Hash Brown and Ham Quiche

This is one of the dishes I served at our Saturday morning Brunch. It disappeared so fast ... I only tasted a few scrappings from the bottom of the pie plate. The scraps were tasty enough to entice me to prepare it again today! Who says quiche is only for the breakfast hours....

With our large group, I made one and one half of this recipe and it fit in my large ceramic pie plate (about 10-11") However, be forewarned that it will take about 25 minutes extra to bake it completely (and, if you bake it longer, make sure to cover the top with foil for the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning).

Hash Brown and Ham Quiche

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups hash browns, shredded, frozen

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. white pepper

3 Tbls. butter, divided

1 medium onion, diced

1 small green pepper, diced

2 tsp. all purpose flour

1 cup diced pre-cooked ham

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded cheese - colby jack, cheddar, mexican blend, whatever you have on hand (I forgot to spread this over the top for our brunch, but no one noticed!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Nicely browned hash browns.

2. In a large skillet, saute the hash browns, salt and pepper in 2 Tablespoons butter until lightly browned. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9 inch pie plate. In the same skillet, saute the onion and green pepper in remaining butter. Remove from heat and sprinkle with the flour. Stir in the ham, eggs, and milk. Pour into the hash brown crust.

Sauted green pepper and onion, above. The Hash Brown and Ham Quiche ready to bake in the oven, below.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.