This Spinach and Ricotta Quiche is the perfect versatile lunch. You can easily pack it in your lunchbox on your way to work or school (let’s break the boring sandwich rut!) or enjoy it at home with a side of salad, steamed vegetables or even mash potatoes. You choose.
Whereas for many people the ideal comfort food is a nice and hearty stew or a cheesy casserole dish, for me it any food that reminds me of my home in Italy and my childhood. This quiche is one of the many dishes I make when I long for a taste of home. In Liguria, vegetable quiches are the norm. You can find them served in little cubes for an aperitivo or sold at bakeries for lunch. This particular quiche is one of my favourites. I made it so many times, I lost count. I started as a child, sitting on the kitchen counter and ‘helping’ my mum with the recipe, and I carried on during my time at university. It is very easy to make and impossible to mess up: basically, it’s foolproof.
This Spinach and Ricotta Quiche is actually called Torta di Bietole and it is not, in fact, made with spinach. Bietole are a green leafy vegetable variety which really resembles spinach, but I have never been able to find them in the UK. Still, using spinach as a substitute is not unusual. Many bakeries in my hometown use spinach or mix both varieties, and my mum would often make it with them when she couldn’t find bietole at the supermarket or simply was on a pinch. With or without bietole, this recipe is delicious anyway.
I love this recipe because it’s mild and yet not bland at all. The slight bitterness of the cooked spinach is balanced by the sweetness of the white onion and the creaminess of the ricotta cheese. But there are also tones of black pepper and parmesan, the great star of the Italian cuisine. This is the type of authentic Italian dish you won’t be able to find in restaurants abroad. In fact, Ligurian cooking is very much overlooked abroad (except for pesto, gnocchi, and focaccia). So, in practice, I am giving you a real insight into Italian food culture.
Now let's move onto the practical details.
For this recipe I used frozen spinach. I must say, I have never tried using fresh before and I am not sure how it would turn out. With bietole it is a different story, because they are way thicker. I suppose, if you wanted to make this recipe with fresh spinach, you would probably need a bigger quantity and you should only cook it for about a minute - but I cannot guarantee it will work out. So if you are feeling brave and would like to try it, please share your experience with me. I would love to know how it went!
A step that you really don’t want to skip is the squeezing of the cooked spinach in a kitchen towel. I know it is a bit laborious and it involves getting a perfectly clean tea towel completely green. However, if you don’t do it, your spinach will taste incredibly bitter and the puff pastry underneath will go all wet and soggy. And nobody wants that.
For what concerns tin sizes, I used a small-medium rectangular one. You could use whatever shape you prefer. I often make it in a pie dish, for example. Just choose one that is not too big ,as you want to be able to fold the edges of the pastry over and slightly cover the spinach filling. You might want to cut some excess puff pastry on some sides as well, and add it to the other, shorter edges – that is if you care about symmetry, otherwise you can really freestyle it. Also: you don’t NEED to use puff pastry. Although I would highly recommend it, if you want to keep this quiche gluten-free or simply lighter, that’s fine. You can just transfer the spinach and ricotta filling into a tin with some parchment paper and bake it according to the recipe. It will still taste very nice. As usual, at Once Upon a Recipe you do you.
Ingredients:
1 puff pastry sheet
500 gr frozen spinach
250 gr ricotta cheese
3 medium eggs
3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 white or yellow onion
Black pepper
Salt
Olive oil
Instructions:
Preheat the oven at 180°C.
Boil the spinach from frozen according to package instructions. Once they have cooked, drain them and set aside to cool down for about ten minutes or until you can handle them without burning your hands.
In the meantime, finely chop the onion and sauté it in a pan with some olive oil. Cook until the onion has softened and is beginning to caramelise. Remove from heat and set it aside to cool down.
In a mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, the ricotta cheese, and the onion, along with ½ tsp salt, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, and ½ of freshly-cracked black pepper (use less if you are not a fan). Mix everything until it’s well combined.
At this point transfer the cooked spinach onto a tea towel and wrap them tightly. Squeeze the towel as hard as you can, thereby eliminating the excess water in the spinach. This will take a couple of minutes at least. Make sure you are doing this on top of a bowl or the sink, so that your kitchen counter doesn’t turn bright green. Once they have been drained, add the spinach to the mixing bowl and stir everything together.
Add the grated parmesan cheese and continue mixing. Take the pastry out of the fridge and let it sit for about ten minutes (this will make it easier to work with). Unroll your pastry sheet and place it onto a tin.
Pour the spinach mixture at the centre of the pastry sheet and spread it evenly with a spatula or wooden spoon, making sure to leave some spaces at the edges. Gently fold the edges, creating a sort of picture frame around the spinach mixture. Brush the folded sides with a little olive oil and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the quiche is nice and golden at the edges and the spinach mixture is firm.
Cut the quiche in (generous) slices and enjoy it on its own or with a nice salad as a side.
This quiche can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Enjoy!
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