Spinach and Cheese Egg Quiche

Lately I've been searching for fresh ideas for our breakfast.  Since we have eggs in some form every morning, I'm trying to think of new ways to cook them.

Then I recalled an egg quiche my mom used to make.  To my dismay, she said she no longer had the recipe.  Sigh.  So I set out to find a new recipe and adapted one from Food 52.

The first version I made was crustless and while that's certainly easier and saves time, the second version I made with a crust was FAR more delicious.  The combination of the crispy buttery crust with tender custard filling and savory cheese and spinach had me going back for seconds and thirds.

I served this for dinner and put away the leftovers to reheat in the toaster oven for breakfast.  I'm looking forward to having some variety in our breakfast now!

Recipe Notes:

Crust:  I recommend this grain free paleo pie crust recipe from Paleo Running Mama, but you can use any pie crust you like.

Cheese: I used Dubliner from Costco, which is a dry cheese similar to parmesan, but other kinds work as well.

Milk: Most quiche recipes I looked at called for half and half or cream and milk.  I found that whole milk yielded a delicious quiche, but I'm sure including cream or half and half would be even more decadent. 

Spinach and Cheese Egg Quiche

Adapted from Food 52

• 1 pie crust (I used this one)
• 1 T. oil
• 5 oz. fresh spinach
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 5 eggs (about 10 oz. total)
• 1 2/3 cup milk
• 3 T. tapioca starch (the original recipe calls for regular flour)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 375.  Place the pie crust in a pie pan and bake for 8 minutes, or until just barely set.  Remove from oven.

Reduce oven temperature to 325.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet.  Add spinach and saute until wilted and reduced in volume.  (Cooking the spinach is a necessary step to remove the water content.)  Add the minced garlic and saute briefly until golden and fragrant.

Combine the eggs, milk, tapioca starch, salt and pepper and beat or blend thoroughly.

Sprinkle half of the cheese in the bottom of the pie crust.  Add the cooked spinach in an even layer.  Top with the remaining cheese.  Gently pour the milk and egg mixture over the cheese and spinach.

If the pie pan is full, place it on a baking sheet to prevent it from bubbling over into the oven.

Bake at 325 for 50 minutes, or until it "no longer shimmies when shaken" as the original recipe says.

Allow to cool for several minutes before serving.