When it comes to breakfast meals, few things can beat a good old quiche. It has a delectably creamy filling that is perfectly paired with a flaky pie crust. You can easily make the dish the night before so there is no fuss in the morning. And it can be filled with just about any ingredient imaginable. But today I want to focus on a very classic style, quiche florentine (spinach quiche).
What makes a quiche, a quiche?
Quiche is often grouped together with other baked breakfast dishes like frittatas, breakfast casseroles, and Spanish tortillas. And to be fair there are a lot of similarities between these dishes. They all use a mixture of eggs & dairy as their main filling. They often incorporate savory ingredients like breakfast meats & vegetables. And most noticeably, they’re all baked. However, there are two main things that really set a quiche apart from the rest.
- The custard filling: Unlike most baked breakfast dishes which are mainly made out of eggs, a quiche is actually a type of savory custard. This means that it has just as much if not more dairy in its filling compared to the amount of eggs used. In fact, a common ratio for quiche filling is ½ cup of dairy (either milk or cream) for every egg. And while this might not seem like that big of a difference, it does result in a smooth and more velvety texture.
- The pie crust: The second most defining feature of a quiche is that it’s baked in a pie crust. Which shouldn’t be that surprising, it is a custard after all. But to me, the textural difference between the creamy filling and flaky pie crust is what really sets a quiche apart from the others.
Why you should make your quiche florentine the night before
Quiche is traditionally meant to be eaten at room temperature which is why it is often made the night before eating it. However, even if you prefer to eat your quiche warm, there are still a couple of reasons why you should make it the night before.
For starters, making it the night before will save you the trouble of having to make your quiche in the morning. And I don’t know about you but the morning is my least favorite time to cook, I can be a little bit cranky. But more importantly, is the fact that a quiche needs at least an hour or two after baking to properly set up. So unless you get up really early you probably won’t be able to enjoy your quiche till lunchtime. And no one wants to wait around that long to enjoy quiche.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- As I stated above we are going to need a pie crust for making our quiche florentine. And while you can use store-bought pie crust, I suggest that you try out our recipe for homemade pie crust. It’s incredibly simple to make, and tastes so much better!
- What cheese should you use in your quiche florentine? Personally, I like to use a mixture of gruyere and white cheddar. However, you really can use any cheese that you like whether it’s mozzarella, parmesan, asiago, or even blue cheese.
- While you can use a regular old pie pan for this recipe I prefer to use a tart pan that has removable sides. It will really make presenting and serving the quiche florentine a lot easier.
- As I said quiche is traditionally meant to be eaten either cool or at room temperature. However, you can still have warm/hot quiche by either microwaving it for a couple of seconds or by placing it in a 200 degree℉ oven for a couple of minutes.
- Once you’ve mastered this quiche florentine try experimenting by adding in some other ingredients like mushrooms, asparagus, and ham. Or try out our other traditional quiche recipe, quiche lorraine, which includes bacon!
- One optional step that I highly recommend is blind baking your pie crust. While it’s not necessary it will result in a crust that isn’t soggy. So if you want to learn more about how to do it then I suggest you read our lesson on the topic.
Quiche Florentine (Spinach Quiche) Recipe
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients
1 Pie crust, either homemade or store-bought
1 Tablespoon of butter
3 Shallots, peeled and sliced thin
2 Cups of fresh baby spinach
1 Cup of grated cheese, gruyere or cheddar
For the custard filling:
2 Whole eggs
2 Egg yolks
1 Cup of milk
1 Cup of heavy cream
½ Teaspoon of salt
½ Teaspoon of black pepper
⅛ Teaspoon of ground nutmeg
⅛ Teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176 Celcius).
- Form the crust into a tart pan: Get out the pie dough and roll it out until it is roughly a 12-inch diameter circle. Then place the dough into a 1 to 1 ½ inch tall and 10-inch wide tart pan and lightly press it into the sides and bottom.
Use a knife to cut off any excess pie dough that is overhanging the tart pan. Place this in your fridge for 30 minutes to cool before moving on to the optional next step of blind baking.
