Friday, October 8, 2010

Spinach Quiche


In a recent co-op basket, we received savoy spinach. I was a little bit intimidated by the idea of cooking spinach, since it brought back less than pleasant childhood memories, but I tried to keep an open mind. As an adult, I have mostly eaten spinach raw in salads, but over a year ago I was challenged by an acquaintance to create a spinach pizza. Drawing on pleasant memories of that meal, I determined to try to cook spinach again.

Since I knew that I didn't really savor the idea of a pot of cooked spinach, I decided that this time around a quiche might be just the ticket. Eggs, cheese, spinach, spices, and crust seemed likely to come together to make a meal that we could enjoy, and for added insurance, I included bacon. The result was a meal that we savored, leftovers that heated well, and both hubby and I look forward to a repeat performance. Maybe there was something to Popeye's passion for this leafy green, LOL!

The recipes that I found included instructions to cook the spinach before adding it to the quiche, or some called for frozen or canned spinach. I prefer fresh to canned or frozen, and I decided that I would rather not cook the spinach too much. To that end, I thoroughly cleaned the leaves and pulled the stem out of the middle of each leaf. Those leaves were then chopped and put into the egg mixture, and they cooked quite well.



Ingredients:
1 generous cup chopped Savoy spinach
4 eggs beaten
6-8 slices of bacon, cooked crisp
1 cup milk
app 4 oz mozzarella cheese + 1 oz for topping
basil, pepper & salt to taste
Parmesan cheese
1 Roma tomato sliced
1 chopped green onion


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F (app. 175°C*). Mix eggs, milk, cheese, basil, salt & pepper. Toss spinach, chopped bacon and shredded ‡ cheese to mix well, distribute evenly in an unbaked pie crust (see Galette (rustic pie or tart crust)). Pour egg mixture over the spinach, top with app. 1 oz mozzarella cheese and slices of Roma tomato. Bake until filling is set and lightly browned on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes, garnish with chopped green onion.


*I use an online conversion chart and round up or down, as seems appropriate. Please adjust according to your judgement, and send me a message if you find an error. Thank you.
‡ edited- I realized I had left this part out, so I am adding it now. My apologies to anyone that missed this notation.

5 comments:

Karen Touchet said...

Sounds Yummy!! I'll have to try your recipe! I love a good Spinach Quiche!

Unknown said...

I remember the spinach pizza and how good it was. I had never had spinach pizza before and probably never would have, had it not been for you making it. It was the same in this case too. Spinach quiche had never sounded too appealing to me, but Heidi, If you make it... I'll try it. This quiche was great. I don't know what spinach quiche is supposed to taste like, but I'll have seconds please!

Heidi a/k/a Thistle said...

Thanks, Baby! (Ray is my hubby, just so you know, LOL.) It is your willingness to experiment that makes this journey fun. You are the best (hug).

RebeccaMom said...

We had it and even my kids were saying "make it again, Mom" :) Thanks!

Heidi a/k/a Thistle said...

That is awesome! I love reading feedback, and you put a big smile on my face with this comment. :D