Kale, Lox & Mozzarella Quiche

We're off to the Poconos for the weekend! Every year we go for a weekend to stay with Matt's friends from work who have a cabin near Camelback Mountain, and it's always a great time. We ski, we relax, we hang out and play cards and drink local brews and make homemade pizza. This year will be a little different for me since I can't ski and I can't partake in the beer drinking, but it'll still be fun. I fully plan to hang out in the ski lodge drinking hot tea and digging into my new book, And the Mountains Echoed, at least for a little while when Matt has Riker out on the slopes.

We planned to get on the road as soon as I finished work this evening and figured we'd just grab dinner on the way. But I've had a plan to make quiche for about a week now, and decided there was no reason we couldn't eat slices of that in the car rather than stopping for some (like unhealthy) food along the way.

Plus, I had two bunches of kale in the fridge that were starting to go limp and surely would've gone way past their prime by the time we returned home on Sunday night. And lox. Wild caught delicious lox that has been staring at me every day daring me to eat it, which I've been saving for this quiche. I simply couldn't wait another day.

So on my lunch break today - which is a rarity actually, I don't usually take an actual "lunch break" but opted to do so today - I emerged from my home office to spend a half hour in the kitchen whipping this up. It was well worth it.

When it was time to leave I cut out two slices and re-heated them in the toaster oven to take with us on the road, but in the meantime Matt stood at the counter eating it out of the pie plate cold, saying it was the best thing he's eaten in a while. I'll take that compliment any day. Especially since this quiche isn't made with heavy cream or fatty meats (meaning ham) the way most quiches are.

I made a big batch of kale chips to eat on the side - perfect snacking for the car ride and an extra serving of veggies too.

Heading into the mountains now and about to lose my hotspot - no complaints here. ;) Enjoy your weekend!

Kale, Lox & Mozzarella Quiche

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 pie crust (fresh or frozen)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
4 oz. lox
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 bunch lox, ribs removed, chopped into bite size pieces, rinsed & dried
1 onion, chopped
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375. Blind bake the pie shell by pricking the shell with a fork, covering it with tin foil and filling it with dried beans or pie weights; bake for 15 minutes, then remove the pie weights and tin foil and bake another 5 minutes until crust is cooked.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté onions, chopped kale and 1 tsp. of salt until veggies are softened. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Fold in the cooked onions and kale.

When the pie shell is cooked, remove it from the oven; while it is still warm, brush the edges with a beaten egg. Then spread half the mozzarella cheese on the bottom, followed by the slices of lox. Pour the egg & kale mixture over the lox. Finally, spread the remaining mozzarella cheese over the top.

Bake the quiche for 30-40 minutes, until the eggs puff up around the edges and a knife comes out clean. Let set for 10 minutes before serving. May be eaten hot or cold.