Spinach & Bacon Quiche

After that marathon blogging session with my Red Velvet Series, I thought it would be a good idea to take a small break from the sweet stuff. Not a long break, mind you! And I thought it would be good idea to show that we don't just live on desserts and sweet treats around here. We eat other stuff too. Like this.

I found some beautiful fresh spinach at the supermarket the other day, and for some reason, my daughter was intent on loading up our cart with nothing but spinach! We left the store with more spinach than we usually buy, and so I decided I would try something new.

This quiche was adapted from Paula Deen's recipe on the Food Network, and it turned out really great. Of course, how bad can it be when it has bacon, right? I adapted the quantities a little because a 9" tart sounded like too much for our family. I made a 6"  tart and we still had some left over.

Spinach-Bacon Quiche
Adapted from Paula Deen
Ingredients
Crust
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp ground pepper
1 egg yolk, cold

Filling
1 1/2 cup spinach leaves, chopped
200g cooked bacon, chopped
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup cheese, shredded (I used a mix of cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Method
1. To make the crust, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt and pepper.
2. Add the butter cubes, and with the tips of your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles coarse bread crumbs.
3. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolk and add into the bowl. Bring the dough together lightly with your finger tips taking care not to knead. If needed, add a few drops of cold water.
4. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
5. Roll out and line your pastry tin with the dough and prick all over with a fork.
6. To make the filling, combine the eggs, cream, salt and pepper and whisk until combined, or whiz for about 30 seconds in a blender.
7. Into the pie crust, layer the spinach, bacon and cheese.
8. Pour the egg-cream mixture over the layers in the crust.
9. Bake at 200 for about 45 minutes or until the center is set and the top is golden brown.
10. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before slicing into wedges.

For this tart, I made the crust, but a store-bought crust (refrigerated all-butter, NOT pre-baked), would work just as fine, and would be a lot quicker.

This is a really rich and filling quiche and everyone was happy with it. It was just cheesy enough for my daughter and she loved it. I made a simple salad to serve on the side, but my husband and daughter (who are not salad people), enjoyed eating just the quiche for lunch.

I hope everyone is having a lovely week! :)