A classic brunch or lunch recipe of mushroom and spinach quiche made with whole wheat crust. Also, includes recipe for homemade cream cheese using paneer.
I can’t stress how much I love this quiche. I stumbled on this gem of a recipe for spinach quiche on Deb’s Smitten Kitchen blog ten years back and would almost make it every other week. I do not know why I stopped making the quiche but this lockdown reminded me of the recipe.
Even though I have made this mushroom and spinach quiche so many times, I have never been able to take a decent picture for the blog. Its not that I didn’t try but somehow I never thought the picture did justice to how good the quiche was, with the result that I always stopped myself from posting.
This time I took time to plan out the shot. Given that we are three people in the house and not just Anubhav and me, I try my best to plan every aspect of a shot before hand so that the food can be served warm and still I am able to get an image that I can use.
Somehow what I had envisioned and the shots that came out in the 10 minutes I gave myself to shoot didn’t quite match up. I tried to rectify it but then since we were already a little late in serving lunch and I didn’t want to serve it cold, I just let it be. I thought I will make it again- since the quiche is pretty quick to make. But since we were out of the specific ingredients for the quiche, I realized I will need to wait till we restock our refrigerator again, which won’t be for another few days. And then I thought this is what I always do, and this recipe never gets shared.
So here I am. Sharing this mushroom and spinach quiche recipe. It doesn’t require too many fancy ingredients and besides the cream cheese most ingredients are easily available at most places. In case you do not have cream cheese at home or can not easily source it, you could make it at your home. There are many easy tutorials online, you could use one of those. I am sharing my mom’s way of making cream cheese back in the day when it was not available.
Homemade Cream Cheese
To make homemade cream cheese, first my mom would make paneer from milk. For that she would let the full fat milk come to a gentle boil over medium heat. The milk should not be boiling vigorously. It should be a gentle boil. In case it does boil vigorously, reduce the heat and bring the milk back to a gentle boil. Let it stay like that for a minute. Add a few drops of lemon juice (for 1 litre of milk). You will start seeing small curds in the milk, but no whey. Add a few more drops of lemon juice and stir. Keep adding a few drops of lemon juice till you begin to see a greenish whey separating from the curds. Switch the gas off immediately when you see the green whey separating from the curds. In total it can take 1-2 tbsp of lemon juice. You can also use vinegar.
Keep a perforated colander/sieve/pan lined with a double layered cheesecloth ready. Drain the whey, collecting the curds in the cheesecloth. Wash the curds in running cold water to remove the lemon flavor. Tie up the cheesecloth and let it drain for around 30 minutes.
If you are making paneer, post 30 minutes is when you would place a heavy weight on the paneer, to make it flatter and stick together. But since we are using it to make cream cheese, the hung curds after 30 minutes of draining are ready to be transferred to a blender. Along with some cream, blend the fresh paneer to a smooth creamy cream cheese consistency. Mom would eye ball the cream to suit taste and texture- start with 1-2 tbsp and increase if required. That’s it. Your cream cheese is ready. My mom would use this recipe to make her lemon cheesecake, and while personally I have not tried it because I somehow always have cream cheese, I have seen her make this and had her cheesecake plenty of times and love it.
Another quick cream cheese substitute that you can use is a mix of hung curd and cream. Since this is a savory recipe both substitutes given work pretty well. The paneer plus cream is a little less tart, especially if you wash out the lemon flavor from the paneer nicely in the step above.
The pastry crust recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart’s pate brisee. I use whole wheat and honestly I prefer the whole wheat crust. I know this recipe has eggs and well it is a quiche so that is expected. I do understand that many of you might not eat eggs, but if you would like to try a tart based recipe then you should definitely check out the vegetable pie recipe that is also on the blog.
Hope you get to try this recipe and if you do, please feel free to tag me in your creations on instagram, facebook or leave a comment here.
- 1 cup (140 grams) whole wheat flour
- 100 grams cold butter, grated (the butter should be very cold- that's what makes the crust flaky)
- ½ tsp salt (if using salted butter, add only a pinch of salt)
- 2-3 tbsp iced water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 80 grams cream cheese, room temperature (see note above for homemade cream cheese)
- ½ cup milk
- 3 eggs
- 250 grams spinach, blanched, drained and squeezed, then roughly chopped (You can also use baby spinach - do not blanch or chop if using baby spinach)
- ½ cup grated cheese
- ¼ cup parmesan
- 1 packet (200 gms) mushroom, sliced
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
- In a bowl mix together the flour and salt. Add in the grated butter.
- Pulse the butter and flour to resemble coarse meal.
- Add the ice water, a tablespoon at a time until the dough just starts holding together. You do not want the dough to be too wet. Test the dough at this point by squeezing a small amount together. If it is crumbly, add a bit more water, else its good to go.
- Wrap the dough in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes. In the meantime, make the filling.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds, and then add in the onions. Sauté till translucent.
- Add in the sliced mushrooms, spreading them out to make a single layer. Cook, without moving, until browned on one side, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir then cook another 3 to 5 minutes or until mostly golden brown on all sides. Add in the spinach and slightly cook till excess moisture is removed. Season with salt and black pepper.
- In a bowl, beat the cream cheese till smooth.
- Gradually add the milk and eggs. Add in the the grated cheese, herbs, mushroom and spinach. Season with salt and pepper.
- Preheat oven to 350 F/ 180 C.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out the dough to fit a 9-inch round pie dish or removable-bottom 9-inch round tart pan as the base.
- Pour the prepared filling into the crust.
- Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is set, about 25 minutes.
- Cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
