Leftover Salmon and Feta Quiche

Leftovers can take over a refrigerator. Things hidden in the back or a Country Crock tub of butter that was washed out and now contained soup—but you forgot that it was not butter—go to waste. On a level of 1 to 10, 10 being the closest thing to inexcusable, any type of food whatsoever being dumped into the trashcan was beyond 10 at the sacrilegious level for Granny. She never met a leftover dish unworthy of being reincarnated into something delectable , able to satisfy the largest appetites. This is not an exaggeration.

Granny was born just before The Great Depression began. Growing up, marrying and starting a family in the aftermath of it instilled a great respect for everything she had—and a knowledge of turning the meagerest of supplies into a hearty family meal. I did not realize until I married and started a family of my own, how precious the skills she passed down were. I had to bake everything from scratch and figure out how to utilize anything and everything in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. This is a skill I still apply whether it is financially necessary or not.

To throw away food hits me deep, and I think about how upset she would be at the sight of it.

Today is one of the days that I attempt to salvage a leftover and give it new life. I have around 24 ounces of leftover grilled salmon and it cannot go to waste. I love salmon, crave it daily. No way am I losing one bite. So, after looking through my options I have settled on a salmon and feta quiche. In the freezer were some premade pie crusts, half a white onion in a Ziploc bag in the meat drawer sitting next to a container of feta. Luckily, my chickens have been laying as if they have not unionized and there is a can of evaporated milk in the pantry.

*Disclaimer: Do not try this recipe unless you have read all the way to the end. Rarely do measurements turn out the way I plan when it comes to pie crusts, I am not as talented as Granny.

8oz. grilled salmon, flaked.

3oz. feta, chopped fine.

½ white onion, chopped and cooked in a skillet until translucent. Add salt and pepper to taste while cooking.

4 eggs

1 cup of evaporated milk

1 thawed, uncooked pie crust

Himalayan salt and ground pepper

Bake the pie crust for 5 minutes at 450 degrees. Make sure to poke the bottom of the crust a few times with a fork. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees for baking the quiche.

Mix the salmon, feta, and onion. After the pie crust has cooled, put the salmon mixture in and even out. In a bowl, mix eggs and milk with salt and pepper, pour over the salmon mix until the mixture reaches just below the rim of the crust.

The above was my plan. However, I should have used a deep-dish crust and not a regular. I took out enough of the salmon to where the level stayed below the rim and added the amount of milk that it took top the salmon mix. Again, I cannot waste food, so I grabbed a couple of ramekins for the remaining mixes. I divided the salmon in between 2 ramekins and poured the milk mix, which was enough to cover the salmon in one, but not the other. So, I mixed another egg with about ¼ cup of milk and salt and pepper and poured it out to waste nothing, so the egg mix level was a higher than intended. I then placed the ramekins on a cookie sheet and placed it on the middle rack next to the quiche and baked them at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

While letting the quiche cool for five minutes, I chopped a cup of kale, mixed in a ½ Tbsp of EVOO and balsamic vinegar, and sliced six cherry tomatoes lengthwise to top the salad mix. I placed it on the place with a slice of the salmon and feta quiche.

The quiche is delicious. The ramekins are on the okay list. They are not as moist as the quiche and more like a dry omelet in a cup, but edible so no trash for this recipe. Next time I make this, I will use a deep-dish pie crust. The change may alter the milk and egg mix to 6 eggs and 1 ½ cups of milk, but I cannot be positive until I try it.

Was this perfect? No. First-time recipes never are. At least not when you plan out and write measurements beforehand. So, while it isn’t perfect, it is good. In the end I made one thing from a few other things not intended to go together, but did. Nothing separately, something together.

Waste not, want not.