You may recall that I am part of a campaign for California Endive called OnDiva. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this campaign for a number of reasons. First, I am among a wonderful group of bloggers, all of whom I admire and respect for the work they do on their own blogs. I also gain more exposure for my own blog through the posts and retweets of my recipes by Discover Endive and my fellow OnDivas. But I think perhaps the best benefit to being a part of this thing is that I have been exposed to a healthy, flavourful vegetable that was heretofore unknown to me. I'd heard of endive but hadn't tried it. Now, I can hardly get enough of it!
Endive really is a versatile veggie. It's reminiscent of lettuce and makes a great base for salads. I like chopping some and tossing it into our regular green salads at dinner time, as it ups the nutritional quotient and my kids don't even notice its presence. Because of the firmness of the leaves, it's a wonderful healthy stand in for chips and crackers when you are serving dips and spreads. And I am discovering just how good it is when it's cooked as well. When cooked, it loses that slight bitterness and takes on a more earthy flavour that I really enjoy. So you can see why it's a rising star in the ranks of my favourite vegetables.
My assignment for this month was to highlight endive in a comfort food recipe. I had to put my thinking cap on for that one, because I think of endive as a little more "gourmet" than most comfort foods allow. I kept trying to think how I could fit endive into the usual soups and stews that I think of as comfort food. But when I thought of quiche, I knew I had my dish. Growing up, quiche in our house was comfort food. It was easy and relatively quick, and could contain any number of comforting ingredients...eggs, cheese, sausage, ham, bacon, whatever you wanted, really. I thought that sauteing the endive in a little leftover bacon fat, and then pairing it with the bacon itself and some eggs, would make a wonderful quiche. And as far as I am concerned, I was right on the money.
I made mine a crustless quiche, but this would be just as good baked in a pastry crust.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Discover Endive. All opinions expressed are mine.
Bacon, Gruyere and Endive Quiche
8 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
4 heads California endive
4 oz Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
5 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Preheat oven to 350F and grease a glass or ceramic pie plate well.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and let drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Drain all but 1 tbsp of bacon fat from skillet.
Cut off root end of endive and slice into 1/2 inch slices. Add endive to skillet over medium-high heat and cook until wilted and soft, about 6 to 7 minutes.
Layer endive, bacon and shredded Gruyere in pie plate. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, garlic, salt and pepper until well-combined. Pour filling over endive, bacon and cheese in pie plate. Bake 30 minutes, or until top is puffy and golden brown and quiche is set and no longer jiggles when shaken.
Serves 6. Each serving has a total of 12.8 g of carbs and 10 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 2.8 g.
