Jalapeño Cheddar Quiche With Butternut Crust For Full GAPS

Jalapeño cheddar quiche with a butternut squash crust has a soft, savory egg filling and a little sweetness around the edges. Thin rounds of squash line the pans, while roasted, peeled jalapeños bring warmth to the cheddar, mushrooms and onion inside. This batch makes two quiches.

The crust is simply sliced squash. There is no flour to mix or dough to roll, and the squash bakes with the filling. Expect tender vegetable layers under the eggs, with a few golden edges above them. They will not turn into flaky pastry.

I cook before leaving for second-shift work, with homeschooling and the rest of the weekday happening around it. There is no regular bulk-prep routine in our house right now, and I feel that when the afternoon gets busy. A recipe that fills two pans gives you a useful choice: serve both, or put part of the cooked batch away for another meal. For a working, homeschooling mom of six, having that second meal accounted for would take one decision out of the day.

Ingredients

• 1 medium butternut squash, using the peeled neck for the crusts
• Coconut oil, for greasing the pans and brushing exposed squash
• 10 eggs
• ½ cup homemade coconut milk
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 3 jalapeños, or 4 for a hotter batch
• 4 tablespoons homemade unsalted sweet-cream butter
• 8 ounces natural organic cheddar, grated

Use the straight neck of the squash for the crust. Peel it first, then slice crosswise into very thin rounds. Save the bulb for another meal. The rounds need to bend against the sides of the pans; thick, stiff slices are difficult to overlap and take longer to soften.

The coconut milk needs to be ready before you start. Stir the homemade batch so the thicker cream and thinner liquid are combined, then measure the half cup. This small amount loosens the eggs without making a deep, loose custard.

Choose natural, traditionally made cheddar that you already tolerate through your dairy introductions. Grate it from a block without added starches or other additives. There is butter and cheese in the filling even though the liquid is coconut milk, so this is still a dairy-containing recipe.

Three jalapeños are the starting amount here. Use three or four depending on the heat you want, keeping in mind that peppers vary. Roasting and peeling change their texture and flavor; removing the seeds does not guarantee a mild result. Keep the chopped peppers spread through the filling so the heat is distributed between the two quiches.

How To Make Jalapeño Cheddar Quiche

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease two pie pans with coconut oil. Peel the butternut neck and slice it into very thin rounds with a mandoline or sharp knife.
2. Overlap the rounds across the bottoms of the pans. Cut some rounds in half to fit along the sides. Press them into a crust shape and set the pans aside. There is no separate crust-baking step.
3. Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the chopped onion and sliced mushrooms, and sauté until soft. The onion should look translucent and the mushrooms should have softened and reduced in size.
4. Switch the oven to broil. Put the jalapeños on a broiler-safe tray on the top rack. Broil for about 3 minutes on each side, until the skins blister and char. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
5. Peel off and discard the pepper skins, remove the seeds and chop the flesh finely. Restore the oven to BAKE at 375°F before baking the quiches.
6. Whisk the eggs and coconut milk together in a mixing bowl. Add the grated cheddar and whisk again. Stir in the cooked mushrooms and onion, along with the chopped, peeled jalapeños.
7. Divide the filling evenly between the squash-lined pans. Spread the vegetables through each pan with a spoon. Brush exposed squash around the upper edges with coconut oil.
8. Bake at 375°F for 35 to 40 minutes, until the filling is set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Check each quiche. Let them cool slightly before slicing and lifting out portions.

A sharp knife works if you do not have a mandoline. Take your time getting the slices thin and reasonably even. Overlap the pieces where they meet instead of trying to stretch one round across a gap. Half-rounds are easier to tuck around the curved sides.

The skillet step softens the onion and mushrooms before they enter the eggs. The onion loses its sharp raw smell and becomes sweeter as it cooks. Mushrooms shrink and release moisture. Give them time to soften rather than pouring a panful of firm raw vegetables into the filling.

