Recipes & Cooking: November 2005 Archives

I made quiche today, a very ladies-luncheon thing to serve one of my mom-friends who's expecting her second. Spinach for folic acid, an aged jack cheese for a salty sharpness, omega-3-fortified eggs for that little developing brain. I used a mixture of milk and half-and-half to get some richness without too much fat and a prepared refrigerated crust and frozen chopped spinach because my baby boy is teething and not the most reliable napper lately (timesavers).

I parbaked the crust in a 9-inch pie plate in a 450 degree oven, under foil and pie weights (rice, because I love the toasty rice smell it makes) for 9 minutes and 4 minutes without. Then I turned the oven down to 325 degrees. Meanwhile I mixed 3/4 cup each milk and half-and-half with 3 eggs, salt, nutmeg and thawed frozen chopped spinach I had squeezed dry. Added about a cup of shredded cheese that I had tossed with about a tablespoon of flour. Poured that into the still-warm crust and baked it at the lower temperature for almost an hour. I had to cover the edge of the crust with foil to keep it from burning (starting to think a pie shield would be a good idea). It turned out pretty good, kind of a soft set custard with lots of spinach.