The Emergency Quiche — OR — Don't Let The Fridge Door Hit You Where the Good Lord Split You

Let’s be clear, I didn’t intend to make a quiche this morning. But sometimes a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. I got up with the kids after a particularly rough night for the baby (and therefore rough for Mama) and went downstairs for a couple of bowls of cereal and some cartoons. It is Saturday, after all. After breakfast, I was shoving things around in the fridge (and grumbling about the hundreds of containers of leftover stuff) to make room for the milk when out falls the carton of eggs. Now I’m holding the baby on my left arm, holding the fridge door open and fending Alice off with the right, and watching the eggs balance precariously on the little ledge in front of the crisper, teetering on the edge of disaster.

“Didn’t fall that far, can’t be more then a couple broken” I thought to myself. I persuaded A.P. to be my helper and hold the door so I could lean in and grab the carton. As soon as I began to do so, she promptly abandoned her post and let swing the door. It hit my butt and jostled the fridge just enough to move the egg carton. I watched helplessly as the carton rolled over, opened up, and one by one—seemingly in slow motion—the eggs dropped to the floor.

Luckily most of them didn’t burst, but rather cracked slightly and rolled under the island. I gathered them up and wondered what the hell to do with 5 cracked eggs. Well first I had to clean the 3 that exploded on the floor, but then what? Make a quiche, of course.

I had a ready made Kroger pie crust in the freezer from a while ago, some leftover broccoli, wax beans, and always plenty of onions and garlic on hand, so why not? The crust was a little busted up, but it could be somewhat repaired by wetting the broken edges and smooshing them back together. The rest went together in about 5 minutes. Simple! Now I have something already made for lunch, and only 3 out of 8 eggs wasted. Papa win!

Saturday morning egg-drop disaster: Yet another addition to the long list of problems that can be solved with quiche.

Papa's Emergency Quiche

A little lump of butter

1 small onion, chopped (left over from tacos last night)

2 cloves of minced garlic

2 cups chopped fresh broccoli (left over from Asia Feast- blog pending)

1 cup chopped wax beans (ditto)

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

5 eggs, well beaten (you can also drop them on the floor first, but this is not absolutely necessary)

1 1/2 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

pinch of dried rosemary

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the milk. Season the mix with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven heats up, sautee onions, garlic in a pan over medium heat. Once the onions start to soften, add the broccoli and beans. Cook for a few minutes to soften everything up a bit.

Dump the veggies into the crust. Mix in the cheese, then pour the egg and milk mixture over it, filling up the crust. Sprinkle the top with some more cheese, rosemary, and some more black pepper.

Bake 35-45 minutes, or until it sets up in the middle.