Spinach Quiche

Quiche is one of my favorite foods. It sounds fancy but really just involves mixing all the best things in life together in a bowl and pouring it into a pie crust to bake for about half an hour. Seriously, how can anyone not want to eat something whose base involves eggs and cheese?

In the past my quiches were usually made in a pie pan and had fresh vegetables as their base (typically onion, broccoli, and tomatoes). So I was a bit apprehensive about using frozen spinach and cream cheese. It felt almost like cheating. Especially as it only took me about 10 minutes to make, even with a disastrous pie crust (see below). But this quiche is delicious and I really like the use of the tart pan. It gives a more equal ratio of filling to crust, which for a carbofile such as myself is a glorious thing.

Spinach Quiche

From Smitten Kitchen 

I used a prepared piecrust from Whole Foods, which I wouldn’t recommend. The crust, as you can see above, is a bit of a mess. I was able to roll out half of it, but then disaster struck. The rest of the crust stuck, tearing into many tiny pieces as I tried to unroll it. I managed to stuff it all into the tart pan, but it wasn’t pretty. Which is a really long-winded way of saying, there’s no wrong way to get a crust for this quiche. Even if mine wasn’t the prettiest of tarts, it still tasted great.

Ingredients:

1 piecrust

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature*

1/3 cup milk (or half and half)

3 eggs

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well

1/2 cup grated cheddar or gruyere

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 cup onion (4-6 green onions, thinly sliced, or finely diced red onions, white onions, or shallots will also work)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

*Most cream cheeses will have markings indicating 2, 4, and 6 ounces on the packaging. Just cut halfway between the 2 and the 4 to get 3 ounces. And you’ll still have slightly more than half of the cream cheese remaining for future use.

Equipment:

Pie plate or tart pan with removable bottom, hand mixer (recommended)

Preheat oven to 425.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs and milk gradually and continue to beat. Mix in remaining ingredients with a spoon.

Pour mixture into prepared crust and bake until crust is lightly browned and filling is set, about 25 minutes.

Cool at least 10 minute before serving.