I haven’t made quiche in a while, I’m not good at making pastry but I cheated, yes I cheated! I brought shop brought short crust, I didn’t want to spend a long time in the kitchen as I was planning to make paella for dinner that evening and no, I wasn’t going to have the quiche for dinner as well. It was for the next day! I always find quiche quite a long winded thing to make, espically if your making your own pastry. I know I cheated this time BUT I do need to practise and get my pastry game on, so it’s on point! Perfect that damn pastry, however I was amazed when I made my Eggless blackforest tart, this tart case actually worked out, shockingly.
I do love a good mushroom quiche, and my aunt is really good at making them, however she has been slacking as I’ve not eaten one of her quiches in a while! I thought from the usual mushroom, I would try something different. This recipe appealed to me a lot as I just love spinach anyway and feta cheese even though it’s slightly salty it has such a nice flavour and then to top it off there’s rich and creamy mascarpone! Like the original recipe states it’s has flavours of Spanakopita, which didn’t click to me a first but yeh of course, no wonder I was drawn to this recipe as I loveeeeee eating that! Unfortunately I did a bit of adapting as there wasn’t any ricotta when I went to buy it at the supermarket so I subed it for mascarpone which is close enough. To the recipe, I added extra flavours to suit my palette but those are optional.
I absolutely loved this quiche, dare to say more than the mushroom, but that is a bold statement, let’s say they are both different but both are good. Apart from the pastry case this recipe is pretty simple. I would suggest to cook and cool the spinach ahead of time just so it can be put together quicker. This recipe is a keeper and I will be making it again, yummy.
- 1 packet - shortcrust pastry
- 450g - frozen spinach
- 250g - mascarpone cheese
- 4 - large eggs beaten
- 100ml - double cream
- half red onion - finely chopped
- 1/2 a 25g packet - parsley finely chopped
- 3 - garlic cloves finely chopped/minced
- 1/2 tsp - salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 200g - feta cheese
- red chilli flakes to taste (optional)
- 3/4 tsp - dried oregano (optional)
- 1. Grease a rectangle or 25cm round tart pan.
- 2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry to about the thickness of a pound coin and transfer it to tart tin. Press the pastry into the corners and leave the excess overhanging. Prick the base all over with a fork then place in the freezer or fridgefor 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C.
- 3. Line the pastry case with baking parchment or tin foil, making sure there is some overhanging. Fill with baking beans, making sure that the sides are propped up then bake for 20 minutes.
- 4. Once baked remove the beans and parchment, return to the oven for a further 10 mins, until golden. Remove from the oven and use a very sharp serrated knife to trim off the excess pastry, set aside.
- 1. Cook the spinach then place it in a sieve and press on it firmly to extract as much excess liquid as possible. Once you can handle it, finely chop it and leave to cool. Meanwhile in a large bowl mix the mascarpone so it's smooth, then add the eggs, cream, salt, garlic, pepper, chilli flakes, oregano then whisk and finely add the spinach and onions mix until combined. Then add two thirds of the feta, give a quick mix.
- 6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pastry case and spread it level, then crumble over the remaining feta.
- 7. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until set in the middle. Cover loosely with foil partway through baking if the top starts to colour too much.
- 8. Allow to cool for about half an hour before serving.
