Pat’s Quiche

Charlie's sister Pat made this quiche for us when we visited her in August 2010. Pat calls this Curves Quiche. It was delicious. Note that it doesn't have any flour in the crust, only vegetables and a tiny bit of corn meal, so it's low-carb and gluten free. We've modified the original recipe slightly: made a much thicker crust (because it's so good) and replaced fat-free half and half with low fat sour cream, because that's what we had and it worked great and what the heck is fat-free half and half, anyway?

It's fun and easy to make. Makes 1 pie, approx. 6 servings. (We usually double the recipe to make 2 pies.

Crust looks burned in the picture but that's just the browned spinach. Delicious.

A note about the mushrooms: We found that when we use portobello mushrooms (or baby bellas as they often sell at Costco), the crust is thicker. When we used white mushrooms, it is still good but they cooked down a whole lot more and crust was thinner. So, if you use white mushrooms, you might use 3 or more cups instead of 2-1/2 cups as indicated below. We haven't used any other kinds of mushrooms so far.

Course Main Course

Servings 6

Ingredients

Crust Ingredients:

2 T. oil, or more as needed
1/2 onion, thinly sliced (not chopped!)
2-1/2 cups mushrooms, thinly sliced (possibly use more — see above note)
2-1/2 to 3 cups fresh spinach or baby kale, chopped (lightly packed)
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. black pepper
3 T. yellow cornmeal

Filling Ingredients:

4 eggs (this is two less than original recipe but seems to be plenty)
1/2 cup sour cream (low or full fat)
1/4 t. salt
dash of pepper
5 ounces cheddar cheese, grated (this is one oz. less than original recipe)
Optional but highly recommended: If you have some fresh tomatoe, sslice 1/8" to 1/4" thick and spread a layer on top before cooking. (Very pretty and taste fantastic.)
Optional but highly recommended: Throw in some lightly cooked chopped veges and/or diced cooked ham and/or sliced cooked sausage (broccoli is good; chicken sausage is good)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat oil in skillet.
Add onions and mushrooms and saute until they start to brown. (It takes a while. The mushrooms get watery when you start to cook them so cook till moisture has evaporated off and mushrooms just start to brown. We found that white mushrooms are more watery than baby bellas.)
Add spinich, salt and pepper and cook a few minutes more.
Stir in cornmeal.
Lightly grease a 9″ pie plate (cooking spray works well).
Press crust mixture into pie plate and shape as a crust.
In separate bowl, beat eggs, sour cream, salt, and pepper.
Fold in cheese and any other filling ingredients, except tomatoes.
Pour filling into crust.
Add a layer of fresh tomato slices on top, if you’re doing that.
Bake until done in center, about 40 minutes. (Test with a toothpick.)

Variations (try at your own risk, not yet tested):

Use more spinach. (We are already using more than twice the original recipe but might work with more.)
Use more onion.
Add chopped garlic to the crust.
Experiment with different kinds of cheese.
Heck, it might be good with blue cornmeal instead of yellow cornmeal.