Gruyere quiche with caramelized peppers, onions and spinach

I made this yummy little number from Whole Foods for Easter brunch this year.  There is a Brazilian restaurant in town that makes a delicious quiche, and my goal was to imitate it.  The keys to making the copycat version are the red bell pepper and spinach- the Gruyere cheese may be poetic license, but this version was delicious and definitely a keeper!

GRUYERE QUICHE WITH CARAMELIZED PEPPERS, ONIONS AND SPINACH

Yield: 1 pie

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and thinly sliced

1 red onion, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 pound baby spinach leaves

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese, divided

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1 refrigerated pie crust

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add peppers, onions, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until deep golden brown and caramelized, 10 to 12 minutes; transfer mixture to a large bowl. Return skillet to heat, add remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and spinach and cook, tossing often, until completely wilted and liquid is evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes; transfer to bowl with onions and peppers and set aside.

Add eggs, milk, 1/2 cup of the Gruyère, salt and pepper to bowl with onion mixture and mix well. Transfer to pie crust, top with remaining 1/4 cup Gruyère and bake until deep golden brown and cooked through, about 45 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly then cut into slices and serve.

Easter brunch

We hosted Easter brunch at our house last weekend with quiche, shrimp and grits, and fresh fruit, and Christy brought a phenomonal Cadbury pie baked by a friend of hers.  The quiche was basically Emeril's quiche lorraine with a few add-ins: I layered fresh spinach and chopped tomatoes with the bacon before I covered it with the egg mixture.  I also used a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, which is an excellent shortcut for homemade.  The shrimp and grits recipe was from Food & Wine magazine, and you'll notice a recurring theme - bacon!  Our motto is you can never have too much!  Everything tasted fantastic, and it was all pretty simple to pull together, too.  Bon appetit!

02.14.09 French toast cups

We're at the lake this weekend taking it easy, and made something special for our Valentine's day breakfast - sausage and apple-stuffed french toast cups from Rachael Ray. These were fun to make and tasted great! There is a video at the top of the page that gives instructions on how to make the bread cups. We needed extra egg mixture to make our 6 cups (4 eggs instead of 3), and only used half of the maple syrup (3/4 cup instead of 1 1/2 cups).

Lucy's birthday brunch

Between the holidays, Robert's business trip, and an unsuccessful recipe not worth posting about, I haven't had anything to share lately. I realized I didn't post about Lucy's birthday though, so I'm doing that now. We had her party on Christmas Eve morning so it was a brunch menu. Two of my favorite recipes were the Basil-Lime Fruit Salad, and instead of birthday cake, dessert was Monkey Bread Minis. Robert is allergic to strawberries, so I substituted red grapes in the fruit salad. Also, the web version of the monkey bread recipe doesn't have the glaze instructions, so I've added them here. The magazine called this step "optional", but who doesn't want extra sugar on top?!

Glaze:
Stir together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons milk. Drizzle over the bread as it cools.