Spinach and Ricotta Quiche

Quiche and salad is a staple summertime lunch for me, and this Spinach and Ricotta Quiche is particularly tasty. It’s light, creamy and really easy to make.

As always, you can of course, use ready made pastry, but I do recommend giving my wholemeal shortcrust pastry a go, as it really adds something to the dish and is super easy to make. You can make the pastry in literally 5 minutes. Yes, you have to chill it and blind bake it, but that’s no effort at all, really.

I use a mixture of wholemeal and plain flour in the pastry (150g wholemeal, 50g plain). The flavour of the wholemeal flour is so tasty with the smooth spinach and ricotta filling, but can be quite crumbly. I find adding in a small amount of plain flour helps the pastry bind together better.

This quiche freezes really well once cooked and cut into portions. Wrap it in tinfoil, or store in an air-tight container in the freezer, then just take a portion out at a time and either defrost and eat cold or reheat in the microwave for a few minutes. If still frozen, reheat in the oven for about 30mins. Just make sure it’s piping hot throughout before you tuck in if reheating, and only reheat once.

Ready in 65-85 mins (5 mins making the pastry, 20 mins chill and prep, 40-60 mins bake) – serves 4-6.

Ingredients

200g of plain or wholemeal flour, or a mixture of the two (my preference)
100g of salted butter, cut into small cubes
About 100mls of cold water

A knob of salted butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
50g of spinach
1 clove of garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
A good pinch of black pepper
A good pinch of salt
125g of Ricotta cheese
150g of cheddar cheese, grated
A good pinch of basil
A good pinch of oregano
A good pinch of parsley
2 free range eggs
200mls of milk

Method:

Put the flour, 100g of butter and the mustard powder into a bowl and rub in with your fingers or pulse in a food processor until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

Adding a small amount of water at a time, mix to a crumbly paste using a blunt knife.

Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a ball of dough. If you feel you need more water at this stage, simply dunk your hands into cold water and continue mixing with them, rather than pouring more into your bowl and risk making it too wet. If the mixture is too wet though, sprinkle a bit of flour on top and mix in with your hands.

Put the dough into a buttered pie/flan dish and spread out evenly with your hands across the base and up the sides of the tin. Trim off any excess around the sides with the back of a knife and use these scraps to patch up any holes or thinner parts in the pastry.

Prick the base with a fork and chill for about 20 mins in the fridge.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 200c / 180c fan / gas mark 6.
Put the knob of butter, the oil, spinach, garlic, lemon juice, black pepper and salt in a pan on the hob and heat over a medium heat for 5mins or until the spinach has wilted.

Add the Ricotta, cheddar, basil, oregano and parsley, mix well, then take it off the heat and put it to one side.

Blind bake your pastry – Sit a sheet of baking paper inside the chilled pastry case and fill it with baking beans or uncooked rice and bake for 15 mins in the oven.

Remove the beans/rice and baking paper and bake for another 5 mins to crisp up the pastry case.

Turn the oven down to 180c / 160c fan / gas mark 4.
Pour the cheese and spinach mixture into the pastry case and spread out evenly.

Beat the eggs and milk together in a jug until well mixed.
Place your tin onto a sheet of kitchen foil to catch any leaks and pop it on the oven shelf.
Then carefully pour the egg and milk mixture into the case.