No Fuss Corn and Spinach Quiche.

This was yet another desperate dish born from the icy cold depths of my freezer. It was another what the hell to eat for dinner day. Thankfully, my freezer is always stocked with frozen spinach and corn. It was a desperate dish but my dinner companion loved it and insisted it go on the blog. So here I am filing the recipe away for future reference. Admittedly, I used a store bought crust mix; it was a life is too short to be kneading dough moment.  But I am sharing a crust recipe the lovely Missus Petersen shared with me. She likes and knows her food, so I am confident that any recipe she recommends is tried and tested. The rest was just something that took its own flow with whatever I had at hand in the kitchen. Without further ado, here is a comforting, desperate meal for hurried days.

Ingredient for crust:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1/3 - ½ cup cold water

1 tbsp vinegar

Ingredients for Corn and Spinach filling.

150 grams sweet corn

300 grams frozen spinach (defrosted)

1 tsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper.

1 tsp dried herbs (Herbes de Provence or Basil, Thyme, Fennel, whatever you’ve at hand)

1/2 tsp cumin

1 teaspoon dried dill weed.

Salt to taste

2 eggs, beaten.

1/2 cup grated parmesan

 Making the crust: Combine flour, baking powder and salt. With a pastry cutter, work in butter. Combine water and vinegar and stir into the flour mixture. Turn out onto floured board and knead for about 1 minute. Form into a ball, wrap in wax paper and chill. To use, roll out on floured board to fit pie form. (We won’t be pre-baking the crust, so roll it out no more than 1/2 a centimetre thick) Line the sides and bottom of a 9 inch pie form. Keep aside in the fridge.

Making the filling: 

• Pre heat oven to 190 C
• Bring a pan to heat on medium and add oil. Add cumin seeds. Add chopped onion, add garlic and sauté.
• Add spinach and corn when onion is translucent. Stir in all dried herbs, dill weed, pepper, salt. Sauté for no more than 3 minutes and allow it to cool.
• In the meanwhile, break eggs into a bowl and beat along with a pinch of salt.
•  Bring out pie form lined with crust. Sprinkle a thin coat of grated parmesan cheese just to cover the surface. Add in the spinach and corn mixture, pressing gently.
• Pour beaten egg over the pie crust filled with spinach and corn covering evenly
• Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the pie, covering evenly.
• Bake for 30 minutes. We ate ours with a simple tomato and basil salad.