Quiches are notoriously elaborate to make, but this spinach, mushroom, and goat's cheese quiche is so full of flavour, it's definitely worth the effort.
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OK, I'll confess. The quiche you see above is the first I ever made. It's made from scratch, including the homemade shortcrust pastry, and the entire thing was a bit stressful because I was prepared for a fail. Instead, it was one of the best things I made this year.
I love quiches but don't like to go for store-bought ones because they are generally saltier than my body can take. So the alternative was to go to France to have a properly made quiche or make my own. I chose the latter for obvious reasons.
This quiche contains some of the things I like best in pies, namely spinach, mushrooms, and goat's cheese. We don't have an excellent selection of goat's cheese in UK supermarkets, but the one I used for this quiche, Morrisons' Welsh Goat Cheese, was rather decent.
Making the shortcrust pastry from scratch proved to be simpler than I imagined. The only inconvenience is that you need to leave it to chill in the fridge for at least two hours (preferably more, but two is a minimum). The result is so much better than Jus-Roll could ever make.
As you can see from the picture, I made a mistake with this quiche. I filled it to the brim, and there was not enough crispy shortcrust pastry to act as a sort of handle for the slices. Next time, I'll know better.
To make the shortcrust pastry, you will need some baking beans, which I didn't have, so I used dried beans to weigh the pastry down. It worked out just fine - just be careful when removing the beans after baking, as they become incredibly hot.
Many recipes for homemade shortcrust pastry require some kind of shortening, vegetable or not, but I chose to use only butter, and it tasted great. You will need unsalted butter for this, which should be chilled and cubed before use.
What do you need to make this quiche?
To make this quiche, you need the following (full printable recipe at the bottom of the page):
For the pastry:
- Plain flour
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Ice cold water
For the filling:
- Baby spinach - roughly tear it by hand
- Closed cup mushrooms - roughly sliced
- Goat's cheese - this needs to be the soft variety, not the hard one
- Garlic - one clove, minced
- Eggs - two large ones
- Full-fat milk
- Nutmeg - you can skip this is you don't like the flavor, but I found it brings everything together nicely
How do you make the spinach, mushroom, and goat cheese quiche?
Make the pastry
- Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, and add the chilled and cubed butter.
- Mix everything until the butter resembles some coarse breadcrumbs. You can also use a food processor for this step if you wish.
- Add the water gradually and stir with a spatula. When all the water is added, the dough should have large clumps but should not be too sticky.
- Take the dough to a lightly floured surface and fold it until you can no longer see any traces of butter in it (or very few).
- Form the dough into a ball and then press it to form a disc. Refrigerate it for at least two hours.
- When ready to use, roll out the disc with the help of a rolling pin, starting from the center. Unroll it over a quiche pan and press it into the edges. the pastry should each the top of the rim.
- To bake, place some parchment paper over the pastry, fill it with baking beads or beans and bake for 20 minutes at 180C/350F. The pastry will not be completely cooked, but it will be once you bake it again with the filling.
- Remove the beads very carefully, as they are hot.
Make the filling
- Start by whisking the eggs, milk, garlic, salt, black pepper and nutmeg in a bowl. Leave it aside.
- Place the goat's cheese in small chunks on the bottom of the crust, spreading it evenly.
- Spread the spinach and mushrooms over the cheese.
- Pour the egg mixture over the filling, making sure you spread it evenly. Top with some extra goat cheese (optional).
- Bake for 20-22 minutes at 180C/350 F or until golden brown on top.
Spinach, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quiche
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 175 g (1 ½ cups) plain flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 125 g (4.5 oz) unsalted butter, chilled
- 60 ml (2 fl.oz.) ice-cold water, or a bit more if required
For the filling
- 100 g (3 cups) baby spinach
- 125 g (1 ½ cups) closed cup mushrooms, sliced
- 100 g (3.5 oz) soft goat's cheese, +25 grams for topping (optional)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 large eggs
- 150 ml (5 fl. oz.) full-fat milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
Make the pastry
- Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, and add the chilled and cubed butter.175 g plain flour1 teaspoon salt125 g unsalted butter
- Mix everything until the butter resembles some coarse breadcrumbs. You can also use a food processor for this step if you wish.
- Add the water gradually and stir with a spatula. When all the water is added, the dough should have large clumps, but should not be too sticky.60 ml ice-cold water
- Take the dough to a lightly floured surface and fold it until you can't see any traces of butter in it (or very few).
- Form the dough into a ball and then press it to form a disc. Refrigerate it for at least two hours.
- When ready to use, roll out the disc with the help of a rolling pin, starting from the center. Unroll it over a quiche pan and press it into the edges. the pastry should each the top of the rim.
- To bake, place some parchment paper over the pastry, fill it with baking beads or beans and bake for 20 minutes at 180C/350F. The pastry will not be completely cooked, but it will be once you bake it again with the filling.
- Remove the beads very carefully as they are hot.
Make the filling
- Start by whisking the eggs, milk, garlic, salt, black pepper and nutmeg in a bowl. Leave it aside.1 clove garlic2 large eggs150 ml full-fat milk1 teaspoon salt¼ teaspoon black pepper¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- Place the goat's cheese in small chunks on the bottom of the crust, spreading it evenly.100 g soft goat's cheese
- Spread the spinach and mushrooms over the cheese.100 g baby spinach125 g closed cup mushrooms
- Pour the egg mixture over the filling, making sure you spread it evenly. Top with some extra goat cheese (optional).
- Bake for 20-22 minutes at 180C/350 F or until golden brown on top.
Nutrition
Nutrition is per serving and is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
Stacey says
Would a store bought crust work?
Alice says
Absolutely, it should work just fine!