Tonight's Sumptious Repast: Individual Crustless Carrot Quiche & Tomato, Cheese & Pesto Panini

Recipe for Crustless Carrot Quiche, adapted from Epicurious.com:

butter
1/2 cup onion, minced
1 clove garlic (or to taste), minced
2 cups+ carrots, finely shredded* (about 2 large carrots)
6 eggs, very fresth
1-1/4 cup 1/2 & 1/2
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp pepper
1-1-/4 cup shredded cheese, your choice (I used Rote Kase Grand Cru Gruyere Swiss)

Melt butter (maybe 1 TB?) in skillet. Saute onion about 5 minutes. Add garlic. Saute a minute. Add carrots, carefully saute for a minute or two. Don't saute vegetable too much; they should still be crunchy. As a matter of fact, I think I'll skip this step next time, at least with the carrots. Cool.

Heat oven to 350 degree.

Mix eggs, 1/2 & 1/2, and seasonings well. Add cheese & cooled carrot mixture. Whatever you do, don't add hot veggies (or anything else hot) to egg mixture. I'm sure you're too smart to do that, though, aren't you. (I'm not; I've done it before. Duh.)

Fill 4" tart pans. Cook about 20 minutes, or until set. Serve warm

Very yummy. Variations: Add any herbs, seasonings, or vegetables you like. Wine pairing: Gewurztraminer. It works.

*The Epicurious recipe directs you to boil the carrots. Don't. I tried that and didn't like the results. The carrots were mushy, and you lose a lot of the nutrients. I added the boiled mess to my vegetable stock trimmings in the freezer and started over.