Few days ago I went to my usual vegetable store and I was surprised to find a Romanesco broccoli also here 🙂

It’s a very beautiful vegetable, and it’s also healthy because is rich with antioxidants and C-vitamin. It’s part of the same family of the cauliflower, but it has a more delicate flavor.

Usually it’s served as a side dish, boiled or baked. But I wanted to try something else, and I was not baking a quiche since a while so I decided to do it now with it 🙂

It’s a vegetarian recipe but it’s not light 🙂 a small slice it’s usually enough.

INGREDIENTS (for a 26 cm oven pan):

For the pâte brisée:

• 250 g flour
• 125 g cold butter (I used 85 g butter and 40 g lard)
• 60 g cold water
• 3-4 g salt

For the filling:

• 1 Romanesco broccoli
• 2 potatoes
• 200 g Comté AOP (or Provolone, Scamorza, Fontina, Gruyère, Emmenthal, etc. tasty and easy to melt cheese)
• 3 eggs
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt

1. First of all we have to prepare the pâte brisée, follow what I wrote in THIS recipe. Then let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour, better 2.
2. Clean the Romanesco broccoli, remove the bottom and the leaves and cut it in smaller pieces, than wash it.
3. Boil the Romanesco broccoli in salted water for about 8-10 minutes, than drain it and add it to a pan where you have previously heated some extra virgin olive oil and one clove of garlic, and cook the Romanesco broccoli for other 8-10 minutes. Remove the garlic when it gets some color.
4. During this time boil the potatoes (which you have previously peeled and cut in thin slices, about 3 mm) in the same water where you have boiled the Romanesco broccoli, for just 5 minutes.
5. When the broccoli are soft keep some aside for decoration and squeeze the others in a bowl, with a fork. Then add the whisked eggs, salt and ground black pepper.
6. Take the pâte brisée from the fridge, flatten it with a rolling pin and than place it in an oven pan, where you have spread some butter on the bottom and the side.
7. Cut half of the cheese in slices and the other half in cubes. Place some slices on the bottom of the quiche and then place the potatoes slices (well drained) on the whole surface.
8. Add the cubes of cheese to the Romanesco broccoli-egg filling, mix together and then pour the whole over the potatoes.
9. Add the pieces of Romanesco broccoli that you have kept aside before, the remaining slices of cheese and some freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
10. Bend the exceeding pate brisée to the inside of the quiche, spread a yolk on the edges and bake it at 190-200 °C, fan-assisted mode, for about 30 minutes.
11. Cool it down some minutes and serve it, next to some fresh salad and/or some good cold cuts 🙂

PS: rewarmed it’s very good too 🙂 and an extra tip: you could add some pieces of pancetta/guanciale (previously cooked in a pan) to the filling, it will be even tastier 🙂