Asparagus and Tomato Quiche with Homemade Crust
Spring is in the air, which mean lots of delicious fresh vegetables on hand. One of my favorite things to make at this time of year is an Asparagus and Tomato Quiche with homemade crust. This delicious vegetarian quiche is packed full of fresh asparagus, tomatoes, green onions and gruyere cheese. The butter crust is crisp and flakey buttery and simple to make too!
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What do I need to make the Asparagus and Tomato Quiche with Homemade Crust?
While this spring vegetable quiche recipe is simple to, it does require a bit of time and several ingredients. Here is what you will need to make one 9 inch quiche recipe.
For the crust:
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Unsalted butter
- Ice water and ice cubes
- All purpose flour
- Sea Salt
- Unsalted butter
For the filling:
- Eggs
- Whole milk
- Heavy cream (or whipping cream)
- Salt and pepper
- Chives (or green onions)
- Asparagus
- Cherry tomatoes
- Gruyere cheese
Looking for more delicious vegetarian recipes? Give these reader favorites a try!
Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie | Easy Vegetarian Breakfast Casserole | Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers | Vegetarian Cream of Broccoli Soup
What kitchen tools will I need for the homemade quiche?
You will need the following kitchen tools to prepare this recipe for the quiche with homemade crust.
- Knife, pastry cutter or food processor to make the pastry.
- 9" Glass or metal pie dish. If using a disposable aluminum pie dish, make sure it is double layered.
- Cookie sheet to place the pie dish on during baking to catch any butter drippings.
- Parchment paper to line the inside of the pie crust for blind baking.
- Pie weights, dry beans, or dry rice to blind bake the crust.
- Aluminum foil to tent edges of crust so that they don't burn.
How do I make the asparagus and tomato quiche?
There are 2 parts to making this delicious recipe. First, you will make the homemade crust. It is simple to make, but does require time as it needs to chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Prepare the Homemade Pie Crust
Step 1: Blend the dry and wet ingredients
Start off by pouring the vinegar into a bowl with ice water and set aside. In a separate large bowl, sift flour into it, add the salt and stir well. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until the texture resembles peas and breadcrumbs. You can also use a food processor for this step and pulse it with the ingredients in it about 8 times.
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Step 2: Make the Pie Dough and Refrigerate
Next, sprinkle a few tablespoons of the vinegar water into the flour and butter mixture. Stir to incorporate. Keep adding the liquid tablespoon by tablespoon until the mixture starts to form large lumps. Do not add too much water, you will only need about half of the liquid. Form the dough into a ball by pressing it together. Flatten it into a disk and fold in half. Flatten again and fold in half again. Shape back into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Step 3: Bake the Quiche Crust
Start off by preheating the oven to 375°Fahrenheit. Flour your work surface and roll out the crust to ⅛" thick. To check if it is big enough, flip your pie plate upside down over the rolled out dough. There should be about an extra 1" of dough all around the edge of the pie dish.
Place the crust into the pie plate and tuck the edges of the crust underneath the pastry. Crimp the edges with your fingers or by pressing down with a fork. Next, line the inside of the crust with a piece of parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on the edges to easily lift it out later.
Fill the inside with pie weights, dry beans, or dry rice. Place the pie dish onto a larger cookie sheet to catch any butter that may leak out of the pie dish. Blind bake the crust for 15 minutes, take out the parchment paper with the weights and bake for another 7 minutes.
Step 4: Remove pie crust from oven
Once the pie crust has been blind baked, remove from the oven and decrease temperature to 350° Fahrenheit. You do not need to wait for the crust to cool before filling it.
Make the Asparagus and Tomato Quiche Filling and Bake
Step 5: Whisk eggs, milk and cream
Start off by breaking the eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the milk, cream, salt, pepper and chives. Whisk until smooth again, then set aside.
Step 6: Add cheese, vegetables and egg filling to crust
Sprinkle the cheese in an even layer at the bottom of the baked crust. Add the tomatoe and arrange the asparagus on top of them in an even layer, trimming the bottoms so that they fit into the pie dish. Pour the egg filling over the vegetables in the pie crust. Then, tent the edges of the crust loosely with some foil to prevent the crust from burning.
Step 7: Bake quiche and enjoy!
Bake the quiche in the oven preheated to 350° Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Check the quiche at around 40 minutes. It should be set around the edges with the slightest jiggle in the middle. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving.Serve with a leafy green salad and other garden goodies.
Tips to get the flakiest quiche crust ever:
- Do not break the butter into too small pieces. You want there to be larger pea sized pieces to create more layers. These pieces of butter will create delicious crispy thin "pockets" once the crust is baked.
