took was torrential rains.

 

Several years ago I stuck this hydrangea in a corner somewhere. It came to the office free, as a trial plant, back when I wrote about gardening for a blog at work. Since it was Zone 5 long before they redrew the zone hardiness maps, I didn't have high hopes. And it turns out those were justified, because for several years it has done absolutely zilch except manage to survive amid a welter of invasive spreaders, which I guess is a form of an accomplishment.

Then the rains came. One day I rounded the far corner of the house where I don't go on a daily basis and was dazzled by this stunner of a bloom. I desperately wish I knew enough to be able to do a better job of color correcting this, because every camera I tried wants to wash it out. It's a deep, vivid blue, many petals so deep they warrant being called midnight.

The plant is nearly twice as tall as it has been every other year (it grows back from the roots each season). The same is true with the Endless Summer hydrangea this year, which also deigned to sport several large pink or blue blossoms after years of managing a stunted proto-bloom about October for the last couple of years. 

For the record, we DO water these plants on a regular basis. After all, hydrangeas are kind of the litmus test for dryness, since they'll wilt first. But I'm not sure we could have managed to dump as much water on as nature did earlier this summer when we were inundated by daily downpours. Apparently the plant requires regular drenching to put on a show. So it may be a one-year wonder, but it was worth trying to document.

And no, at this point, I no longer know what kind of hydrangea it is. In googling, it looks most like a Nikko blue, although on some sites that plant is listed as Zone 6 hardy, and while I stuck it in the most protected spot I can find, there is no part of my Minneapolis hard that could pass for Zone 6. Whatever it is, it's lovely, and worth the wait.