Friday 17 September 2010

Frittata/Crustless Quiche

Frittata
In another attempt to break the routine of soups for lunch I thought about re-visiting what I used to make. Previously I would make a large homemade quiche, with various filling which would last me all week for lunch along with salad, but since I am now gluten free, this is not an option. Obviously I could go down the route of gluten free pastry, but since I invested in some silicone baking dishes, I don't actually need the added calories or saturated fat of pastry in order to cook a quiche type thing.
Some supermarkets I've noticed have got the odd "crustless quiche", but upon studying the pack closely, this just means there's no pastry up the sides. What I've attempted is really and truly crustless. Almost a Frittata. But not, as it is not purely eggs.

This Frittata type creation is another go at getting more iron, although really, I do love spinach anyway. So in this one my ingredients were onion, peppers, spinach and yummy goats cheese.
 
To start with I gently fried a chopped onion and half a red pepper.






Meanwhile I washed and wilting down a massive bag of spinach in batches (bought from Albion Farm Shop).
I then squeezed out as much water as possible, squeezed and squeezed. And left it to drain further.
I then put all the onion, pepper, spinach and chunks of the goats cheese into the silicone baking dish ready for the egg mixture.
 I referred to the fantastic Dairy Book of Home Cookery (1968 version!) for the quantities of milk and eggs for their Quiche Lorraine. This said 3 eggs to quarter pint of milk and quarter pint of cream. I have never made quiche with cream, as I've never felt the need. I like it without the need for the extra creaminess and added fat, so half a pint of milk it was.

I also added another egg, as they were of medium size and I thought that it would add to the setting and aid the holding together - since there is no crust and it is not actually a frittata! I added about a half teaspoon of nutmeg and some pepper to the egg mixture before pouring it all on.
This was then put in the oven at 180C for about 45 mins, or until the egg was set. The Quiche Lorriaine recipe had all sorts of temperatures and timings, but the pastry wasn't baked blind. So I just kept testing it til it was set.

The result was a tasty Fritatta type thing which I've eaten every day for lunch with salad. The base was a bit watery, but this could be from the spinach, maybe I'll use raw next time to see what happens. I will definitely be making this again, perhaps with different ingredients.

1 comment:

  1. hmmmmm very very tempting! and practical...good idea! I'll try it soon!

    :)

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