Crustless Sausage, Kale and Ricotta Quiche

Crustless Sausage, Kale and Ricotta Quiche is a wonderful, savory dish to add to your brunch table! Loaded with Italian sausage, garlic sautéed kale and dollops of ricotta cheese. You won’t miss the crust at all!

I’ve got one last recipe to share for you Easter brunch, Crustless Sausage, Kale and Ricotta Quiche. Not only does it taste amazing, but it will make your house smell like you just baked lasagna!

Having a quiche or some kind of strata, egg casserole or frittata is a must for brunch, in my opinion. I can’t just do sweet carbs or I’ll end up with a sugar high followed by a hard crash that leaves me napping on the couch the rest of the day. If you’ve met me you know that laying around all day is not my style. My husband can barely get me to sit down long enough to watch a movie.

Traditionally quiche has a pie crust and a then custardy egg filling goes into that. I’ll be honest, pie crust really doesn’t excite me. Occasionally I enjoy it if it’s a homemade crust, but even then the actual “crust” always ends up left behind on my plate. Since I wasn’t interested in making a homemade crust and didn’t really see the point since I don’t eat it, I decided to skip it and go crustless with this quiche. 

Skipping the crust not only saved me time, but allowed for extra filling ingredients and cheese, more specifically, ricotta cheese! Ricotta cheese is something that I can’t keep in the house. I find myself mindlessly eating it with a spoon if it is. You can either use whole milk or part skim for this crustless sausage, kale and ricotta quiche. I went with part skim since I was also using pecorino cheese. 

Pecorino Romano is a sheep’s milk cheese and a great alternative to the oh so expensive Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. It’s sharper in flavor, but that just means more flavor and that you don’t need to use as much. Along with the cheese in the quiche, there’s also Italian chicken sausage and kale that’s been sautéed with a shallot and garlic. 

The quiche bakes well in a casserole dish. The one I used was a 1.5 quart size and it fit perfect. If you want a quiche that isn’t as thick or one that won’t take as long to bake, use a slightly larger baking dish. Not only will this crustless sausage, kale and ricotta quiche be a wonderful addition to you Easter brunch, but Mother’s Day next month as well! 

Crustless Sausage, Kale and Ricotta Quiche

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

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Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 3 egg whites
• 1 cup low fat milk, or milk of choice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese, parmesan may also be used
• 1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
• 1/2 pound Italian chicken or turkey sausage
• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 cups chopped kale
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated or minced

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. In a large skillet cook the sausage over medium heat and crumble it with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Place the cooked sausage into the prepared casserole dish.
3. Wipe out the skillet and add in the olive oil swirling to coat the bottom. When the oil is hot add in the minced shallot and sauté for 2 minutes. Add in the chopped kale, garlic and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the kale has wilted. Add the kale to the casserole dish.
4. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, basil, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup of the pecorino cheese. Pour the mixture into the casserole dish and stir everything together. Add dollops of the ricotta throughout the quiche and top with the remaining 1/4 cup of pecorino.
5. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until the center is set. Top with extra basil if desired.

Notes

I used a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, but an 8x8 baking dish or any similar size will work. The bigger the dish the shorter the cooking time should be as the quiche won't be as thick.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 263Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 205mgSodium: 544mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 2gSugar: 4gProtein: 24g

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