Quiche with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Spinach

I love quiche for breakfast but try not to eat it often since I know how much half-and-half goes into it. But this weekend I thought it will be a good dinner: quiche and a salad. Making quiche is easy and there are tons of recipes available online. The basic cooking method is the same, the difference is the filling. Here is how I made mine.

Ingredients:

1(one) 9" pie shell (I use Wholly Wholesome Pie Shells)
3 eggs
1 and 1/4 cups of half-and-half
1/2 lb of chanterelles
1/2 of sweet white onion
1 cup of fresh baby spinach
1/2 of swiss cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Prick pie shell surface all over with a fork and put in a freezer for 20-30 minutes. This time I used whole wheat pie shell for more nutritious meal. Though nothing can beat white flour pie crust in taste!

2. Preheat oven to 400F. Bake empty pie shell for 12 minutes and then take it out and let it cool off.

3. While partially baked pie shell is cooling off make a filling. Clean and chop in small pieces chanterelles and onion. Fry them in olive oil on medium heat with a little salt and pepper for about 15-20 minutes or longer until mushrooms are cooked and water has evaporated. Transfer mushrooms and onions on to a plate and let them cool.

4. Wash and chop baby spinach. Some recipes recommend blanching spinach but I decided to skip that part and instead chopped it very finely.

5. This time I chose to use Swiss Cheese and grated 1/2 cup of it.

6. Next step is to whisk eggs and half-and-half together. Recipes warn you not to over beat the egg mixture. I simply whisked eggs first with a hand whisk and then added half-and-half and whisked again until just blended.

7. Once pie shell and mushrooms have cooled off it is time to assemble the quiche. Turn the oven down to 375F. Put mushrooms, cheese and spinach on a bottom of the pie shell. (If you find you have too much filling remove some. The amount of filling is your choice.) Pour egg mixture on top and carefully transfer quiche into the oven and bake for 40 minutes.

8. After 40 minutes quiche should be cooked. Take it out of the oven and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes before serving. I use this time to make a salad. Last night I made baby arugula and tomato salad drizzled with olive oil, added salt and pepper to taste.

9. I served slice of quiche with a side of arugula-tomato salad last night. It was a nice meal and had plenty of left-overs for today's breakfast. I simply reheated quiche for 15 minutes in the oven at 400F.