(Sort of) Spinach Quiche

The summer after my first year of college, I decided to stay home instead of working at summer camp as I had the past couple of summers. Mom had just started the Fat Flush Diet, so her presence in the kitchen mainly consisted of blending all natural cranberry juice smoothies. Eww. Mom was afraid if she cooked for us, she’d eat what she was making and since my dad isn’t much of a chef, meal responsibilities often fell to me.

Although I really enjoyed entertaining the idea of being a good cook, I hadn’t had much practice yet and it showed. Some culinary endeavors failed miserably. I spent most of one day making a few loaves of from-scratch, whole wheat bread, which tasted fine but were heavy enough to use as bricks (shot puts, blunt weapons, etc). I also spent about 4 hours on an authentic curry sauce that smelled like heaven and tasted like dirt (maybe worse).

Fortunately, there were successes as well. Mom pulled out a recipe card one afternoon for a good old-fashioned quiche. Spinach and Swiss cheese were the main components along with a basic egg mixture to hold everything together. I made the crust myself (“easy as pie” is such a stupid thing to say), and the end results were pretty good. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big egg fan. I loved the melty cheese with the green hearty spinach, but I wondered if I could get away with fewer than the three eggs the recipe called for.

Quiche sounds complicated, but it’s actually very easy. The crust is the most difficult part, but you can buy one premade or just skip it all together and make a crustless quiche. Plus, you can use almost anything for a filling. Here’s what I whipped together the other day.


(Sort of) Spinach Quiche
4-5 servings

1 package of baby spinach leaves
1 c. sliced baby Portobello mushrooms
½ c. finely chopped red onion
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 c. mozzarella cheese
1 c. crumbled feta
½ c. shredded parmesan
1 egg
1/3 c. milk or cream
1 tsp. dill
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. crushed black pepper
1 package of phillo dough, thawed
1 stick of butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter or margarine. Use basting brush to spread butter on 8 sheets of phillo dough while layering in pie pan. Trim overhanging edges.

Combine spinach, mushrooms, red onion, garlic and cheeses and place inside phillo dough.


Mix together the egg, milk, dill, salt and pepper. Pour evenly over mixture in pan.

Cover the filling with several more layers of buttered phillo and trim edges.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, until a fork inserted comes out clean.

Tips: If you want a fluffier quiche, you can use up to three eggs, but increase the milk or cream proportionately too. Be sure to thaw out the phillo dough completely since it’s very fragile when frozen, but like I said before, you could put the filling straight into the pan and skip a crust altogether. If you want larger pieces of onions, be sure to sauté them first so they aren’t crunchy. Also, feel free to experiment with different veggies and cheeses. Just about anything works.