Hash Brown Quiche

July Fourth weekend. I grilled. That's the whole plan and I held to it: ribs on the outdoor grill, corn on the cob, a big potato salad made from the first new potatoes of the season — small and waxy and red, dug carefully from the edge of the bed on Thursday. Ate outside at the porch table in the late afternoon. The farm was quiet. The distant sounds of fireworks in the valley drifted up after dark.

I've been thinking about what the past year and a half has been. The restriction, the contraction, the daily management of a small world. And now the gradual reopening, the world getting bigger again by degrees. I went to Burlington. I ate in a restaurant. Next week Carol and I are going to the state fair, which I haven't been to in five years. These aren't grand gestures. They're the ordinary world coming back.

The garden is at its most demanding in July. Watering, weeding, monitoring. The beans need picking every third day or they get too big. The zucchini — the first ones appeared this week — need checking every day or they become too large for anything except zucchini bread. I've been giving them away already. Ted Marchand took a bag. The Hendersons took a bag. The next bag will find a home somewhere.

Made a compound butter this week, following a recipe from Helen's shelf — herb butter with chives and tarragon and a little lemon, good on everything from bread to grilled vegetables to a piece of fish. Small projects like this feel like the right June activity, the right July activity. Adding tools to the kitchen that didn't used to be there.

Those small red new potatoes I dug Thursday — I used most of them in the salad, but a handful stayed on the counter and got me thinking about what else potatoes can do when they’re this fresh and waxy and good. This hash brown quiche is what came of it: a crust made entirely from shredded potato, crisped up in the pan, filled with eggs and whatever the kitchen offers. It felt like the right thing to make the morning after the fireworks, when the farm was still quiet and Carol and I had nowhere to be until the state fair next week.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 cups frozen or freshly shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed and squeezed dry
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 cup cooked ham, diced (about 6 oz)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a 9-inch pie plate generously with butter or cooking spray.
Form the crust. Combine the shredded potatoes with melted butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Press the mixture evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pie plate, forming a firm crust.
Bake the crust. Bake uncovered for 20–25 minutes, until the edges are golden and the bottom is set. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 350°F.
Build the filling. Scatter the diced ham, onion, and bell pepper evenly over the hot crust. Top with the shredded cheddar cheese.
Mix the custard. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, garlic powder, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper until fully combined.
Fill and bake. Pour the egg mixture slowly and evenly over the filling. Bake at 350°F for 30–35 minutes, until the center is just set and a knife inserted near the middle comes out clean.
Rest and serve. Let the quiche rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve warm, or at room temperature alongside a green salad.

Nutrition (per serving)

Hash Brown Quiche — New Potatoes and the Quiet Return of Summer