romanesco broccoli and cheddar quiche

aka christmas tree quiche

i made this during the holiday season last year and a few of you asked me to put the recipe on substack, so here it is. it’s a recipe for a quiche that looks like a christmas tree; you can achieve a fun and whimsical moment, without putting in a ton of effort, which i love.

i have made many many dozens of quiches over the past five years and have tried to distill all my (many) learnings into this one recipe. you’ll get a super smooth and soufflé-like filling that melts on the tongue, and an ultra buttery and flakey crust, without much effort (just a lot of baking time).

i’ve shown two ways to make the quiche, one contains a whole head of romanesco broccoli while the other has it portioned into smaller (but still sizable) heads. pick your own adventure.

romanesco tastes like broccoli’s slightly sweeter and a bit more mild cousin, so i’ve paired it with an olive tapenade. all the flavors of tapenade – briny olives and capers, punchy anchovy and garlic – pair oh-so-nicely with the romanesco broccoli (even if you don’t love olives the amount is so small you won’t even notice it). as for the quiche filling itself, it’s packed with cheddar because broccoli and cheddar cheese is such a delicious combination (the recipe also has suggestions for substitutions).

with all this being said, if you do not like broccoli or romanesco, you will, sadly, not like this quiche. however, that’s okay because the base crust and custard recipe is so delicious and you can add whatever you’d like to it. just sub the romanesco for whatever filling you prefer, like mushrooms, herbs, or spinach.