Stovetop Quiche (Egg Pie)

6 Organic or Farm Range Eggs
6 - 8 Tablespoons Ricotta Cheese
1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese (or another as you prefer) shredded.
½ Cup Organic Whole Milk or Half and Half
3-4 Slices Whole Grain Bread - Crumbled
2 Celery Stalks - de-stringed and chopped
4 Garlic Cloves - finely chopped
1 Onion - small to large - to your taste - chopped
1 teaspoon Dried sage (2 teaspoons fresh chopped)
2 cups Basil leaves, fresh, slightly chopped
4 Kale Leaves - large- Stripped from stalk and torn or chopped
1 large or two small Carrot - grated or thinly sliced and chopped
2 cup Broccoli - florets sliced, stems chopped and kept seperate
6 tablespoons Butter (you can replace half of the butter with olive oil)

I usually prepare this in a cast iron or steel pan. Pre-heat the pan, add a small amount of oil to lightly coat bottom then add butter to this. When butter is just melted, pour in your bread crumbs, and allow them to become slightly toasty. When bread crumbs are toasty (crunchy), add in your celery, ½ of your onion, ½ of your garlic, 1/2 of your broccoli stems, and 1/2 of your sage. When onion begins to turn slightly clear (do not cook onion until it is soft), remove pan from heat.

In a separate pan heated as above, lightly sauté your broccoli, the remainder of your broccoli stems, carrots, onion and garlic (I like my vegetables to have some crunch left in them). Remove from heat when the carrot is hot.

In a separate bowl combine your eggs, Ricotta, cheddar, milk and remaining Sage, then beat. When the vegis have cooled, add them to the egg mixture then fold in your Kale and chopped Basil leaves.

Heat up the bread mixture. If you feel that you need more oil in your pan, pour bread mixture into a bowl, add your oil, heat and put the bread mixture back and continue (this helps prevent too much sticking and helps egg mixture to cook more quickly. Spread your egg mixture over the top of your hot bread mixture pressing the egg down into the open spaces and smoothing it over the complete bread base. Cover and cook over a low to medium heat (you know your stove best), check every five minutes. It is done when a knife comes clean.

Local Food founder, Patricia C. Coleman cooks and writes daily. Her website of art and interest is HART Rock at http://www.hartrock.net

I prepared the last Stovetop Quiche using local eggs, cheese, carrots, bread, garlic, onion, kale, basil and sage!