Zucchini Quiche Recipe

Things have shifted around a bit here at Copywriters’ Kitchen.

And by “things,” I don’t mean the summer fruit in the fridge or cumin in the cupboard. I mean my schedule—and therefore my menus at Copywriters’ Kitchen.

After 20+ years working from a home office, I’m now working full-time onsite. My job requires a substantial commute. While I’ve never had a lot of time to fuss with weeknight dinners—ergo my credo, “fast, scratch-cooking for busy people”—now I have even less time.

So have I gone to the Dark Side of take-out and convenience food? No.

At least not much. My long absence from home makes family meals even more important. To make home-cooked meals work with my schedule, I rely on weekend cookathons and help from my Dear Husband.

I’ve always been a fan of planned meals and once-a-week grocery shopping. And even when I worked from home, I often got a head-start on cooking by preparing at least one weeknight meal in advance on Saturday or Sunday.

Now DH and I prepare all meals in advance over the weekend. Yes, it makes for a hectic few hours on Sunday afternoon. But for me, the payoff—a comforting home-cooked meal with my family after a long day of work—is totally worth the effort.

What’s more, the in-advance cooking gives us more variety. Ordinarily, I would never serve quiche on a weeknight. I have no desire to tackle a hand-rolled crust and multi-step sautéing after managing a team of copywriters all day.


But I don’t mind making the extra effort on the weekend. The cookathons—removed as they are from my corporate copy desk—are actually kind of therapeutic.

This Zucchini Bacon Quiche came out of my most recent culinary therapy session. Made with guilt-free bacon from local Spring Lake Farm, the cheesey pie makes a perfect summer dinner. Baked in advance, it keeps well for days in the fridge. And it’s just as tasty served at room temperature as heated—so no need to fire up the oven on a sweltering summer night.

Add a simple tossed green salad, or sliced tomatoes to round out the meal.

A quick word about piecrusts—preparation of which makes many otherwise brave cooks cower in fear. Certainly you can buy frozen. I find homemade infinitely superior and—after botching scores of pie crusts—easy to make.

It’s all about practice. And letting go of perfectionism. Pie crusts don’t have to look perfect. After all, they’re stuffed—and mercifully hidden—by pie filling. My pie crust, below, looked like a jigsaw puzzle before I patted and pinched it together. Afterward, no one could tell the difference.

Zucchini Quiche Recipe

Unbaked pie shell—homemade or frozen
Four thick strips of bacon—if you can’t get humanely-raised pork, leave out the bacon
One medium onion, diced
Three small zucchini, thinly sliced
¼ cup oil-cured black olives, pitted and chopped—optional
Fresh herbs such as thyme, oregano or basil or ½ teaspoon dried herbs
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, if you’re not using bacon—or if bacon is very lean
4 eggs
2 cups grated Swiss or Gruyere cheese
2 cups half and half—or mixture of half-and-half and whole milk
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Place rack at mid-level in oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare piecrust and place in fridge to chill. If using store-bought crust, keep crust frozen until five minutes before you are ready to use it.
3. Cut bacon into ¼” slices.
4. In heavy frying pan over medium flame, fry bacon, adjusting flame as you cook so bacon does not burn: You want the bacon cooked through and soft—not crisp—for this recipe. When bacon is cooked, scoop it out with a slotted spoon and reserve it on a plate lined with a double layer of paper towel. After removing and reserving bacon from frying pan, you’ll use the same pan to cook the onion and zucchini.
5. When bacon is removed and reserved, pour all but one tablespoon of bacon fat from the frying pan. Reserve the extra bacon fat for later use. If you’re not using bacon for this recipe, use olive oil in place of bacon fat for the following steps.
6. As bacon cooks, chop the onion—I use a mini chopper.
7. Place frying pan over medium low flame, add oil, if applicable, and heat fat or oil. Toss in the chopped onions to fry, stirring frequently so onions don’t burn: You want them soft and slightly caramelized, not crisp. When onions are soft, limp and slightly golden, remove and reserve.
8. Remove frying pan from stove and wipe pan with paper towel to remove tiny bits of onion—they will burn and turn bitter as you cook the zucchini.
9. As onion cooks, wash, pat dry and thinly slice the zucchini.
10. Place pan over medium high flame and add another tablespoon or two of bacon fat or oil. When oil is heated, add zucchini slices. Sir and fry the zucchini until it is golden around the edges—about ten minutes. Scoop out zucchini and place on plate with double layer of paper towel—zucchini is very watery. You want to remove as much water as possible so your quiche doesn’t turn out soggy.
11. If using frozen crust, remove from freezer and let sit at room temp for five minutes. If using homemade crust, fetch from fridge. Using a fork, poke the crust bottom and sides multiple times—like 50-70 pokes. This aerates the crust as it bakes and keeps it from getting soggy.
12. As zucchini cooks, grate the cheese.
13. If using fresh herbs, wash, dry and remove herb leaves from stems. If using large-leafed herbs such as basil, chop the leaves.
14. If using black olives, pit and chop the olives.
15. To assemble the quiche, sprinkle the bacon evenly over the pie shell bottom. Spread the onions over the bacon. Add the zucchini in one even layer. Scatter the cheese over the zucchini. Sprinkle fresh or dried herbs and olives (optional) over the cheese.
16. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Add the half-and-half, milk (if desired), nutmeg, salt and pepper, beating to incorporate each ingredient.
17. Place the pie shell on a cookie or jellyroll sheet. Pour the egg/half-and-half mixture carefully over the other ingredients, being careful not to disturb the bacon/veggie/cheese layers.
18. Carefully place cookie sheet in middle rack of oven. Bake for 20 minutes and check pie crust: If edges are golden, remove pie from oven and cover crust with an aluminum piecrust cover or strips of aluminum foil. Return pie to oven and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes, until custard is set in middle and edges of filling are golden.
19. Remove and cool slightly before cutting and serving. Or cool completely and serve at room temperature.