France - Breakfast - Spinach and Gruyère Quiche

When I first went to Paris and had my first dinner, I had quiche as my first course. Since then, it's been one of my favorite meals. I get it every time I see it on a restaurant menu, and really enjoyed making my own for my family. You can put whatever you want in your quiche, but personally I love to put cheese, onions and spinach in mine. Quiche can be for breakfast, lunch, brunch or dinner depending on what you put in it, so you can just use the egg mixture as a base. I used this recipe, which made the whole process very simple, but if you wanted to have quiche spur of the moment, just use a ready made pie crust.

Ingredients:

Crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Filling (halve if making just one quiche)
1 tablespoon butter
3 shallots, minced
3 bunches flat-leaf spinach, thick stems removed and leaves roughly chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (about 2 cups)
8 large organic eggs
3 cups half-and-half
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 9" pie plates

Directions:

For the crust

1. To make the dough for the pie crust, mix 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon each salt and sugar in a medium-size bowl. Cut 2 sticks chilled unsalted butter into pieces. With a pastry blender (I just used two knives), cut in butter, working until mixture resembles coarse meal.

2. Add 4 tablespoons ice water; work with hands until dough comes together. If dough is still crumbly, add more ice water a tablespoon at a time (up to 4 more tablespoons). Do not overwork.
Divide dough in half, and flatten halves into disks. Wrap disks separately in plastic; freeze for 2-3 hours until mostly frozen.

3. Using a cheese grater, grate one disk into your pie plate. Using your fingers, press the dough evenly on the bottom or sides; covering the pan fully and evenly. (You can make two quiches if you want, or save the second disk for another day)

For Filling

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. In a large skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add as much spinach to skillet as will fit; season with salt and pepper, and toss, adding more spinach as room becomes available, until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Layer spinach mixture and cheese on prepared crust.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Pour egg mixture into crust.

4. Bake until center of quiche is just set, 30-40 minutes, rotating Let quiche stand 5 minutes before serving.