A French dish with Italian inspiration, Quiche Florentine is an elegant, yet easy, spring-inspired dish.

Why Quiche Florentine?

In French cooking, dishes that include spinach are called à la Florentine.

But, why, is the question.

The term comes from the French queen Catherine de Médici, who was born in Florence and married the heir to the French throne. When Catherine became Queen of France, she brought her own cooks from Florence, along with spinach seeds. (Can you believe the French didn’t have spinach until the mid 1500s?)

As her cooks began making dishes with spinach, the practice gained popularity and spinach became known as a vegetable from Florence.

Making Easy French Quiche

Quiche is an incredibly versatile formula recipe: Start with a 9 inch pie crust. Whisk the egg and milk mixture together in a ratio of 1 part egg to 2 parts milk. (1 egg is roughly 2 oz, so you need 1 egg for every 1/2 cup of milk.) Add 2 or so cups of filling ingredients (cooked meats and vegetables) and 1-2 cups of cheese (depending on how rich you want your quiche).

And there you have it! Any combination of fridge leftovers can be used.

Choosing a Milk for Quiche

One thing to remember is that milk-fat helps to produce a firm finished quiche, so fat is essential. 1% milk will work, but it will create a slightly watery end product.

We recommend using (at least) 2% or whole milk. Half and half yields an even smoother and more firm quiche.

How To Tell When Your Quiche Is Done

It can be tricky to tell when you quiche is ready to come out of the oven. We use a series of checks to make sure ours are ready.

The quiche will be very puffy and a knife inserted into the center will come out clean. (It might look moist, but there won’t be any bits of egg sticking to it.)

Don’t doubt the wobble.

Your quiche Florentine should have just a little bit of a wobble to it when it comes out of the oven. It will continue to cook (and fall) as you let it rest for 10 minutes. This resting time is essential to settle the quiche and ensure your slices come out perfectly!

Quiche Florentine (Spinach Quiche) from Curious Cuisiniere

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4.50 from 2 votes

Quiche Florentine (Spinach Quiche)

A French dish with Italian inspiration, Quiche Florentine is an elegant, yet easy, spring-inspired dish.

Yield: 1 (9 inch) pie pan

Prep Time40

Cook Time45

Total Time1 25

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: French

Servings: - 8 people

Calories: 305kcal

Author: Sarah | Curious Cuisiniere

Ingredients

For the 9” Pie Crust

1 c + 2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
7 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cut into chunks
¼ c + 1 Tbsp ice cold water

For the Quiche

1 ½ c whole milk
3 eggs
½ tsp salt
½ tsp rosemary
½ tsp thyme
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground black pepper
2 c fresh spinach, chopped
1 c Swiss cheese

Instructions

For the 9” Pie Crust

Preheat your oven to 425F.
Place the flour and salt in the bowl of your food processor. Add the cold chunks of butter. Pulse to combine the mixture, until you have evenly distributed grains of butter within the flour.
Slowly add 1/4 c of cold water, pulsing as you add, until the dough starts to come together. (If it doesn't come together after 1/4 c, slowly add 1 Tbsp more.)
Remove the dough from the food processor and press firmly into a ball. Roll the dough out to a roughly 11 inch circle and place it in a 9 inch pie pan.
Place a piece of parchment paper inside the crust and fill it with pie weights or dried beans.
Bake the pie crust for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden.

For the Quiche

While the crust is baking, whisk together milk, eggs, and seasonings.
Once the crust has baked, carefully remove the pie weights or beans.
Sprinkle the chopped spinach into the baked crust and top it with the cheese. Gently pour the egg mixture over the fillings.
Reduce your oven temperature to 400F.
Return the quiche to the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, until puffy and slightly wobbly.* (A knife inserted into the center of the quiche should come out moist, but clean of any eggy bits.)
Place the cooked quiche on a wire rack for 10 minutes to let it finish cooking and set up.
Serve warm or refrigerate overnight and serve chilled.

Notes

*If your crust seems to be browning too quickly, carefully wrap a strip of aluminum foil around the pie pan to cover the crust.

Nutrition

More spring-inspired recipes from around the world

Appetizers

Panzanella Primavera by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Sides

Asparagus Gribiche by The Wimpy Vegetarian

Entreés

Early Spring Risotto by Cooking Chat
Irish Lamb Stew by Food Lust People Love
Root Vegetable Risotto by Momma’s Meals
Spring Pea & Chèvre Souffle by FoodieTots
Spring Vegetable Risotto by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Desserts

Lemon Meringue Pie by Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch
Palm Sunday Easter Bread by Love and Confections

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Sarah - Curious Cuisiniere

Sarah is one of Curious Cuisiniere’s founding duo. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.

www.curiouscuisiniere.com/about/