A Quicky: Spinach Quiche

Tonight I'm incredibly excited. I made my first recipe ever from Julia Child's (et al) Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I've loved Julia Child since I became interested in cooking, but never had any of her cookbooks. Then Darren's school began renovations, and, as all schools do during renovations or relocations, threw away library books. Along with far too many novels, Darren brought home a 1966 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, before there was even a Volume 2. Yay! So tonight I made a spinach quiche, or a quicky, as Darren likes to call them.
To make the quiche, I made a pate brisee (short crust) pp. 139-141, frozen spinach pp. 575-576, and the quiche itself, p. 153. I would have used fresh spinach, but you can't find fresh, non-bagged, non-baby spinach around here for love or money. Luckily, the book has great tips for using frozen vegetables.

I can't explain the whole quiche recipe here, because of copyright laws, but I definitely recommend the Art of French Cooking recipe. The only problem with using Mastering the Art of French Cooking, at least an older version, is that it is written for the tastes of at least thirty or forty years ago. That means everything will have more fat, more butter, and more salt than you would normally use. After eating two small pieces of quiche, Darren and I felt like bloated seals. Next time I make this, I'm going to cut down on butter and salt.

But putting first things first, you've got to make the crust. I made it in the food processor, then chilled in the freezer for an hour. Then I baked it blind, which does not involve handkerchiefs, but instead rice and aluminum foil. You pre-bake a crust weighted down with rice, beans, or actual pie weights, then let it cool slightly before filling.

Then comes the spinach. Julia et al. give a technique which I love, but Darren dislikes. Try is and see. Defrost your spinach (don't use chopped) slightly, then chop up the square of spinach. Then cook it up. If following Art's recipe, you'll cook it with lots of butter. By chopping the frozen spinach, it becomes chopped spinach but doesn't fall apart and cooks much more quickly than a big frozen chunk. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and anything else you think tastes good.

With your partially baked crust and butter spinach, you've almost got a quiche. According to the recipe, mix up cream or milk, eggs, and maybe some Swiss or Gruyere cheese. Mix together with the spinach and spoon into the crust. I like to use a tart pan with a removable bottom, as it's easier to put the quiche on a platter. Make sure to butter the pan well, or it will stick.

Often, your pie or tart pan will be too small to contain all the filling. In that dire situation, make timbales. We baked the spinach-egg mixture with a little more cheese and then reheated them the next morning for breakfast with a little crusty bread. Bon appetit!