I admit I never use an actual recipe. I make a crust from my favourite pastry, line the bottom with a good thick leader of shredded cheese, dice up an onion finely and sauté it then scatter that over the cheese, then add whatever I have to hand. Spinach I would shred finely and mix in with the cheese. I don’t usually bother to pre-cook it. Then pour in enough egg/ milk mixture to cover it all and bake in a moderate oven until done. The proportions of the egg/milk mixture are 3 eggs to 1 cup of milk/cream/half and half, with salt and pepper to taste.

I agree with Colleen. One of the most important things is getting a pastry crust that just melts in the mouth . Try this one from Yotam Ottolenghi.

240g plain flour

190g butter

60g yogurt / creme fraiche...doesnt matter which. Salt

In a food processor, just whazz it all up and chill before rolling out.

I also do the wing it version of quiche....but for pastry I love a vodka crust...since I discovered it.
And I always use cooked or frozen spinach....squeezed very dry in a towel in my spinach quiche. I don't like any water at all around the vegetables in my quiche....and I mix up eggs and milk at the ratio of 2 eggs per cup of milk...or 2 eggs and a yolk per cup and a third of milk....
And for a spinach quiche, I like to add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on the spinach...in addition to the cheddar or emmenthaler or gruyere or whatever you use.

A quiche without a crust is just a frittata, which is plenty delightful all on its own!

...But I do love quiche. One of the first quiche recipe I tried was leek and onions quiche. Later I came to love ham-eggs-mushrooms quiche topped with jalapeno poppers! I'm like the other commenters: follow a recipe for the crust and wing it the rest of the way!

The only thing in my quiche baking that stands out is blind baking the crust first. The crust is never soggy or lackluster that way. I make a variety of fillings but usually use an all butter crust, occasionally one with 1/4 shortening/-3/4 butter. Always deep dish pie plates.

My standard quiche is fresh spinach, small chunks of swiss cheese, red onion slices, and chopped bacon - a combination that to me just says "quiche". I don't overdo it on the spinach (or mushrooms if adding) as I end up with a soggy crust.

Agree, blind bake the crust first, but I don't always.

This recipe from Paula Deen is really REALLY good! ! I use my own pie crust rather than the refrigerated. And I've been known to add mushrooms on occasion, too.

Rusty

Ingredients

• 1 9 inch fitted to a 9 inch glass pie plate refrigerated piecrust
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 lb cooked and crumbled bacon
• 2 cups chopped packed fresh baby spinach
• 6 large beaten eggs
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• to taste salt
• to taste black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Combine the eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender. Layer the spinach, bacon and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust, then pour the egg mixture on top. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the egg mixture is set. Cut into 8 wedges.

I started out with Paula Deen's recipe, but I reduced the cream to 1 cup, I use four eggs instead of six, and I use 3-4 cups of grated cheese - not necessarily Swiss. I normally have Jarlsberg instead of Swiss, and I generally do half Jarlsberg and half Gruyère. I don't know how much 1 lb of bacon is, but I use six slices of turkey bacon. I also generally substitute a thick velouté for the cream, as the cream is too heavy for me. Like Rusty, I often add mushrooms.

It's not spinach, but it's far greater than spinach! Julia Child's Quiche Aux Champignons from Mastering the Art of French Cooking is the most luscious, delectable, decadent concoction ever. It requires heavy cream, good port wine, minced shallots, gruyere cheese IIRC, and a passel of beautiful mushrooms sliced thinly with care. Probably good enough to be classed as an aphrodisiac. Make it without substitutions, though if using XXX cream, the extra dots of butter are unnecessary.

Thank you everyone! Really appreciate your suggestions.

Moni

This is my current favorite, I used baby spinach in it and I don't care for goat cheese, so I subbed feta and kept the fontina. I served it to San and Ted when they were here and visited, and San liked it so much that she asked me for the recipe. It could be made in a pastry crust, but the hash brown crust was really very nice.

Fontina & Goat Cheese Tart w/ Crispy Hash Brown Crust

Ingredients:

cooking spray

3 ounces baby arugula or spinach, this will seem like too much but don't be alarmed! It will be amazing to you when you see how much it shrinks up in the microwave!

2 tablespoons butter, softened, plus more for pan

1 pound package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed

8 large eggs

Coarse salt and ground pepper

½ cup light sour cream

1 cup half and half

sea salt

6 ounces grated Fontina cheese

2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (goat cheese crumbles easily if you freeze for about 30 minutes beforehand)

4 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Place arugula in a microwave safe container and sprinkle lightly with water. (do this with your hand - you don't need much at all!) Cover with plastic wrap and cook on high power setting for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and allow to coo.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Spray a 9-by-2 1/2-inch springform pan with cooking spray, then brush with butter. Line the sides of the pan with strips of parchment paper (the same height as pan); brush paper with butter - this part is essential - it will give you the lovely golden crust and keep the crust from sticking to your pan.

4. Place hash browns on 3-4 thicknesses of paper towels and fold paper towels over potatoes. Hold over sink and squeeze excess moisture from hash browns.

5. Remove hash browns from paper towel packet and place in a bowl with butter, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pat into bottom and up sides of prepared pan, using your hands. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until set, 15 to 20 minutes. er before serving.

6. Place cooled arugula on 3-4 thicknesses of paper towels and using technique in step 4, squeeze out excess liquid.

7. In a large bowl, whisk 7 remaining eggs, sour cream, half and half Fontina cheese, arugula, 1 teaspoons sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until well combined.. Pour into crust, and sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese. Bake until set, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove outer ring of springform pan, and gently peel off parchment paper.

Notes:

~ There can be lots of variations to this delicious quiche; feel free to replace the Fontina with your favorite type of cheese. Use a creamy Feta in place of the goat cheese. Add ham, bacon, prosciutto, pancetta, Italian sausage or chicken/turkey sausage. Asparagus or scallions could replace the arugula or you could leave these veggies out altogether and just add some fresh herbs and a few chopped sun-dried tomatoes for flavor.

~ Serve with muffins and fresh fruit for breakfast, brunch or lunch or with some crusty bread and a green salad for a lovely, simple lunch or dinner.

~ You can bake the crust and stir up the egg mixture the night before; in the morning just combine and finish baking!

~ This also re-warms quite nicely in the microwave.

I got the recipe here: https://thecafesucrefarine.com/goat-cheese-fontina-arugula-quiche-w/

Annie

Then there's always the quiche Lorraine which is my favourite .

Into the pastry,

As much bacon or lardons as you fancy, browned and drained.

In a bowl, mix 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks. Beat in 30cl cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Pour over and bake until cooked.

Islay -- that's my favorite quiche -- simple -- bacon and cream and eggs!

Well, I know now, I can make a nice quiche! :)

I made the one Rusty posted from Paula Deen, and the one from Islay Corbel.

Both turned out great, but we all preferred Islay's.

Thanks everyone for the recipes and tips.

Moni

Glad you enjoyed it.

My favorite!