- (Optional) Blind bake the pie crust: This step isn’t necessary but it will result in a pie crust that isn’t soggy. To do it simply cover the pie crust with either heavy-duty aluminum foil or parchment paper. Then fill the cavity up with either uncooked beans, uncooked rice, sugar, or store-bought pie weights. Then place this into your oven and let it bake for 20 minutes until it is partially cooked.
- Cook the shallots & spinach: Get out a skillet, place it over medium-high heat and melt the tablespoon of butter in it. Toss in the sliced shallots and sautee them for roughly 5 minutes, or until they are soft and translucent. Then add in the spinach and continue cooking until it is all wilted and most of its moisture has evaporated.
Remove the cooked shallots and spinach from the skillet and set them aside to cool completely.
- Make the custard filling: Get out a mixing bowl and add the eggs, egg yolks, cream, milk, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and pepper to it. Then whisk this all together until it is uniform.
- Assemble the quiche: Get out your pie crust and line the bottom of it with the cooked shallots and spinach.
Follow this up with the shredded cheese.
Finally, pour the custard filling over everything and use either a spoon or fork to agitate everything so that the filling gets into every nook and cranny.
- Bake the quiche: Carefully place the quiche in your oven and let it bake for 30 to 40 minutes. If you are worried about spillage then I recommend you place the tart pan on a baking sheet. You will know the quiche is cooked when the top has lightly browned and when a toothpick poked into the filling comes out clean.
- Let it rest: As you take the quiche florentine out of the oven you might notice that it still jiggles a little. Don’t worry that is perfectly normal as the quiche hasn’t fully set yet. All you need to do is let it rest for at least an hour or preferably overnight.
- After the quiche florentine has been given time to set it is ready to be sliced up and enjoyed.
Quiche Florentine (Spinach Quiche) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Pie crust either homemade or store-bought
- 1 Tablespoon of butter
- 3 Shallots peeled and sliced thin
- 2 Cups of fresh baby spinach
- 1 Cup of grated cheese gruyere or cheddar
For the custard filling:
- 2 Whole eggs
- 2 Egg yolks
- 1 Cup of milk
- 1 Cup of heavy cream
- ½ Teaspoon of salt
- ½ Teaspoon of black pepper
- ⅛ Teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- ⅛ Teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176 Celcius).
- Form the crust into a tart pan: Get out the pie dough and roll it out until it is roughly a 12-inch diameter circle. Then place the dough into a 1 to 1 ½ inch tall and 10-inch wide tart pan and lightly press it into the sides and bottom. Use a knife to cut off any excess pie dough that is overhanging the tart pan. Place this in your fridge for 30 minutes to cool before moving on to the optional next step of blind baking.
- (Optional) Blind bake the pie crust: This step isn’t necessary but it will result in a pie crust that isn’t soggy. To do it simply cover the pie crust with either heavy-duty aluminum foil or parchment paper. Then fill the cavity up with either uncooked beans, uncooked rice, sugar, or store-bought pie weights. Then place this into your oven and let it bake for 20 minutes until it is partially cooked.
- Cook the shallots & spinach: Get out a skillet, place it over medium-high heat and melt the tablespoon of butter in it. Toss in the sliced shallots and sautee them for roughly 5 minutes, or until they are soft and translucent. Then add in the spinach and continue cooking until it is all wilted and most of its moisture has evaporated. Remove the cooked shallots and spinach from the skillet and set them aside to cool completely.
- Make the custard filling: Get out a mixing bowl and add the eggs, egg yolks, cream, milk, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and pepper to it. Then whisk this all together until it is uniform.
- Assemble the quiche: Get out your pie crust and line the bottom of it with the cooked shallots and spinach. Follow this up with the shredded cheese. Finally, pour the custard filling over everything and use either a spoon or fork to agitate everything so that the filling gets into every nook and cranny.
- Bake the quiche: Carefully place the quiche in your oven and let it bake for 30 to 40 minutes. If you are worried about spillage then I recommend you place the tart pan on a baking sheet. You will know the quiche is cooked when the top has lightly browned and when a toothpick poked into the filling comes out clean.
- Let it rest: As you take the quiche florentine out of the oven you might notice that it still jiggles a little. Don’t worry that is perfectly normal as the quiche hasn’t fully set yet. All you need to do is let it rest for at least an hour or preferably overnight.
- After the quiche florentine has been given time to set it is ready to be sliced up and enjoyed.
