I decided it was time to make a quiche.
I haven’t been making them lately…. partly because I wasn’t buying any suitable vegetables.
I wasn’t buying any suitable vegetables because I had a plethora of spaghetti squash to get through.
I like that word…. plethora. I think I’ll use it more often.
I’ve noticed a dearth of imaginative, intelligent words in the news recently. I shall wage my own, minuscule battle against the trend.
And whilst we do it – we’ll eat quiche.
Sausage and Broccoli Quiche
Total time: 65 minutes
Ingredients:
- Crust:
- 2 medium potatoes, 12oz (360gr) total, shredded (not peeled)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp celery salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Filling:
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 10oz (300gr) sausage, removed from casing or thinly sliced
- 6oz (180gr) broccoli, cut into florets, including stem
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 4oz (120gr) Gruyere, sliced
- 2 tsp olive oil, plus a bit for the dish
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbs Dijon-style mustard
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120gr) Greek or plain yogurt
Instructions:
- Crust:
- Mix shredded potato, salt and egg.
- Pat into a lightly oiled quiche or 10″ (25cm) pie plate, working it up the sides a bit for the edges.
- Bake in 400F (200C) oven for 15 minutes.
- Filling:
- Put broccoli in a saucepan with an inch of water.
- Cover and cook over medium heat until just tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and drain.
- Heat 2 tsp oil in skillet. Add onions and sauté until tender.
- Add sausage and sauté until cooked through.
- Add paprika, herbs, and remove from heat.
- Whisk eggs, yogurt, mustard, and milk together.
- To assemble:
- Spread the onion / sausage over the baked crust.
- Add the broccoli, tucking it in to lie flat.
- Top with cheese.
- Pour the egg mixture evenly over all.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until center has set.
- Remove and let rest 5 minutes. Slice and serve.
We left the US just as the easy credit boom was starting. Between the 2 of us we had personal credit lines and credit cards that would have allowed us to borrow / spend close to a million dollars. It really was getting to be a game to see just how much available credit we could get. Most of our credit cards, and we both had many of them, had credit limits of between $15,000 – $25,000.
As tempting as it was, we did not see how much we could buy.
We moved to Ireland. We applied for a credit card with our new bank. They were happy to give us one.
One, for the two of us…. Not one each.
And the credit limit was $450.
No, I did not misplace the decimal point.
Flash forward 20 years.
We’ve gotten used to living without credit. Our bank-issued Visa or Mastercard is a debit card, not a credit card.
Most big purchases, like lawn mowers, washers, dryers, etc. offer interest free payment plans for 3 or 5 or 7 months so that is all easy and cheaper than putting it on a credit card.
We ran into our first snag this week.
We decided to put in a swimming pool.
We hadn’t been interested in having a pool because, while we have lots of space for one, we really didn’t have a good place for it. We didn’t just want to plop a pool down in the middle of the field.
Mon mari came up with the great idea of putting an above-ground pool off of our balcony. With a deck around it will be a ‘walk-out’ from the main part of the house.
They’re not terribly expensive…. something I wouldn’t have thought twice about putting on a credit card – or just using the line of credit that comes with US checking accounts (or did).
So I went to our bank to ask what was available as the company wasn’t offering any financing.
No, the bank didn’t offer such a thing as a ‘revolving line of credit’ (gasp!), but they were happy to do a proper loan with a really low interest rate.
Sigh….
Life is still different here.
Did I mention we’re getting a pool?
Re Pool !!! You should just sneek down to the neighbours new pond for a dip!!!!!!!
I’ve thought about it – but it’s quite far for a quick dip lol
A pool !!!! I am excited for you….and me !!!
Now you can come in the summer!
I know what you mean about easy credit. I don’t remember having a credit card in Australia. I had a debit card. Once we moved to London in 1997 and got a steady job I got a credit card. The initial limit was £5000 I think. Every six months I was offered a higher limit. I could have gone up to probably £30K. Every time they offered I declined. Every time I declined they informed me that it would harm my credit rating! Anyway, I still have that credit card, for emergencies. Every so often I ring up the nice people in India who manage it and remind them that I have it for emergencies only. It works fine these days and nobody bothers offering me an increased limit. I discussed personal loans at the beginning of last year with our French bank. Apparently we do enough business with them to automatically qualify for an affordable loan of the sum I asked about (€7000). In the end I didn’t take them up on it, but it was an interesting exchange of information.
It’s always interesting here. Even after 20 years I’m still amazed by the things that I don’t know and how different life is. I also still appreciate it!