The Best Laid Plans

Well, that didn’t go as planned.  For this past Friday I had decided to make a simple dinner using tried and true recipes from one of my cookbooks.  Then my day went completely sideways.  I thought I had all the things I needed to make a quiche and that I could prep in the morning, so I let my husband the enabler seduce me into going to a movie on Thursday afternoon because he said, “we are retired, we can go to the movies any time we want”.  The fact that he is not really retired but just works from home did not raise red flags for me.  Sigh. So, on Friday morning when I went to the freezer to find that the crust I had put there was for a small pie tin I was a little annoyed. Then every other ingredient turned up missing or inadequate.  In addition, I had forgotten the private lesson I had scheduled at 3:00 for a sewing student at the quilt shop. Double sigh.  Never fear, I pulled it out in the end and even managed to make a passable quiche.  I channeled Sally Schneider author of one of my reference cookbooks: The Improvisational Cook. This is a book that’s really about freeing yourself from the tyranny of recipes.  So I winged it, using what I had, and adjusting for time constraints.  I even had time to bake a batch of sugar cookies for dessert and dip some of them in chocolate.  My neighbor came over with her two delightful children and we had tea and sampled Mr. Ed’s cookies. This was to the delight of her three-year-old son who loves nothing more than getting one over on Mr. Ed in the treat department. Louis is, as his sister says, exceptionally cute and is the darling of the block.  He thinks my house is an endless source of treats since every time his mother and I have tea there are scones or cookies or something sweet.  For a while he was calling me Ms. Jackie Yum Yum, but since turning three, he seems to have given that up. It’s a pity, I liked being Ms. Jackie Yum Yum.  Here is the full recipe for spinach and mushroom quiche.  I didn’t have mushrooms so I left them out.   Don’t be intimidated by all the steps and ingredients.  It goes together pretty quickly and is practically foolproof.  It pairs well with a nice salad, white wine and candlelight.  But there was none of that on Friday.

Ingredients

1 recipe piecrust (you can use refrigerated piecrust, but I will not forgive you)

2 cups evaporated milk

3 large eggs

8 oz sliced mushrooms

1 medium onion chopped

1 large clove garlic minced

1 10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach

3 to 4 tbsp olive oil

Approximately 6 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded

Approximately 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

Salt

pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375

Line a 10 inch quiche pan with the piecrust and put it in the refrigerato

Scald the milk and set it aside to cool

Make the filling:

Put the spinach in a microwave safe bowl and put it in the microwave on high to quickly defrost it.

Meanwhile, heat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat and then coat the bottom of the skillet with 1 or two tablespoons of good quality olive oil

Add the onion to the pan and saute until they are translucent

Add the garlic and sauté for no more than 30 seconds. The garlic should announce itself but not burn

Remove the onion and garlic from the pan. Add a little more oil and saute the mushrooms until they have released their liquid and the liquid has evaporated.

Put the pan aside but do not clean it.

By now your spinach should be defrosted and cooled.

Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach.

Return the pan to the heat, add a tsp or so of oil and put the squeezed spinach in the pan. Stir it around to heat through and pick up some of the good stuff at the bottom of the pan.

Make the custard:

Your milk is cooled so you can start the custard now

In a medium bowl or a 4 cup measuring cup lightly mix the three eggs and milk

Season with salt and (if you like) a little pepper. You can also add a dash of nutmeg here, if you want to be fancy

put about half of the shredded cheddar in as well and give it a stir

Assemble the quiche

Take the piecrust lined quiche pan out of the fridge

Sprinkle the bottom with All of the shredded Swiss

Put the onion and garlic mixture over the cheese

Layer the mushrooms over the onion

Layer the spinach on top

Pour the egg mixture over all this

Sprinkle the remaining cheddar on top of the whole shebang

Bake in the 375 oven for about 45 minutes.

Test for doneness by sliding a butter knife in the middle. The knife should come out clean

Allow to cool before serving.

In case you want it here is the sugar cookie recipe I use. 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for shaping the cookies

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon nutmeg (optional, but it makes for a more interesting cookie)

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

1.     In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2.     Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.

With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated (the dough will be stiff). Shape into a disk and (unless otherwise specified in an individual recipe) refrigerate, wrapped, for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days