- Add water just until the dough comes together. Don't make it too wet.
- Folding the dough at the end quickly is what will ensure you get lots of flaky layers.
- Do not overwork the dough. The less you handle it with your hands the better. You do not want to develop gluten and the heat from your hands will
- Chilling the dough is important to get lots of flaky layers and to prevent shrinkage during baking. The dough needs to rest and the butter needs to re-solidify.
- Blind baking is key to not get a soggy crust. It will cook the bottom of the crust before adding the filling and baking again. Keep an eye on the crust's edges and tent with foil so that it does not burn.
How to ensure a silky quiche:
- Use whole milk and cream, or substitute the milk and cream with half and half.
- Whisk the egg filling just until smooth. You don't want to add too much air into the filling.
- Do not overbake the quiche: It is ready when it is set around the edges with the slightest jiggle in the middle.
- If the quiche cracks on top, it is overbaked. A little bit of cracking around the asparagus is good.
Asparagus and Tomato Quiche
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup very cold unsalted butter cut in ½” cubes
- 1 cup cold ice water with ice cubes
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Filling
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream or whipping cream alternatively, sub the milk and heavy cream with ¾ cup half and half cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ½ bunch chives or green onions chopped (2 tablespoon chopped)
- ½ bunch asparagus about 12 stalks
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes chopped
- ½ cup gruyere cheese shredded (or other aged melty cheese). Use 1 cup of cheese for an extra cheesy quiche.
Instructions
Crust
- Pour the vinegar into the ice water, stir and set aside.
- Sift flour into a large bowl. Add salt and stir well.
- Using a pastry cutter, knife, or food processor, cut the butter into the flour until the texture resembles peas and breadcrumbs (pulse about 8 times in a food processor).
- Sprinkle a few tablespoons of vinegar water into the flour and butter mixture. Stir to incorporate. Keep adding the liquid tablespoon by tablespoon until the mixture starts to form large lumps. Do not add too much water. You will need about half of the liquid.
- Form the dough into a ball by pressing it together. Flatten it into a disk and fold in half. Flatten again and fold in half again. Shape back into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Flour your work surface. Roll out the crust to ⅛” thick. To check if it is big enough, flip your pie plate upside down over the rolled out dough. There should be about an extra 1” of dough all around the edge of the pie dish.
- Tuck the edges of the crust underneath the pastry and crimp the edges with your fingers or by pressing down with a fork.
- Line the inside of the crust with a piece of parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on the edges to easily lift it out later. Fill the inside with pie weights, dry beans, or dry rice. Place the pie dish onto a larger cookie sheet to catch any butter that may leak out of the pie dish.
- Blind bake the crust for 15 minutes, take out the parchment paper with the weights and bake for another 7 minutes.
Filling
- While the crust is baking, prepare the filling: break the eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the milk, cream, salt and pepper (to taste), and chives. Whisk until smooth again. Set aside.
- Once the pie crust has been blind baked, it is ready to be filled. You do not need to wait for it to cool. Drop the temperature of the oven to 350°F.
- Sprinkle the cheese in an even layer at the bottom. Add the tomatoes. Arrange the asparagus on top of the tomatoes in an even layer, trimming the bottoms so that they fit into the pie dish. Save the bottoms for another recipe.
- Pour the egg filling over the vegetables in the pie crust. Tent the edges of the crust loosely with some foil to prevent the crust from burning.
- Bake the quiche in the oven preheated to 350°F for 45 minutes. Check the quiche at around 40 minutes. It should be set around the edges with the slightest jiggle in the middle.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Serve with a leafy green salad and other garden goodies.
Notes
- Do not break the butter into too small pieces. You want there to be larger pea sized pieces to create more layers. These pieces of butter will create delicious crispy thin “pockets” once the crust is baked.
- Add water just until the dough comes together. Don’t make it too wet.
- Folding the dough at the end quickly is what will ensure you get lots of flaky layers.
- Do not overwork the dough. The less you handle it with your hands the better. You do not want to develop gluten and the heat from your hands will
- Chilling the dough is important to get lots of flaky layers and to prevent shrinkage during baking. The dough needs to rest and the butter needs to re-solidify.
- Blind baking is key to not get a soggy crust. It will cook the bottom of the crust before adding the filling and baking again. Keep an eye on the crust’s edges and tent with foil so that it does not burn.
- Use whole milk and cream, or substitute the milk and cream with half and half.
- Whisk the egg filling just until smooth. You don’t want to add too much air into the filling.
- Do not overbake the quiche: It is ready when it is set around the edges with the slightest jiggle in the middle.
- If the quiche cracks on top, it is overbaked. A little bit of cracking around the asparagus is good.
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