After a beautiful day of fishing on the Kenai River in Sterling Alaska and catching our limit for Sockeye (Red) Salmon I decided to try my hand at making a Quiche with Polenta Crust. A bunch of us girls from the camp ground had gone out to various garage sales and we stopped for lunch at a place in Kenai Called Veronica's. It was a wonderful lunch and many of us ordered their famous quiche that always has a polenta crust. A lady friend told me about the dish so I was happy to go try it out as I was curious about how the crust was made. The server had actually made the quiche we were eating and I spoke to her to try to see if my interpretation of how it was made was accurate. She happily told us how it was made and I was basically right except she said she used quick cooking polenta and for the liquid she used chicken stock or broth. So I could not wait to try it with some of my own smoked salmon and I was not disappointed and neither was my family! They called it a "10", meaning very good, and want me to make it often. So basically you can put on top of the polenta any kind of quiche mixture you want and do not have to fuss with pie crusts that can end up being soggy.

Today’s blue place special is: Smoked Salmon Polenta Quiche

Polenta:
6 cups chicken broth or stock
1 teaspoon sea salt
2.5 cups polenta (I used Bob’s Red Mill corn grits-polenta it is a coarse grain)
The zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon of coarse ground pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano (optional if you don’t want the lemon pepper flavor)
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary (optional if you don’t want the lemon pepper flavor)
Or use the herb that best matches the proteins you are using. The original Polenta with the Rosemary is delicious with a veggie polenta Quiche.

Quiche filling:
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO as Rachael Ray would say)
1 green pepper julienned and then cut into 1 inch strips
1 red pepper julienned and then cut into 1 inch strips
1 small zucchini julienned and then cut into 1 inch strips
1 medium onion diced to ¼ inch
1 pint jar of smoked salmon
6 eggs whisked
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
The zest of one lemon
A sprinkling of garlic powder
A sprinkling of dill

To make the polenta:
To make the polenta:

In a deep medium heavy pot, bring the water to a boil and add the salt. Gradually whisk in the polenta. Reduce heat to low, add the lemon zest and pepper or if desired switch to either oregano or rosemary, and whisk for 5 minutes. Cook the polenta for another 10 minutes, or until it pulls away from the sides of the pot. Pour the polenta into an 8-inch square baking dish and smooth the top. It should be ¾ to 1 inch think from the bottom of the pan. Cover the top of the polenta with clear saran wrap and let cool.

To make the filling:

Lightly sauté (sweat) the veggies and add the lemon ring and then set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl wish the eggs and add the shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Sprinkle in the dill and a little garlic powder.

Break up the smoked salmon into chunks and set aside.

Pull off the saran wrap from the polenta and pour half the egg mixture on top of the polenta. Spread the smoked salmon chunks over the egg mixture and then pour the rest of the egg mixture over the top of the salmon layer.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the quiche. Let cool for about 15 minutes while you prepare any other item you want to serve with the quiche. I small salad would be nice as the quiche is very delicious and filling!

There are as many variations of this dish as you can conjure up: Such as Italian Sausage Quiche, Enchilada Quiche, veggie quiche, crab or shrimp quiche, or use regular canned salmon instead of smoked salmon, etc.
This will serve 8 people and can be served with a nice salad of choice and some rustic bread and if you’d like some nice white wine of your choic