spinach, bacon, and shiitake quiche

Have you ever looked in your fridge and seen this?

48 eggs!

And its not because I plan to dye them for Easter.  We’ve been out of town lately and the CSA keeps delivering them and I had some from HEB and it just added up without me realizing it.  I HATE to waste food so seeing them there bugged me because I was afraid they would go bad.  Soooo, I decided to use as many as possible for last night’s dinner, which meant quiche!

Here’s a pic of the eggs from Burro Malo Farm that I had to share — I don’t know why one is blue, but it sure is pretty!  Does anyone know why eggs turn blue?  Is it the chicken?  Do they taste different?

Also, we have this pretty dish that I have never used and I am not sure where it came from except that I sort of think it was my husband’s in college, which means it was my mother-in-law’s, but I don’t know why he would have brought a tart dish to college except that he is SUPER prepared for life.  I love that about him. 🙂

Okay, so now that you have had a tour of my unused dishes and egg collection, here’s how to throw dinner together. Note that I made a pie crust, but this is a major, major anomaly.  As much as I love scratch cooking, I just can’t get over how easy Pillsbury pie crusts are.  But last night Whitney went running and I had time to pull the homemade crust together.  You can definitely taste the butter (mmmmm!) and it was delicious, but next time I will probably use the premade crust.  That’s life.

So anyway, if you’re going to make the crust, blend flour, salt, and sugar in processor. Add butter; pulsing until coarse meal forms. Whisk 1 egg and the cold water in small bowl; add to flour mixture. Pulse again just until moist clumps form. Transfer to a bowl and knead with your hands until the dough forms into ball.  Butter a round tart pan. Press the dough into the bottom of the pan, then chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter large square of foil and press, butter side down, onto crust. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights. Using fork, pierce bottom of crust all over (about 10 times). Bake until golden, about 10 more minutes.

In a skillet, sauté the spinach until wilted then remove it to a cutting board a roughly chop.  Set aside.  Add the shallots, garlic and mushrooms to the pan with a little olive oil and sauté until the shallots are translucent.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Cook the bacon until crisp then crumble into small pieces.

Scatter the spinach, mushroom mixture, and bacon on the cooked crust.  In a medium bowl, mix the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper and mustard powder.  Pour the egg mixture over the crust and vegetables.  Scatter the shredded cheese on top.

Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F, until eggs are set.

Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Spinach, Bacon, and Shiitake Quiche

Crust
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 stick butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, cold
1 large egg
2-3 tbsp cold water

Filling
6 eggs
1/4 c milk
1 package baby spinach
6 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, finely chopped
2-3 slices bacon
1/4 c aged gouda, shredded
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper and mustard powder, to taste

For the crust:
Blend flour, salt, and sugar in processor. Add butter; pulsing until coarse meal forms. Whisk 1 egg and the cold water in small bowl; add to flour mixture. Pulse again just until moist clumps form. Transfer to a bowl and knead with your hands until the dough forms into ball.  Butter a round tart pan. Press the dough into the bottom of the pan, then chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter large square of foil and press, butter side down, onto crust. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights. Using fork, pierce bottom of crust all over (about 10 times). Bake until golden, about 10 more minutes.

For the filling:
In a skillet, sauté the spinach until wilted then remove it to a cutting board a roughly chop.  Set aside.  Add the shallots, garlic and mushrooms to the pan with a little olive oil and sauté until the shallots are translucent.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Cook the bacon until crisp then crumble into small pieces.  Scatter the spinach, mushroom mixture, and bacon on the cooked crust.

In a medium bowl, mix the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper and mustard powder.  Pour the egg mixture over the crust and vegetables.  Scatter the shredded cheese on top, then bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.