Spring Quiche w/ Asparagus, Leeks & Mushrooms

Here I am, making a quiche w/ everything spring and it snowed on Sunday.

Though I don't have anything local yet in my garden or market, I know someone in South Jersey is eating local asparagus.
I am buying nice California spears that are easily found.

I am lazy and don't like making a crust, so I had this very good idea.
I have a bakery pullman loaf dying in the freezer so decided to use that as my quiche crust.

You can almost say this is a bread pudding, but the bread slices will get nice and crispy and hold the custard in tact.

This is so good and so simple!

To make the bread crust:

Take out 7 slices of bread, and trim the bottom part of the crusts off only (you will see what I mean).

Roll each slice of bread out with a rolling pin until nice and flat.

In a 9" pie dish brushed w/ melted butter, place your slices of bread in the dish, overlapping eachother, then brush with more melted butter.

Voila! here is your crust!

Now for your filling:

1 bunch of asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into quarters.
2 fat leeks, trimmed and sliced (white and light green parts only)
bunch of mushrooms, any type, sliced
olive oil and butter
kosher salt & pepper
3 extra large eggs
1/2 cup of heavy cream or half & half
1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated (you can use another cheese if you like, but this keeps it light)
small handful of fresh choppped dill

In a large saute pan, heat some olive oil with some butter and cook the asparagus, mushrooms and leeks, about 10 minutes. Season liberally w/ salt & pepper (I use kosher salt).

Pour the vegetables into the prepared bread crust in the pie dish.

Whisk the eggs, cream, cheese, dill, salt & pepper to make the custard and pour over the cooked vegetables in the dish.

Grate some more cheese on top of the quiche and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 30-35 minutes.

Let quiche rest about 15 minutes before slicing. The crust will be nice and crispy.

This is a great way to use up bread that has been in your freezer.

Loved it.