Quiche, aka Man Food

I love the expression "real men don't eat quiche". It comes in handy when I want to make fun of J, because I serve quiche for dinner at least a couple of times a month. He even takes the leftovers for lunch the next day. Clearly, I married a "fake" man. But I digress.

Quiche is extremely versatile, both in terms of the ingredients and in terms of when you can serve it. It really works for any meal - even J, who is adamantly opposed to the notion of breakfast foods for dinner, happily eats this during the evening hours. And aside from the pie crust, quiche is actually quite healthy. I make it for dinner on a regular basis because I tend to always have the ingredients around, and if you lay in a couple of those pre-made pie crusts, it's a pretty quick meal to prepare. The recipe below is for a basic spinach and tomato quiche, but you can play around with the fillings to suit your taste. I've done asparagus, red bell pepper, and goat cheese to good effect, and anytime I have leftover stinky cheese (frequently) it goes in a quiche. In fact, I often make quiche for the express purpose of using up leftover stinky cheese. I usually make a meatless quiche, but if you'd prefer to include meat, ham is an obvious choice.

5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
about 1 cup frozen chopped spinach
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/3 cup cheese (parmesan or cheddar)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk the milk and eggs until slightly frothy. Whisk in seasoning. Add defrosted spinach*, tomatoes, and cheese, and stir until combined. Place pie crust in the pie plate and pour the egg mixture in. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and a knife inserted into the egg mixture comes out clean. This makes about 6-8 servings.

If I am serving this for dinner, I usually serve it with roasted sweet potatoes. Very easy to do, just peel and cube 2 or 3 large sweet potatoes, toss with a couple tablespoons olive oil, salt, and pepper, throw them in a covered casserole dish and bake alongside the quiche until fork tender, about 30 minutes. If I am serving this for brunch, I like to offer it along with a fruit salad and some form of incredibly unhealthy breakfast meat. If I am serving it for lunch, it's good with something like butternut squash soup.

*Defrosting frozen spinach is kind of a tricky business because you basically need to wring it out after it's defrosted. I just dump the whole soggy mess onto a couple of paper towels, wrap it up, and keep squeezing until I'm not getting any more liquid out. You will then be left with a tiny dark green ball that doesn't look the least bit appetizing. Throw it in the bowl and use your spoon to break it up enough to combine it with the rest of the ingredients.