Watch the peppers closely under the broiler. Their skins will darken in patches and lift into blisters. Those skins are discarded; the chopped flesh is what goes into the quiche. The oven must return to its baking setting afterward. Leaving it on broil would expose the filled pans to strong heat from above.

Whisk until the eggs and coconut milk are evenly combined, with no long streaks of egg white. The cheese and cooked vegetables will remain visible in the mixture. Stir them through, then share them between the pans rather than pouring all the liquid into one and leaving most of the mushrooms in the bowl.

At the end of baking, the center should be set rather than sloshing beneath the surface. The squash edges may be lightly golden, while the layers under the filling stay soft. Use the clean-knife check as well as the clock. Two pans can finish at slightly different times, so check both centers.

Where It Fits On GAPS

This is a Full GAPS quiche for people who have already introduced and tolerated the butter and cheddar. In Gut and Physiology Syndrome, dairy introduction moves from ghee through butter and fermented dairy before natural cheese. Cheese is introduced gradually as its own food, rather than first tried in a large serving of quiche.

The coconut milk replaces the fresh-cream option in the filling. That is useful when coconut milk already fits your menu but fresh cream has not been introduced. It does not remove the dairy from the butter and cheddar, and it does not move this whole recipe into an earlier Introduction Diet stage.

The squash crust keeps the recipe free of nut flour. It can suit a Full GAPS menu that includes vegetables, eggs and dairy. It does not fit a No-Plant menu, and the squash should not be assumed to suit every person’s ketogenic GAPS approach. Keep your own established food introductions in view when choosing a meal.

For a smaller quiche with a different crust, the mini cheddar quiches with almond-honey crust use nut flour and their own ingredient amounts. They are useful when you want individual portions, but they are a separate recipe rather than a pan-size conversion of this one.

Serving And Storage

Let the quiche settle slightly after baking so the filling is easier to lift. Cut through the squash layers with the knife before sliding a serving utensil underneath. The vegetable crust is tender, so a portion may need more support than a firm pastry shell.

The 35-to-40-minute time is the baking interval only. Allow additional time to peel and slice the squash, soften the vegetables, broil and peel the peppers, and assemble the pans. The homemade coconut milk and butter are separate preparations.

Cool leftovers promptly and refrigerate covered portions. Use within three days. If you are saving part of the second quiche, portioning it makes it easier to take out only what you need. Reheat until hot throughout; the squash crust will stay soft.

You can freeze baked portions for longer storage, then thaw them in the refrigerator before reheating. Leave room in the container around the soft edges rather than pressing slices tightly together. Freezing may make the vegetable layers softer still.

Recommended Equipment

You need two oven-safe pie pans for the original batch, a skillet, a mixing bowl, a whisk and a wooden spoon. Use glass, ceramic or suitable enameled cookware. I use Le Creuset in Artichaut where it fits the job; you do not need a particular branded pan to make this quiche.

A mandoline makes even squash slices, while a sharp knife is the other method. You also need a peeler, chopping board, cheese grater and a tray suitable for the broiler. Check the tray’s broiler suitability separately from its ordinary oven rating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Bake The Squash Crust First?

No. Line the greased pans with the thin slices, add the filling and bake them together. The squash needs to be very thin so it softens during the quiche’s baking time.

Does Coconut Milk Make This Dairy-Free?

No. The filling still contains four tablespoons of butter and eight ounces of cheddar across the two-quiche batch. Choose this recipe after those dairy foods have been introduced.

Can I Make It With Three Jalapeños?

Yes. Three is the amount in the card, with four offered for a hotter batch. Peel and deseed them after broiling either way. Their heat varies, so three peppers can still make a noticeably spicy quiche.

The upcoming Weekly Kitchen Rhythm Planner in the WFLI shop puts longer homemade preparations and baking on one weekly page. Use it to plan the coconut milk and butter before quiche day, then decide where the second pan fits into the week.