When I told Kathy I was thinking of doing a Blog on quiches, her comment was that it should have been done during the summer. Quiche and salad sounds summery – but quiche and soup sounds pretty good too!
Since living in Scottsdale, I am in any case, never quite sure what season we are in as the weather is, by and large, beautiful. This is, of course, easy to say now that the heat of yet another summer has passed.
Add to this, having spent most of my life in the Southern hemisphere, the months and seasons never quite synch anyway.
So does it really matter what the season is!
Quiche is easy to make and totally versatile – depending on what you have in your fridge and pantry. A quiche served with salad or soup is a substantial, nutritious and satisfying meal – or served with drinks makes the perfect snack.
Rating
- 1½ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (plus 1-2 tablespoons) vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 5-8 ounces spinach
- 4-6 ounces feta cheese
- ground nutmeg
- pepper or crushed red peppercorns, optional
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Using a knife or spatula, mix the crust ingredients together in a bowl or pie dish. Add a little more oil as needed. Press onto the base and round the side of a pie dish or 9-inch, loose-bottomed quiche pan.
- Prick the base and place on a lined baking tray – to avoid unnecessary cleaning after possible seepage.
- Bake at 400˚F for 10 minutes. Set aside.
- Rinse the spinach and heat in a saucepan until just wilted. Cut coarsely and drain well, reserving the liquid - see Notes. Use the back of a spoon to press out excess liquid.
- Spread the spinach evenly over the base of the quiche.
- Crumble the feta on top.
- Sprinkle with nutmeg and pepper.
- Beat the eggs, milk and salt together in a large jug and carefully pour over the filling.
- Bake at 375˚F for 30 minutes. If not quite set, lower the oven temperature to 350˚F and bake for a further 10-15 minutes.
- Serve at room temperature.
Fillings can be varied and adjusted as per the ingredients available.
Sauté a small onion and 3-4 ounces bacon and use instead of the spinach. Most other meats would be suitable too.
Add a cup of shredded cheddar or cheese of choice instead of the feta.
Mustard, garlic and chili can be added to taste.
Individual quiches can be made in muffin pans.
Lucy says
Olive oil works great in the crust.
Noleen du Toit says
Just a query, I have managed to translate most of the American names for various foodstuffs and herbs. What is half and half? I gather it is a dairy product, but, half and half of milk, cream………..?
aileen says
Noel, it is confusing as we have this wide choice of different creams. Years ago in Toronto we had friends for supper and I couldn’t get the cream to whip – I obviously hadn’t looked beyond “cream” on the container.
The heavier the cream, the higher the fat content. Half and half has about 12% fat; light cream, about 20% fat and won’t whip; light whipping cream, about 30% fat; whipping cream, 35% fat and heavy cream or heavy whipping cream, about 38% fat. I use the heavy whipping cream most of the time and half and half (half cream, half milk) is super in coffee!
Noleen du Toit says
Hi Aileen,
Thanks for the recipe. I never quite know what to make for lunch, but I picked a nice bunch of spinach yesterday, and now I have my recipe with salad of course. Lovely weather here in Cape Town.
aileen says
Super hearing from you, Noel. What a treat to be able to pick a bunch of spinach from your garden – I do miss that. We are generally still a bit warmer than Cape Town, but the weather is beautiful here too. Enjoy!!