Last week I made good on a dinner invite I had extended to Hails of Coffee Helps. I decided to revisit the pork roast that had been such a hit a few months back, but couldn’t decide on an appropriate vegetable side dish. I’ll admit I sometimes feel befuddled in the Summer regarding what to do with the bounty of gorgeous vegetables available at the market. It’s hard to strike a balance when you want to do something new and interesting but don’t want to mess up the perfection that is a ripe tomato, zucchini, or what-have-you.
So I thought I’d do a simple summer squash sauté with a little garlic and lemon – nothing to overpower the freshness of the squash or compete with the apricot glaze on the pork. And then, on my way out of the market, I saw these:
Fresh herbes de Provence! Obviously, I had to buy them. I just knew they would be fantastic with the zucchini I had picked up earlier, not to mention a lovely counterpoint to the fruity pork glaze. And naturally, I neglected to take any photos. (Sorry.) But rest assured the end result was delicious.
So delicious, in fact, that I made a quiche using the same ingredients later in the week. Using my usual recipe, with garlicky sautéed zucchini in place of the onions, I seasoned the custard with lemon zest and chopped fresh sage, thyme, lavender, and parsley.
After the quiche came out of the oven, I realized I had forgotten to put the fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano into the custard as intended. D’oh! Nevertheless, grating it directly over the top of the baked quiche isn’t a bad way to go.
The quiche was fantastic – the herbs and lemon gave the whole thing a feeling of lightness not usually associated with the buttery, eggy, cheesy goodness that is a typical quiche. Served with a glass of chilled rosé, it made a refreshing summer supper. It’s amazing how one simple ingredient (in this case, the fresh herbes de Provence) can inspire you to look at your cooking in a new way. And who knows what it will be next? I’ll just have to wait and see what the market has in store for me.
Originally published on Croque-Camille.
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