I adore quiche, especially the version known as Quiche Lorraine with bacon and cheese, the one that Julia Child trilled about on her cooking show, "The French Chef." I watched it in reruns on our first color TV in the 1960s, along with "The Galloping Gourmet"—aka Graham Kerr—as he swozzled his way through recipes swirling bottomless glasses of red wine.

The rage for French cuisine that Ms. Child ushered in caused quiche to become ubiquitous on brunch and "luncheon" menus in the 70s, though most were pale versions of Julia's, reheated in new-at-the-time microwave ovens or kept too long in warming ovens—they'd been made hours before, which deflated and dried out the delicate egg custard.

The difficulty for me when it comes to making them for anything but special occasions is the necessity for a blind-baked pie crust. Not that a crust is difficult, mind you, but it does require planning ahead—not my strong suit when it comes to weeknight dinners—to leave enough time for the dough to chill, then to prebake the crust before filling it and finishing the baking.

Crustless quiche to the rescue!

Perfect for a quick dinner using spring greens like raab or kale, I made the version below for dinner a couple of nights ago—the only time-consuming aspect was prepping the vegetables and bacon. Tossing them into a buttered dish with the grated cheese then pouring in the egg mixture was a cinch, and the resulting moist, eggy custard would have made Julia proud. 

Crustless Quiche with Greens and Bacon

1 Tbsp. butter for greasing the baking dish
1 1/2 Tbsp. panko or fine bread crumbs
3-4 oz. greens like kale, raab, etc.
8 oz. bacon sliced in 1/4" cubes
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 c. grated cheese like Comté, Gruyère or Cheddar
1 c. half-and-half
1 c. whole milk
5 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 oz. freshly grated Parmesan
3 green onions, finely sliced

Preheat oven to 325°.

Butter a deep 9" pie dish or 8" square baking dish. Sprinkle the panko evenly over the bottom of the dish.

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to boil over high heat. Toss in greens and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Strain through a sieve or colander and run under cold water to stop them from cooking. Squeeze out moisture and slice into chiffonade. Place on paper towel to drain any remaining water.

In a small frying pan, sauté bacon over medium heat until slightly crisp. Add garlic, stir and remove from heat.

Break eggs into a medium-sized bowl and whisk until no whites are discernible. Whisk milk and half-and-half into eggs along with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Scatter greens evenly over bread crumbs in the buttered dish. Scatter bacon and garlic mixture (and any bacon fat) over the greens. Top bacon and greens with the grated cheese, covering it evenly. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the bacon, cheese and greens, letting it seep into the nooks and crannies. Sprinkle Parmesan and green onions over the top.

Place quiche on a sheet pan in the oven (just in case it bubbles over while baking) and bake 45-50 min. The middle can be slightly wobbly when you take it out of the oven. Allow to cool for ten minutes before serving.

It was one of those slap-me-upside-the-head moments. I was browsing through my Instagram feed and—what what what?—saw a quiche made, not with the usual pie crust, but…tortillas?

What?

Questions started running across my brain-pan, like: How does that work? Won't it leak and make a huge mess? This is brilliant, but…what?

Then it was: Oh, man, if this works I can make quiche every week! (Most of the time I'm more or less a last-minute meal-maker, so the idea of making up dough, putting it in the fridge for AN HOUR, then rolling it out, putting it in the freezer for ten minutes then blind-baking it…that's work!)

But since this particular Instagram feed was from my friend Susana at Portland's Culinary Workshop, I knew it was not to be dismissed lightly. And because I'm a huge fan of Three Sisters Nixtamal's amazing organic tortillas, we always have a pack or two in the freezer for a throw-together taco night.

So guess what we had for dinner that night?

Eggs? Check. Veg? Yep. Cheese? Duh! I even threw in some leftover sour cream that had been sitting since our last taco night. And for you doubters, the tortillas held the mixture like champs, the bottom crusty and the edges crispy.

The corn tortillas, of course, make it ideal for a south-of-the-border treatment with a mix of lightly sautéed onion and chopped poblano and serrano peppers, but they also complement a primavera treatment with purple sprouting broccoli or broccolini, green onions, green garlic, chives and other spring lovelies thrown in. Some chopped avocados and salsa on the side with a dollop of sour cream? Never a bad idea.

As the old commercial used to say: "Try it. You'll like it!"

Tortilla-Crusted Quiche

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 c. chopped vegetables
6 eggs
Chopped fresh herbs like chives, tarragon, parsley, etc. (optional)
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tsp. salt
6-8 corn tortillas, warmed
2 1/2 c. grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in medium-sized skillet. When it shimmers, add chopped onion and sauté until tender. Add garlic and remaining chopped vegetables—can be anything from your veg bin such as kale, broccoli, raab, leeks, peppers, green onions, whatever—and sauté briefly until slightly tender but still a little crunchy. Remove from heat and set aside.

Break eggs into medium-sized mixing bowl and beat them to combine. Whisk in herbs, sour cream and salt. Set aside.

In a large skillet, pie pan or baking dish, place one warmed tortilla in the center of the dish and then fan out the remaining tortillas around the edges, making sure they overlap with no breaks between them (don't worry about the very top edges that'll stick up above the egg mixture). The number of tortillas can vary depending on the size of your baking dish.

Take 2 cups of cheddar and scatter it evenly on the bottom of the quiche. Top with sautéed vegetables. Pour egg mixture over the top, making sure it covers the bottom of the pan. Scatter remaining half cup of cheddar over the top.

Place in oven for 25 minutes or until set. If you want the top browned, take the quiche out of the oven, set the broiler on high and put the quiche under the broiler very briefly (watch it closely!) until lightly browned.

Allow to cool slightly, slice into wedges and serve.