My Visiting Teaching partner and I decided to have a little luncheon for our ladies in May to celebrate Mother's Day and do something a little different for a change. I volunteered to do the main dish since I've been wanting to try making a quiche. I love quiche and every time I have a piece somewhere, I think "I should go home and try making one". I finally did. I found a couple of recipes on Pinterest that looked promising and gathered ingredients. I made two different kinds for our little luncheon and got some feedback. Here is what I came up with after some experimentation and recipe refining.
Crust*:
Will go into 10” deep pie or tart dish
- 2 1/2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of cold shortening
- 1 cup of cold butter
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1/2 cup of cold water or chicken stock
Filling:
- 8 oz. fresh mushrooms
- 1/2 t. minced garlic
- 1# baby spinach
- 1 sm sweet onion (optional)
- 5 large eggs
- 1 C. cream or whole milk
2-3 oz. feta cheese
- 1/4 C. grated parmesan
- 1/2 C. shredded mozarella
In a large pot, put about 2” water and all the spinach. Place over med/high heat. When water begins to boil cook spinach 3-5 minutes, or until tender and is down in volume. Remove from heat and pour into collander to drain. Drain well. Layer several paper towels and transfer spinach to further drain on the paper towels. Set aside.
In a food processor combine flour, shortening, butter and salt. Pulse until you have a pea-like texture. 4-5 pulses. Drizzle in the water or chicken stock through the spout while pulsing a few more times. Dough should come together in a ball. Take out and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.
Slice mushrooms and mince the garlic. Dice the onion. Place a skillet over med/high heat and add a couple tablespoons light olive oil. When oil is hot add in the onions and saute a minute or two. Add the mushrooms and the garlic and saute until tender. Salt and pepper and allow the moisture to cook out. When mushrooms are slightly browned, remove from heat and drain onto paper towels.
Remove pie dough from fridge and flour a surface for rolling. Roll out the dough to fit pie or tart dish. Place dough into dish and flute the edges.
In a medium bowl, or your food processor combine the milk and the eggs. Whisk or pulse until well blended.
Spread out the well drained spinach in the pie crust. Sprinkle the feta cheese and the parmesan over the top of spinach. Spread the mushrooms over the top of the spinach and cheeses.(These next two pics are of the crust-less version I made first.)
Pour the egg/milk mixture evenly over the top and sprinkle the mozarella over the top. I like to sprinkle a little paprika over the top.
Place on the bottom rack of a preheated 375º oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Transfer to middle rack and reduce oven temp to 350º and bake for 20-30 more minutes until the center is set. Remove from oven and allow to rest for about 10-15 minutes before serving. Slice and serve warm. It is good at room temperature too.
Some variations:
1) Substitute small brocolli florets for the spinach (cooked and drained) Add some cheddar to the mix.
2) Substitute roasted and well drained sliced green chile for the spinach.
Add some diced green and red peppers, (cooked and well drained) instead of the mushrooms.
Add some colby or monterey jack instead of the feta and top with a few sliced jalapenos.
*This quiche can be made crustless, just spray your pie dish with cooking spray. It is good this way and cuts down a little on calories and time.
The key to a good quiche seems to be well-drained ingredients so as not to add unnecessary moisture resulting in a runny filling. Also, I learned whole milk or cream does make a difference in the way the filling sets. I added an extra egg since my pie dish was deep dish as well as a tad more of everything to fill it up nicely. More cheese can never hurt, right?
We served our quiche with the wonderful Strawberry/Citrus Salad already posted on this blog. I did the crust-less version of the spinach mushroom and the broccoli version in a crust for our ladies. It all got rave reviews but everyone seemed to like the spinach mushroom better, but with a crust. I made it that way for my Mother's Day dinner and loved it. Now I can't wait to try the green chile one.
It was fun to do and fun to serve.
Quiche isn't hard at all.
