Oui, oui, le quiche!

I wanted to make something tasty with some spinach that's beginning to think about getting soggy in our fridge, and after I remembered a bag of dried forest mushrooms in the cabinet quiche seemed like the obvious choice. When I've made quiche with fresh mushrooms in the past it always turns out soggy, no matter how long I cook the mushrooms down first! Hopefully the dried ones will solve that problem. (Post-baking edit: it did!) I used 5 eggs this time because although they are supposed to be "medium" they were quite tiny! Gruyere or Swiss are traditional cheeses for quiche; I used a small block of Gruyere and a small block of Jarlsberg, which is a Norwegian Swisslike soft cheese. I don't have a tried and true recipe for homemade crust yet, so I used one from our local co-op-- no hydrogenated oils and no ruined quiche either! You can use the basic porportions of this recipe to make any kind of quiche, just remember to cook down water-heavy veggies first or go for dried versions instead.


Spinach and Forest Mushroom Quiche
1 pie crust
1 handful dried forest mushrooms, snipped in small pieces
3 large handfuls fresh spinach, braised in garlic and olive oil*
1 3/4 c. shredded cheese
3 large eggs (or 5 small!), beaten slightly
1 c. milk
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Sprinkle veggies and cheese in your crust, then combine the egg, milk, and s&p and pour it over top.


Bake for 35-45 minutes, turning once, or until golden brown on top and a knife inserted in the middle leaves a clean slit. Easy!


*To braise: Heat about a t. of olive oil in a heavy skillet. Add thinly sliced garlic (1 or 2 cloves) and cook on medium heat for a couple minutes. Then add spinach, a handful at a time, and stir occasionally until it is wilted and dark green, a few minutes. Remove from heat. Salt lightly if desired, and try not to burn your fingers sampling it from the hot skillet like I did.



Braising is my absolute favorite way to prepare spinach. So, my afternoon snack was an egg over easy with braised spinach on toast. Yum!