Spinach Quiche

For dinner Friday, I decided to make a nice vegetable quiche (Catholic = no meat on Fridays in our house).  I found a nice recipe for a spinach quiche on Smitten Kichen's page and played around with it a little and came up with my version - Spinach, caramelized onion and mushroom quiche.

For the crust, this recipe from Martha Stewart is super easy and it makes enough for two crusts which is great because you just freeze the other and have it on hand for the next quiche or pie or whatever.  If you hate the idea of making your own crust, you can always buy a pre-made crust (unless you live in Rio because I have definitely not seen them in the grocery stores here). I made the crust the day before and left in the freezer overnight.  I took it out in the morning and let it defrost in the fridge all day.

For the quiche, preheat the oven to 425.  Then, caramelize the onions and mushrooms.  This takes maybe 30-45 minutes because you want to do it at a low heat and give the onions time to get nice and brown and delicious.  You can always do this earlier in the day (or the day before) to save time.  Once the onions and mushrooms are almost done, throw in a minced garlic clove to add a little more deliciousness. Remove from heat and let cool a little.

Caramelizing the onions/mushrooms.  They aren't quite done here but getting close.

Next,  take the cream cheese and and beat until nice and fluffy.  Then add the eggs, one at a time and beat before adding the next egg.  After that add the half and half.  I couldn't find half and half here so I made it (half milk, half cream, duh).  Next add the onion/mushroom mix, drained spinach, cheese, green onions and salt and pepper.  Mix well and pour into the pie crust.  Bake until the top is nicely browned and the the filling is set (not jiggly). Let cool and rest for a few minutes.


1/2- 1 medium onion, chopped (I used 1/2 an onion but next time will use a whole one)
5 oz shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup half and half
3 eggs
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup grated Gruyere
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

I served this with a nice salad, fresh fruit (mango and papaya) and some extra Gruyere cheese chunks.

Tilapia Meuneire, Mushroom Risotto and Green Beans with Carmelized Shallots

Last night we had some good friends over for dinner.  Since it was a weeknight, I wanted to do something kind of simple.  I came up with  the titled menu.  The Tilapia was really easy - just dredge it in seasoned flour and pan fry it until golden brown on each side.  Then melt some butter in the pan until it gets frothy and top each filet with lemon juice, freshly minced parsley and butter.  Delicious and easy!!  Mushroom risotto is easy but you have to stay by the stove while cooking it.  No problem!  I had a nice glass of white wine (which I had to open since it was going in the risotto) while I stirred away.  The green beans and caramelized shallots is one of my favorite side dishes.  It looks so pretty and tastes phenomenal! (Can you believe I forgot to take a picture of the finished dish???!!)  I always feel weird about taking photos of my dishes when we have guests.  LOL!  This dish isn't difficult and I got it started earlier in the day.  I blanched the green beans in salted boiling water for about 6 minutes then shocked them in ice water to stop the cooking.  Drained them and put them in the fridge until needed.



The shallots I started a couple of hours ahead of time.  They take about 15-20 minutes to get a good brown caramelization on them and they fill the entire house with a wonderful smell.  Once everything else was done, I just reheated the green beans and shallots until nice and hot.















It was a wonderful dinner with good friends and conversation.  We finished off the night with some chocolate almond cake (with a raspberry glaze).  I love cooking for friends, especially friends who appreciate a good meal.  I was even asked to give cooking lessons!!