Broccoli Pie

I had forgotten all about Broccoli Pie! A quiche-like egg pie, filled with vegetables, with a low-fat pasta crust instead of flour crust.

What brings up a memory for you? Broccoli Pie was the first quiche my mom introduced to our family when I was about 10 years old. The recipe came from a friend of hers, and it was very innovative to this meat-and-potatoes and casserole family in the 70s! It’s been so long since I made it as an adult, my husband thought it was new when I produced it the other day.

It all came about because I had a carton of cottage cheese that just didn’t have the greatest texture. The brand I purchased was too…creamy? Is that possible? It just didn’t have enough curds in it and wasn’t pleasing my palate. So I reached into the archives of my memory and decided to use up the cottage cheese with…Broccoli Pie! I don’t even know how I remembered that this recipe uses cottage cheese in it!

It’s easy to put together. Just a little bit of planning ahead to boil some small pasta (salad shells or ditalini) so it can go into the pie plate to make the crust and be pre-baked before adding the toppings. I even cooked the pasta at lunchtime when I was doing other things, then stashed the pasta in the fridge until I was assembling dinner.

Putting Together Broccoli Pie

After patting a cooked-pasta crust into your pie plate and baking it, the next steps are to sprinkle on cheese, chopped cooked broccoli, and then pour in an egg mixture. Another hour in the oven, and dinner is served. It goes great with a fruit salad like Cranberry Fluff or Queen Anne Frozen Fruit Salad.

Broccoli Pie

A vegetable quiche with pasta crust

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Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Total Time 1 hr 30 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• 3/4 c salad pasta small shells or ditalini
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 t chives
• 1 c cheddar cheese
• 10 oz broccoli steamed and chopped
• 4 eggs + leftover egg white
• 1 c cottage cheese
• 1 t salt
• 1 t paprika

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375°
• Boil 3/4 c salad pasta in salted water until tender. Beat one egg yolk and 1 t chives together and mix with drained pasta.
• Grease a 10" pie plate and dump in the pasta/egg yolk mixture, spreading it out in a single layer and allowing to go up the sides of the pie plate
• Bake 10 minutes at 375°, then cool 10 minutes
• Steam 10 oz broccoli until crisp tender, then set on cutting board to cool
• Meanwhile, beat 4 eggs and the remaining egg white, add 1 c cottage cheese, 1 t salt, and 1 t paprika. Measure out 1 c shredded cheese. Chop broccoli into small pieces.
• Sprinkle cheese on top of pasta crust, then layer the chopped broccoli, and finally pour the egg mixture over top.

  Note: It looks a little weird at this point. The chunks of cottage cheese make you go "ewww" but never fear, they will incorporate as it bakes.
• Bake at 425° for 15 minutes, then lower oven to 350° for 45 minutes or until center is set and inserted knife comes out clean.
• Let set 10 minute before cutting.
• Serves 8 small pieces or 4 hearty servings

Keyword broccoli pie, quiche, vegetable quiche