Mid Day and A Corn and Spinach Quiche

Yesterday morning I got a call from a lady, “I’d like to order pesto rolls and cupcakes”, she said.  Just like I do with every such call, I grabbed my order book to note down the details. I asked my standard set of questions and then finally, the address for delivery.  She said, “That would be next door!”

I was pleasantly surprised! I hadn’t announced about my foray into catering around here, and we don’t really talk much except exchange brief pleasantries when we happen to bump into each other in the elevator. How did she know? She told me she was thrilled to see me in the day’s Mid Day and cooed about the details. (For those of you who don’t know about it, Mid Day is Bombay’s largest local paper, with over 150k daily readers). I knew I’d be in it one of these days, but didn’t expect it to be yesterday, and I certainly didn’t expect it to be this huge! A full page coverage, and the first page too carried a teaser to the story. Have a look at the full story, and to see me giving the camera a big, very conscious smile (it’s hard for me!).

A big thank you too all for your calls, emails, Twitter and Facebook messages!  Your support made my day.

And just so I don’t have another post without a recipe, I’m going to share with you a recipe for a corn and spinach quiche I made a few days ago.

The filling is a little more for a 6-7 inch quiche, but would be perfect for a 9 inch quiche. I scrambled up the leftover filling and topped it over a bread brushed with garlic oil and then toasted it in a cast iron pan (that makes the bread so crunchy) for a snack.

Corn and Spinach Quiche Recipe
Yield: One 9 inch tart

Shortcrust Recipe
Adapted from: The Ottolenghi Cookbook (India | UK)

300g flour
160g butter
70ml ice cold water

Corn and Spinach Filling Recipe

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup / 200g corn
½ cup spinach, washed and chopped
½ cup / 100ml cream (heavy ream would be lovely, I used 25% fat cream)
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp chilli flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Make the shortcrust pastry following the instructions for a perfect pie crust. Blind bake the quiche for 15 minutes, or until slightly golden in colour. Brush with eggwash and bake for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
2. For the filling, heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and let it cook for another minute or so, until fragrant.
3. Add the corn and then finally the spinach and cook for 5-7 minutes until the corn is cooked. Set aside, and let it cool.
4. In a bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the cream. Season with salt and pepper and add the chilli flakes. Add the cooled corn and spinach mixture and check for seasoning.
5. Pour the filling into the precooked quiche base and bake it in the oven at 175°C/350°F for 15-17 minutes until the egg mixture has firmed up.
6. Remove from the oven, and let it cool.
7. Slice up, and eat!