Nothing defines classic French food like quiche. Originating from the Lorraine region of France, the quiche of today includes much more than ham and can be eaten at any time of the day as a meal or as a snack.
Quiche can be made from almost anything that pairs well with eggs and cheese and while there may be many parts to the process of making a quiche, it is relatively easy to throw one together. Making quiche a part of my culinary repertoire has also taught me that the process of French cooking and baking is much more forgiving than the French would have me believe.
Quiche aux Epinards avec Champignons et Oignons
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Ingredients:
Bunch of spinach, de-stemmed. I used about 1/2 a bunch in the quiche in the above photo.
Handful of mushrooms
1/4 +- of a large onion
Ementhaler cheese, shredded
4+ eggs
milk or cream
ground black pepper
dried basil
dried thyme
freshly ground nutmeg
Make a Pie Crust:
1 cup of pastry flour
A pinch of salt
1/2 a stick of soft butter
A squirt of lemon – if you have it
About 1/4 cup of chilled filtered water.
Directions for making pie crust:
In a large bowl put the flour and salt.
Add the 1/2 stick of butter.
Take two butter knives, one in each hand, using them like scissors, cut the butter into the flour.
Or use a pastry cutter.
Cut the butter down to peas size bits.
Add a squirt of lemon.
Cut the pastry some more.
Add chilled filtered water by the tablespoonful – usually ends up being about 3 or 4 tablespoons.
Keep cutting the flour until the water is absorbed.
Start mixing with your hands.
Squish the butter and mix the pastry until all of the flour is absorbed and you can form a ball.
Take the ball of pastry and either roll it out to fit into the pie pan, or flatten the ball with your hands and press the pastry into the pie pan, starting at the center and working in a concentric circle outwards.
Chill in the refrigerator until the rest of the ingredients are ready.
Make the filling:
This quiche has spinach, mushroom, and onion.
Chop all three vegetables into small bits.
In a saute pan or skillet dribble some olive oil.
Add some fresh ground pepper, dried basil, and dried thyme.
When the oil is hot, add the onions.
Saute the onions until almost clear.
Add the chopped mushrooms and spinach.
Saute until the vegetables sweat and the sweat is cooked off.
Remove from flame.
Make the egg mixture:
Number of eggs used depends on the size of the pie pan, the one used in the photo above was 8-inch.
In a bowl crack 4 eggs.
Add some milk or cream.
Whip with a whisk or an egg beater.
Add some ground black pepper.
Add some freshly ground nutmeg.
Whisk until thoroughly scrambled.
Putting it all together:
Take the pie crust out of the refrigerator.
Layer some shredded Ementhaler on the bottom of the pie crust.
On top of that add the spinach/mushroom/onion mixture.
Pour the egg mixture over the spinach.
Add some more shredded Ementhaler to not quite cover the top of the quiche.
Baking:
Put into a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes turn the oven down to 350 degrees.
Bake for 30 to 45 minutes longer.
Keep an eye on it.
If it’s baking too fast and starting to brown too fast on top, turn the oven down to 325.
The quiche is done when you stick it in the middle with a knife and it comes out clean.
Let cool a little bit before eating. You can eat this dish hot, warm or cold, at any time of day!
Et Voila!
Bon Appetit!
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