This is a quick & simple winter quiche but delicious nonetheless! It makes use of the aromatic, freshly harvested spinach which is currently available on the markets and combines it with crisp organic mushrooms and sweet & spicy red onion.

Sanni

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 160 grams of strong flour (German type 550)
• 80 grams of butter
• 1 tip of a knife of salt
• 1 egg yolk
• a few tablespoons of water
• butter & 1-2 tablespoons of corn flour for preparing the quiche pan

For the filling:

• 400 to 500 grams of fresh spinach, washed and stems removed
• 250 grams of brown organic button mushrooms, washed in cold water and flour and any remaining dirt removed
• 1 red onion, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1/2 red chili, seeds and membrane remove and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder
• a couple of tablespoons of cooking olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 400 grams of crème fraîche
• freshly ground pepper, salt

Preparation:

Preparing the crust:

1. Pass the flour through a fine mesh onto the clean kitchen counter or a baking mat. Cut the cold butter into small pieces into the flour. Rub the butter and the flour between your hands until you have a crumble.
2. Add the salt. Form a depression in the center of your flour mix and add the egg yolk. Quickly start kneading the ingredients adding tablespoons of water one by one until the dough is smooth, but not sticky. Should the dough become too sticky, add a bit more flour.
3. Form a ball, wrap it into cellophane and let the dough rest in the refrigerator for approximately 15 to 30 minutes.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan oven).
5. Butter a quiche pan and flour with the corn flour. Roll out the dough to a circle large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the quiche pan. Place in the pan and cut away any extra dough hanging over the sides. If you do not use pie weights (see next step), prick the bottom with a fork all over.
6. Cut out a round piece of parchment paper the size of the bottom of your cake pan. Place over the dough on the bottom of your cake pan. Place pie weights on the top (if you do not have pie weights, you may also use dry foods such as dried chickpeas, dried peas or rice).
7. Put the quiche pan into the oven and bake only the crust for 15 minutes (blind baking). Take the crust out of the oven and set aside. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 160 degrees Celsius for baking the quiche (see below).

Preparing the filling:

1. In a non-stick pan, heat up 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat.
2. Separate the layers of the onion quarters and fry in the olive oil for approximately 10 to 15 minutes until soft. Make sure they do not turn brown, if necessary, reduce the heat. Then take out of the pan and set aside.
3. If necessary, add 1 more tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and heat up on medium to high heat. Add the chili, fry for approximately 1 minute, then add 1/3 of the spinach. Keep tossing until the spinach turns soft then add another 1/3 of the spinach. Repeat with the second and third 1/3 of leaves. Towards the end, season with ginger powder, freshly ground pepper and salt. Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. Heat up another 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil on high heat. Add the mushrooms and fry on high heat while permanently tossing. (They keep their bite if fried on high temperature. But make sure they do not turn too dark.) Fry for approximately 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and set aside.
5. Mix the crème fraîche and the egg and season with freshly ground pepper and salt.
6. Spread half of the spinach over the bottom of the crust, then add a layer of 1/2 of the red onion and finally 1/2 of the mushrooms. Add another layer of the remaining spinach, onion and mushrooms on top.
7. Pour the crème fraîche and egg over the vegetables.
8. Bake in the oven at 160 degrees Celsius for approximately 45 to 50 minutes.
9. Let cool down a bit before serving. Enjoy!