Brunch
Let’s talk favorite meals. I love any meal gathered with good friends and family. Most of my favorite dishes are home cooked recipes from my family. More specifically, most of these favorite recipes are for dinner. And yet, I have to admit that my favorite meal is actually brunch. I know, everyone loves brunch… but hear me out. I’ve never been much of a breakfast eater. Even as a young child, I just wasn’t hungry first thing in the morning. Give me a couple of hours to wake up and get going for the day and then I’m more than happy to grab a snack or a full on meal. The other thing I love about brunch is that you get to combine breakfast foods, salads, sweet pastries, and even savory casseroles. You can essentially mix and match all of your favorite recipes into one big, beautiful meal. For me, the centerpiece of brunch is almost always quiche. So, today I’m giving you my Bacon Spinach Quiche recipe.
No Shame
Let me start by talking about crust. I will never EVER shame anyone for buying a pre-made crust. In fact, that is exactly what this Bacon Spinach Quiche calls for. Do you have pre-made, homemade crust in your freezer? Fantastic! Put that dough to good use here! Personally, I have a love hate relationship with homemade pie dough. I love the taste, I hate making it myself. So for this recipe, I used a store bought, deep dish, frozen pie crust. I always blind bake (some folks call it pre-bake) the crust so as to avoid having a soggy bottom. The filling is exactly as the name says, bacon and spinach along with some cheese. Yes, you’re reading the recipe correctly, I use a blender to mix the eggs and cream. I’ve found that it gives the quiche a lighter texture compared to whisking it by hand. However, if you don’t own a blender, feel free to bust out the whisk and work it until the mixture starts to get frothy. Whatever crust you use or regardless of how you mix the eggs, I know you’re going to enjoy this Bacon Spinach Quiche.
Bacon Spinach Quiche
Ingredients
- 1 9" pre-made, deep dish pie crust, (thawed if frozen)
- 4 slices bacon, chopped into ½" pieces
- 1 shallot, diced
- 6 oz baby spinach, roughly chopped
- ½ cup shredded gruyere cheese
- ¼ cup shredded Romano cheese
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup half & half
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- If not already in a tin, place pie crust in a deep 9" pie dish. Pierce several holes in the crust with a fork along the bottom and sides.
- Place a layer of parchment paper over pie crust and fill with dry beans or pie weights. Place on a sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, remove beans and parchment paper, and let cool as you prepare remaining ingredients.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
- In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until fully cooked. Remove bacon and excess grease from pan.
- Add shallot and spinach to skillet and cook until spinach is wilted.
- Add bacon back into the skillet and stir in with spinach. Remove from heat.
- In a bowl, combine gruyere and Romano cheeses.
- Place half of the spinach mixture into the pie crust followed by half of the cheese. Repeat with remaining spinach and cheese mixtures.
- In a blender, mix eggs, half & half, salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Pour into pie crust over spinach and cheese.
- Bake 25 minutes or until center of quiche is set.