Sausage Quiche with a Yam Crust

Sausage Quiche with a Yam Crust: The yam crust makes this quiche come together quickly and it ends up being significantly lighter than using a pastry crust. The filling is hearty and satisfying and best made with farm fresh pasture raised eggs, organic produce, and meat from a local butcher. 

This Sausage Quiche with a Yam crust is one of our favorite “breakfast dinners”. During the season of Lent (a period of time leading up to Easter that Catholic abstain from meat on Fridays) I omit the sausage and it easily becomes a vegetarian meal.

About 2 1/2 years ago I learned the truth about eggs; it was shocking. After years of buying 5 dozen conventional eggs a week and eating massive amounts of egg-whites with my husband, I learned that conventional eggs are very high in omega-6 fatty acids. What does this mean? It means that conventional eggs, when tested, have a 19:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1). Whoa! Truly pastured hens eating insects (and free of corn, soy, GMO’s) have a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.

What’s the problem with omega-6 fatty acids? Nothing when consumed in small quantities. However, in larger quantities omega-6 is known to help stimulate more inflammation in the body.

We currently buy our eggs locally for ~$5/dozen and it is worth every penny. The yolks are like liquid gold! Bright yellow, thick, and super tasty. The yolk takes up most of the egg with a smaller but equally delicious egg white. The egg shell itself is hard to break.

Here is a picture of me slicing the yams for the quiche crust. It is so fast and easy with the Pampered Chef Simple Slicer:

At first the yam crust can look intimidating but it is actually less time consuming than making pastry crusts from scratch. I simply slice the yams, brush a layer of avocado oil in my stone pie plate, and then layer the yams in it like this:

{I really wanted the yam crust pictures to be beautiful for all of you! But as I was taking them my toddler (who is potty training) had an accident and my 10 month old was also hanging onto my leg demanding to be held …. so this the real deal … point and shoot …. clean up the toddler … nurse the baby …. and then try to finish dinner before my husband gets home.}

After I get done stuffing the yam circles into the pie plate I use some tinfoil, pie weights, and old pinto beans to hold everything in place while I bake the crust.

As far as the filling goes, I use whatever I have on hand. In the recipe I’ll be sharing one of our favorite combinations but any (or all) of these veggies work great: sweet peppers, onion, garlic, zucchini, summer squash, spinach, and kale. When I have fresh herbs (e.g. dill, chives) I throw those in too. If you are avoiding nightshades, please omit the sweet peppers.

Typically we eat this Sausage Quiche with a Yam Crust without any added cheese but a nice sharp cheddar, preferably from grass-fed cows, goes really nice with the quiche. I find my grass-fed cheddar from Costco and Azure Standard.

Our kids love a little treat after dinner and I like to make them home made “gummies” with real grass-fed gelatin. You might like to try this home made gummy recipe: Healthy Sour Watermelon Gummies.

♥ Rashele

Don’t forget to pin this Sausage Quiche with a Yam Crust to your favorite Pinterest Board for later! 

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Sausage Quiche with a Yam Crust

The yam crust makes this quiche come together quickly and it ends up being significantly lighter than using a pastry crust. The filling is hearty and satisfying and best made with farm fresh pasture raised eggs, organic produce, and meat from a local butcher. 

Course Breakfast, Main Dish

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Rashele Birmingham

Ingredients

Yam Crust

• 1-2 small yams thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp avocado oil for brushing into pie plate

Quiche

• 1/2 lb breakfast sausage cooked (pork or chicken)
• 1/2 medium green pepper diced
• 1/2 medium red pepper diced
• 1 medium zucchini squash diced
• 1 cup spinach lightly sautéed (or kale)
• 1/2 small purple onion diced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tsp Himalayan salt
• 2 springs dill weed chopped
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 5-6 large eggs whisked
• 1/4 cup milk coconut or dairy
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese optional (grass-fed preferred)

Instructions

Yam Crust

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheight. Brush avocado oil into deep dish pie plate.
2. Wash yams, skinning them is optional. Slice thinly and layer them in bottom and on the sides of pie plate. Cover edges of yam crust with tinfoil (optional) to prevent excessive browning. Use pie weights to prevent slouching of yam slices.
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes, remove from oven, remove pie weights.
4. Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees Farenheight.

Quiche

1. Brown sausage, set aside.
2. Chop vegetables. Mix with sausage.
3. Whisk eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and herbs together.
4. Add vegetable/meat mixture into yam crust. Pour egg mixture on top.
5. If adding cheese sprinkle on top.
6. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheight for 35-40 minutes until lightly browned on top and center no longer liquid.

Recipe Notes

Cut this recipe in half if you are using a shallow dish pie plate. I usually make a double batch of the sausage/veggie filling and freeze half of it to make it an easy "freezer meal" for later. I also have a friend who used the Food Saver and vacuum sealed an entire quiche, froze it, and then used it as one of her postpartum meals. It held up really well and still tasted great after a couple months in the freezer. ♥ Rashele  

Don’t forget to pin this Sausage Quiche with a Yam Crust to your favorite Pinterest board for later!

Tools used to make this recipe (click on picture to learn more):

(1) Fallon, Sally, Mary G. Enig, Kim Murray, and Marion Dearth. “Fats.” Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. Washington, DC: NewTrends, 2005. 11. Print.