Goat Cheese, Spinach, and Lemon Quiches and a Book Giveaway

Sunday. One of my favorite days. And it’s been even better since the weather is warming up. A time to be mellow, relax, and wind down before the start of another busy week. For me, a typical Sunday could mean a number of things — taking a walk to my favorite coffee spot on the way to the farmers market, maybe brunch, dance class or yoga, seeing friends, the beach, and cooking a nice dinner at home. Although every Sunday is its own, I always have a couple of things that I do without fail each and every Sunday, but after those must do’s, I like to play it by ear and let things happen. You never know what will come up!

When DV (my bf) and I don’t have brunch out, I love to make a simple breakfast at home before venturing out for the day. I made these quick goat cheese, spinach, and lemon quiches which we had with fresh berries and coffee. The great thing about quiche is its versatility — you can practically add just about anything to your egg custard and will be a delicious light meal. For these individual quiches, the goat cheese and spinach were the main ingredients followed by grated lemon and little nutmeg to add flavor.

The shell is a teff-rosemary crust that includes a few different flours — teff, brown rice, white rice, and arrowroot. It also has chopped fresh rosemary, lemon zest, and olive oil to bind the crust. I pulsed the ingredients in the food processor and pressed it into the tart molds, blind baking them for 15-20 minutes at 350. It is a very tasty crust, however, I was also in the middle of a great daydream while measuring and I cannot remember the amounts of dry ingredients I used! So, I have not included the crust recipe this time, but you can really just use your favorite short crust or savory tart crust, and it will be delicious. I hope to post the crust recipe sometime soon in one of my upcoming posts.

And, the book giveaway!…I happen to have an extra copy of a book on food photography, entitled “Digital Food Photography,” by Lou Manna. I received a couple of copies as gifts at one point, and rather than exchange the extra copy, I thought it would be a fun giveaway. If you are at all interested in learning more about food photography and you don’t already own this book, this is a fantastic resource to keep handy for thumbing through. It has excellent info on lighting, composition, and even some styling tips.

So, to enter the drawing tell me what your favorite breakfast or brunch dish is by Tuesday, May 11th. The winner will be chosen by my bf DV, through a random number drawing. I will contact you directly and have the book in the mail by Wednesday, May 12th!

In the meantime….

Goat Cheese Spinach and Lemon Quiches (Fills 2 individual 4.5 ” diameter tart molds)

1 egg
1/2 cup half and half or cream
1/4 to 1/3 of a 5 oz package of herbed goat cheese
1 tsp olive oil
2 cups of baby spinach leaves, (stems discard)
1 clove of garlic
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 35o.

Have your tart shells ready to go.

Saute spinach in garlic and a tiny bit of olive oil and divide mixture between the two shells. Zest one lemon and set aside.

Whisk egg in large bowl. Add goat cheese and continue whisking till mixture becomes somewhat smoother. Add in cream or milk, lemon zest, and grated nutmeg. Continue whisking then and add salt and cracked pepper. Pour into tart shells over spinach. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until custard is set.

Tagged as: Breakfast, brunch, goat cheese, goat cheese and lemon quiche, lemon zest, lemon zest in quiche, nutmeg, quiche, spinach goat cheese and lemon quiche, spinach quiche, vegetarian quiche