Just in time for Shavuot, a goat’s-cheese quiche stuffed with fresh greens and mushrooms.
The Jewish Shavuot holiday, which occurs on Tuesday night this week, celebrates receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai. All-night study sessions and prayer mark the holiday’s spirit. Other customs include decorating the home with fresh leaves and flowers, and eating dairy foods. See our labneh recipe for an easy Middle-Eastern dairy dip.
Tradition has it that since the laws of kashrut were still to be revealed, the Jews refrained from eating meat for the entire 40 days that Moses stood on Mt. Sinai. Delicious Shavuot recipes have evolved from the dairy tradition, many of them sweet. Last year, we posted a New York Cheesecake recipe for Shavuot. I like to give my family something savory too, something with plenty of organic vegetables in it.
The answer is Spinach-Mushroom Quiche.
Spinach-Mushroom Quiche with Goat’s Feta Cheese
Ingredients for Crust:
1/4 cup cold butter, diced
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-5 tablespoons water or milk as needed
Rub the butter into the flour, or put the flour into the food processor and add the diced butter and process until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add the salt.
Add the liquid, one tablespoon at a time. Start with 3 tablespoons. Go slowly and stop adding liquid as soon as the dough holds together.
Make a ball of the dough, wrap it up in a clean used plastic bag, and chill it for an hour in the fridge.
Pre-heat the oven to 375° F -190°C and make the filling.
Ingredients for Filling:
2 cups fresh or frozen spinach
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk, buttermilk, or sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
200 grams – 7 oz. or 3/4 cup goat’s feta cheese to slice and lay over crust
1/2 cup Brie or any local goat’s or sheep’s cheese that’s not too salty
If using fresh spinach, wash it and steam it quickly in its own rinse water. Add no salt. If using thawed-out frozen spinach, steam it with no added water or salt. Chop it up coarsely.
Chop the onion. Sauté it in a little olive oil or butter till it’s beginning to soften. Slice the mushrooms and add them to the pan. Sauté the vegetables till the mushrooms start to release their liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the pan from the fire.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the milk and beat again. Add a pinch of salt and another of pepper. Set the bowl aside – in the fridge if the kitchen is hot.
Slice the feta cheese. Chop the second cheese into large dice.
Assemble the Quiche:
Either grease the baking pan by rubbing it with cold butter or place a sheet of baking paper on it. Roll the dough out and fit it into your baking pan.
Fit the slices of feta over the raw crust.
Mix the sautéed vegetables into the spinach. Mound all on top of the crust.
Pour the beaten egg/milk mixture over and into the vegetables. Dot the cubed cheese all over.
Transfer to the oven. Bake 35-40 minutes.
Enjoy!
More toothsome dairy dishes from Green Prophet:
Spiced, Aged, Middle Eastern Butter: Smen
Malabi, Middle Eastern Milk Pudding
Author: Miriam Kresh
Miriam Kresh is an American ex-pat living in Israel. Her love of Middle Eastern food evolved from close friendships with enthusiastic Moroccan, Tunisian and Turkish home cooks. She owns too many cookbooks and is always planning the next meal. Miriam can be reached at miriam (at) greenprophet (dot) com.