Happy Tuesday!

As promised, I’m sharing with you a recipe for healthy and wholesome Spinach and Bacon Quiche.

With cuisine going global, there’s hardly anyone who hasn’t heard of a quiche.

This quintessential French pie with a crisp, crusty base and light cheesy filling is the ideal dish for a Spring time Brunch or a hearty mid-autumn meal.

However with us Mumbaikars there’s no real season like Spring or Autumn and one day is as good as the other. So on Sunday when Anna Shetty expressed a desire to eat quiche for lunch , I decided to take out my pie dish and make a healthy, wholesome quiche.

The recipe for the quiche is adapted from the original one found in ‘French Cooking’ by Jeni Wright. This book is one of a series from the St. Michael Cookery Library. Collecting recipe books is not exactly my passion because I often find that only a few recipes are ever used. However, I inherited this series from my sister-in-law who had outgrown these recipes after she graduated from Catering College.

Bacon and spinach quiche

For the pie crust you will need

175 / 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour
100 g of margarine/butter grated
1 egg yolk
Pinch of salt

To make the pie crust

Sift flour and add grated butter/ margarine that is cold . Rub in till mixture resembles bread crumbs.
Add egg yolk and mix in with cold water a little at a time till the dough just comes together.
Reserve the egg white
Chill in the fridge for 30 mins.

To make the filling you will need

1 medium onion finely chopped
2 cups of fresh spinach finely chopped
1 packet lean bacon
1 tspn olive oil
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 eggs
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Roll out the pastry dough on a floured surface and place into a greased and floured pie dish.

• Prick randomly with a fork and allow to bake blind for 10 minutes in an oven heated at 180 C

• After 10 mins, remove from oven and brush pastry case with beaten egg white and bake again for 5 mins.

• While the pastry dough is resting in the fridge, cook together the onion, bacon and spinach.

• Allow to cool while pastry case is baking

• Whisk together 4 eggs, 1 cup milk and add grated cheese.

• When pastry case is done, remove from oven and put cooked bacon, spinach and onion mixture.

• Top with egg, milk and cheese mixture and put back in oven to bake . This should take around 40 mins.

• When the top of the quiche is golden brown, remove from oven . Cut into wedges and serve.

Tip:

1. To bake blind put some raw beans on a baking sheet and place on the rolled out pastry and bake .
2. Bacon is salty so add the salt judiciously.

Do try this recipe and let me know how it turns out .

Bon appétit and au revoir!