Brooklyn Sheep

Singer's Quiche

On April 1, 2018, I was privileged to sing at Alice Tully Hall with the hundred-strong Esto-Atlantis Choir. Singers came from all over the world, and I hosted two lovely Estonian altos, Kärt and Rita-Ülle, in my home. For concert day breakfast, I wanted us to have something high-protein, low-fat, and with lots of vitamins and minerals. It had to be tasty and quick to eat, too!

Even though I consider lowfat cheese somewhat of a sacrilege, I will sometimes use it for cooking, and in this recipe, worked great. The cottage cheese texture melts as the quiche bakes, so you can't even tell it's there, and it adds a whopping 30 grams of protein to the entire quiche. Cut into six slices, each serving provides 176 calories, only 9% RDA of fat, and over 14 grams of protein. You're also getting over a third of your RDA of Vitamin D, plus a little iron, potassium, and calcium(full nutritional analysis below).

Because it was Easter weekend, I got slices of beautiful spiral baked ham, freshly cut off the bone, from Union Market. Its sweet smoky flavor worked great in this quiche. Perhaps this pork tenderloin shortcut version of Easter ham would work too.

What makes this a "singer's quiche"? In addition to the lowfat adjustments, I used as little salt as possible because the last thing a singer needs is dehydration. I changed the original recipe's onion to less-fragrant shallots. And I served it with fresh grapefruit. My first vocal coach instructed all of her singers to eat a grapefruit each day to keep the throat  nice and clear. One organic grapefruit adds the following nutrition: 220% RDA of Vitamin C, 30% Vitamin A, and 12 grams of fiber. (The quiche has under a gram of fiber.) I supremed the grapefruits the night before, so we could polish them off quickly at breakfast.

INGREDIENTS

·         2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

·         ¾ cup ham (leftover spiral ham, ideally), cut in small chunks

·         ¼ cup diced shallot (or onion)

·         1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

·         2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped

·         3 eggs plus two egg whites

·         1 cup lowfat cottage cheese (I used Organic Valley)

·         ½ cup 2% milk

·         ½ cup lowfat, low salt shredded swiss cheese

·         ½ cup lowfat shredded sharp cheddar cheese

·         ½ cup all-purpose flour (can substitute all-purpose gluten free flour)

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a nonstick 9” pie plate or layer pan, or lightly grease a nonstick pan.

2.    In a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, add 2 teaspoons olive oil. Add shallot and ham and sauté 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in cherry tomatoes and cook for 4 more minutes, until cherry tomatoes have lost a good amount of their juice. Stir in chopped spinach and remove from heat. Let cool slightly.

3.    While veggies are cooking, whisk together eggs, milk, cottage cheese in a large bowl. Stir in cheeses.

4.    In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and pepper. Stir flour mixture into the egg mixture. Stir well to combine.

5.    Gently stir in cooked ham and vegetable mixture. Pour into prepared pie plate and bake for 25-30 minutes or until eggs are set and top is lightly browned.

6.    Freeze for up to 3 weeks.