Spinach Artichoke Quiche

I have on occasion made the classic spinach artichoke dip which is this uber rich combo and had nice sourdough bread for dipping but both DH and I found it to be, although delicious, less our kind of thing, it’s a dip, not a meal. So I decided to turn it into a meal by “quiching” it so to speak and since I just didn’t feel like making a pie crust, uh uh didn’t wanna, I bought one. Yes, yes I did, so there.

In Jerusalem, I haven’t found frozen pie crust nicely prepared in a pan (they used to import it but haven’t seen it in years) but you can buy this rolled out local frozen dough which works beautifully. Just let it defrost in the fridge overnight and Bob’s your uncle, you are ready to go. Ya gotta cut it to fit the pan, a very mild pain in the neck, but it saves you the work of preparing pie crust which is a process (if you wanna go that way, no worries, I got you covered Mushroom Onion 7 Brachot Quiche with a detailed pie crust explanation). After you fit the pastry into your pie dish, pop it back in the fridge to keep cool while you assemble the filling. Preheat your oven to 375 F/190 C, since it really needs to be to temp to come out properly.

One more note, WARNING WARNING! this is a rich dish, not for the faint of heart, just sayin’. We’re talking sour cream and cream cheese and grated cheese and I show no shred of shame. We don’t often eat this way but hey, it’s fun when time to time we do. By the by, you will get two 9 inch (23 cm) quiches out of this.

So gather your ingredients (and if you have a pre-prepared pie crust, all the better and easier, just keep it chilled – not frozen – till ready to be filled.

Above, you can see that I used frozen (defrosted) spinach and frozen (defrosted) artichokes. K.

Very important, you must cook the defrosted artichoke hearts till tender, I simply zap ’em in the microwave just till done or you can use canned artichokes if you choose.

Chop the cooked artichoke hearts into bite size pieces on cutting board and thoroughly squeeze out the frozen spinach, lots of liquid in there which can unbalance your filling so this is a must do.

Then in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, cream cheese, salt and pepper

till smooth.

Excellent. Now you put it all together (remember, you’ve preheated your oven and chilled your pie crust whilst prepping the filling).

Place the spinach and artichoke in the bottom of the crusts in the pans, divvying them up evenly.

Pour the egg mixture evenly between the two pans. Then put half the grated cheese on top of each pie.

Just so you know, that’s one cup of cheese per quiche.

One nice perk is you do not have to pre-bake the pie crust since you’ve kept it cold in the fridge till the last minute and put the filling into the cold crust. Just place it in the hot oven and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until the crust is browned and the filling is golden brown and not jiggly. Let stand about ten minutes to set and cut into wedges to serve. Nice with a green and leafy salad with creamy dressing on the side.

Spinach Artichoke Quiche

2 9 inch (23 cm) frozen pie crusts, defrosted but kept in fridge (or pie crust dough placed into pans)

14 ounce (400 grams) frozen spinach, defrosted

14 ounces (400 grams) frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted and microwaved till tender OR canned artichokes

7 ounces (200 grams) sour cream

8 ounces (225 grams) plain cream cheese

5 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of black pepper

2 cups grated cheese, Edam or cheddar or mozzarella

Directions:

Keep defrosted pie crusts in the fridge to stay cold but not frozen and preheat oven to 375 F/190 C.

Chop cooked artichoke hearts into bite sized pieces. Squeeze out defrosted spinach (must be done or quiche will be watery).

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, cream cheese, salt and pepper until smooth and no lumps remain.

Remove pie crusts from fridge and evenly divide artichokes and spinach between them. Pour half the egg mixture into each pie, on top of artichokes and spinach and divide cheese in half, one cup per pie, and sprinkle on top of each pie.

Bake 375F/190C for 40-45 minutes or till browned on top and not jiggly. Let sit about 10 minutes, slice and serve.