Meatless May: Homemade Quiche

May Day was also day one of Meatless May, and it was a success!

After work I made a quick run to the grocery store to pick up some groceries, including a few more ingredients to make quiche. I had a recipe from Martha Stewart for a Spinach and Gruyere Quiche, that I thought I could modify to utilize some of my CSA veggies. Since I didn't have exact measurements for my veggies, I decided to just sort of wing it, using the base recipe. I didn't need to make two quiches, so I also halved Martha's measurements.   

I started with four eggs, 1 1/2 cups of half and half (fat free), 1 cup of shredded gruyere, probably about 1/3 of a cup of chopped wild baby leeks (just the white parts), a pinch of nutmeg, and a bunch of chopped spinach and swiss chard. Oh, and a pie crust from the freezer section. I know that I should learn to make my own, but I'm lazy. 

I sauteed the wild leeks in a bit of butter for a few minutes before adding in the spinach and swiss chard. 

I cooked that just long enough to let the leaves wilt. Then, per Martha's instructions, I drained out the liquid from the spinach mixture with a collander and a paper towel. That left this lovely mound.  

Next I put the spinach in the pie crust and mixed it with the cheese. If you have never used gruyere before, it is a great cheese for quiche because it melts well, and it has a distinct taste - sort of salty/nutty, but it doesn't take over the whole thing. Other spinach quiche recipes I have made before used cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, or cream cheese. I think this has a much better texture than the cream cheese or cottage cheese. The quiche doesn't get all mushy in the middle. 

Next I whisked the eggs together with the nutmeg, half/half and some salt and pepper, and then poured that over the top of the pie crust. Then I cooked it at 350 for about an hour. Ta da!

So this was also the first time that I used my oven. As you can see, it does not cook evenly. But other than that, the quiche was fantastic. Check it out. 

The only thing I might do differently would be to add a little more spice to it. Something to give it a little kick. Martha's recipe called for shallots, which would also be great instead of the leeks. I used those since I had them on hand, and they were awesome, but I probably could have used a few more.  

Overall, a very delicious way to enjoy the spinach, swiss chard, and leeks. I can't wait for leftovers tomorrow! Did I mention that I also made banana bread? Yum.