Egg Recipe: Feta & Spinach Quiche (with Homemade Pie Crust)



 We've had a surplus of eggs lately, despite giving plenty away, so I thought it would be a good time to make a quiche.  It required a whopping 7 eggs.

Feta & Spinach Quiche (6 servings)

HOMEMADE PIE CRUST (makes 2 crusts for 9 inch pans):

• 1 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 3 cups flour
• 1 whole egg
• 5 T cold water
• 1 T distilled white vinegar
• 1 tsp salt

Using a pastry cutter, mix the shortening into the flour and salt.  Do this for about 5 minutes, until the mixture looks like a pile of small pebbles. 

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg with a fork, then add it to the flour mixture.  Add cold water and white vinegar.  Stir ingredients together.

Once they're well-incorporated, separate the dough into two halves.  Place one half in a Ziploc bag and put in the freezer for later.  Let the other half cool in the fridge.

Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll it out on a floured surface.  The rolled dough should be a bit larger in diameter than the pie pan.  Once the dough is ready, place it in the pie pan and carefully press it to conform to the shape of the pan.  Tuck dough hanging over the edge underneath itself, then pinch the edge to make it a bit prettier.

FETA & SPINACH QUICHE

• 1 homemade pie crust for 9 in. pan
• EGG MIXTURE:
• 7 whole eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp salt & pepper
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• FILLING:
• 1 cup caramelized onions
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 cup wilted spinach
• 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese

First, caramelize the onion.  Heat 1-2 T vegetable oil (or olive oil) on a frying pan over medium heat.  Peel and slice one yellow onion and place in the pan and stir to coat the slices in the oil.  Once they start to brown, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to stir periodically.  After about 30 minutes, they should reach a deep brown color.

To wilt the spinach, place about 2 cups of washed spinach into a pan with a few T water over high heat.  Stir the spinach around until it has wilted.  (You'll be using 1 cup of wilted spinach for the recipe).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the filling layer-by-layer into the pie crust (with the feta on top). 

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, mustard, pepper, and salt together.  Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust.

Bake for about 45 minutes.