Everyone knows quiche is the garbage disposal of the food world. You can throw anything into one. Yesterday a friend was coming for lunch and I wanted something to go with the fennel sitting in my fridge. I wandered into the garden and picked a few greens: spinach, silverbeet, radish leaves & my first kale leaf. Bronwyn quietly followed and grabbed the kale from my basket and ran like crazy. I was hot on her heels and stole it back. I don’t want to reward outright thievery by my chickens!
My quiche recipe is flexible and changes each time I make it. Normally I use 4 eggs. This one I decided should be smaller so I planned to use the 3 eggs in the picture (one from each of my chooks). Just before cracking, I remembered I had a yolk left over from my Almond Macaroons so one of the eggs went back into the fridge and I used 2 1/2 eggs.
A rough recipe for this quiche is:
- Fry onions (about 1/2 medium onion), garlic (2 cloves), fennel (a handful, chopped) and stems from greens. Add leaves to wilt at end. (Substitute any vegetables or meat based on what’s in your refrigerator or garden.)
- In a separate bowl beat 3 eggs, cheese (a bit of blue and some tasty), milk, cream and/or yoghurt (about 1/2 cup in total), salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
- Pour fried veggies into egg mixture and then into pastry-lined pan (you can pre-bake the pastry shell but I rarely do) and top with parmesan (or feta) cheese.
- Bake for 40 minutes (between 35-50 minutes depending on the size of your quiche) at 180 C (350 F) until golden brown.
It’s always good.
I had a bit of filo pastry left over because I used a smaller than normal pan. I hate throwing things away so I rolled the excess bits into a flat sheet. I chopped up some apple (I actually had 1/2 turning brown in the fruit bowl – waste not, want not!), placed some lumps of butter, cinnamon and sugar on top and then folded the pastry to make a turnover. I put it in the oven with the quiche for about 20 minutes. It was fantastic. Better than the quiche (I have a wicked sweet tooth). The brown blob on top of the cooked pastry is the caramelised cinnamon-sugar that leaked out. That was the best part 🙂
After enjoying my quiche (she didn’t get any of the turnover – not enough to share) my friend went home with a half-dozen fresh eggs. My chooks are becoming beloved by everyone I know!
Laura Rittenhouse's Gardening Journal 
I used to do the at with leftover pastry and they are very yummy. Your quiche looks good too! Funny story about Bronwyn stealing the kale
I’m afraid my chooks are no longer afraid of me. I can say “shoo” in the sternest voice, but they just look at me like I’m a magician who produces food out of a hat while they watch in awe. In this case it was the kale but they are just as happy if grapes, weeds or feed pellets appear in my hands. The good news is they seem to like me even when I’m not conjuring treats. They follow me clucking happily while I rake, harvest or just wander. So I may have to do a bit of chasing, but the reward of friendly gardening companionship (not to mention daily eggs) is worth it.