Savory pumpkin quiche

I have four pumpkin pie pumpkins right now, so I decided to start using them. First up: a CSA recipe, savory pumpkin quiche.

• 1/2 cup Gruyère cheese
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme (I had some fresh thyme, but I also added fresh sage)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3-4 green onions (I didn't have any, but I chopped some white onion very finely)
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 cup fresh pumpkin purée
• 1 9-inch prepared pie crust

First, you make the pumpkin purée:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Wash the outside of the pumpkin and cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds (save for roasting!). Place pumpkin halves face-down in a baking dish. Add a half an inch of water to the pan to keep the pumpkin flesh moist. Bake until you can pierce the skin with a fork (about 45-60 min.). Scoop flesh out of shell with a spoon. (At this point you can also put in a food processor if it's too stringy.)

Then you finish the quiche:

Reduce heat of oven to 400 degrees. Put pie crust in a glass pie tin, press down, and trim edges. Sprinkle grated cheese over the bottom of the pie crust.

Whisk together milk, eggs, thyme, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Blend in pumpkin. Pour mixture over cheese in crust. (Usually you'll want to cover the edge of your crust with aluminum foil; I forgot to do this and mine came out a little crunchy, but fine.)

Bake 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake 45-50 minutes more, or until pie filling has set and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

The suggested wine pairing for this recipe is chardonnay, but my friend Colleen and I didn't drink anything. Maybe next time. It was an incredibly easy recipe and I will try to make it again when Dave gets back from his work trip!