Mushroom and Spinach Quiche with Shredded Potato Crust and the Top 10 Googled Recipes

by Lynne on September 4, 2010

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Mushroon and Spinach Quiche with Shredded Potato Crust

If you have been following along with me, you know I am fascinated with the search engine terms people use to get to my blog. So the other day I asked Google what the most googled food recipes are. Apparently there aren’t any lists compiled for 2010 yet, but there were several lists for 2009 that I thought were really interesting. For instance:

Top 10 Most Googled in U.S. in 2009
(per Serious Eats)

  • Chili
  • Meatloaf
  • Cheesecake
  • Banana Bread
  • Pancakes
  • Salsa
  • Hummus
  • Lasagna
  • Apple Pie
  • Meatball


Top 10 in Australia in 2009
(Brisbane Times)

  • Pancakes
  • Banana Cake
  • Banana Bread
  • Scones
  • Pumpkin Soup
  • Quiche
  • Cheesecake
  • Fried Rice
  • Tiramisu
  • Pavlova

Top 10 in U.K. 2009
(The Sunday Times UK)

  • Butternut Squash Soup
  • Fondant Potatoes
  • Banana Bread
  • How to cook perfect Steak
  • Cauliflower Cheese
  • Eton Mess
  • Homemade Garlic Bread
  • Potato Dauphinoise
  • Coronation Chicken
  • Blueberry Muffins

Mushroon and Spinach Quiche with Shredded Potato Crust 2

So far from these lists I have Chili, Meatloaf, Cheesecake, Pancakes, Quiche, Meatalls and Banana Bread recipes on my blog. I also have a recipe for Maple Pecan Bread which is a very similar quick bread. Do you notice that all of these recipes are for everyday comfort foods? And Banana Bread is on all three lists.

I was intrigued as to what Eton Mess was and found it is an English desert made up of strawberries, broken meringue cookies and whipped cream.

Fondant Potatoes are cut in a barrel shape, poached in chicken broth until it is a glaze, then roasted in the oven until crisp and brown.

Cauliflower Cheese is a cauliflower gratin made with cheddar cheese. Similar to mac and cheese.

Coronation Chicken is a mayonnaise-based chicken salad usually flavored with curry powder and eaten cold as a salad or on sandwiches.

So now I’m adding another quiche recipe and it’s a really good one. I love the shredded potato crust and the peppery green salad on top. This is perfect for a light lunch, brunch or a starter for a special meal. I cut it in serving size pieces, wrapped them in plastic wrap in a zip-close bag and froze them. Today I microwaved my portion for about 3 minutes, covered, and it was as good as when it came out of the oven. I just love food you can freeze!

Mushroon and Spinach Quiche with Shredded Potato Crust 3

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Mushroom and Spinach Quiche with Shredded Potato Crust

Serves 4 as entrée

3 tablespoons butter
4 Idaho Yukon Gold Potatoes (about 12 ounces), peeled
½ cup finely minced onion
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Two 5-ounce containers fresh baby spinach, stems removed
¼ cup water
8 ounces mushrooms, ¼-inch slices
3 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
2/3 cup milk
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Salad
4 cups mixed whole arugula and Italian parsley leaves, plus other herbs of your choice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tablespoon sherry vinegar, or your vinegar of choice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch glass pie plate with 1 tablespoon (or less) butter.

2. Using the large holes on a box grater, shred the potatoes. In a large bowl, mix the potatoes, onion, cornstarch, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

3. In a large nonstick skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Transfer the potato mixture to the skillet and pat into a 10-inch disk. Cook about 10 minutes until the bottom is golden brown.

4. Loosen potatoes and place pie plate top side down onto crust. Flip over, browned side up, onto the pie plate. Using your palm, move crust so edges are even around rim of plate. Bake about 20 minutes.

5. While the crust is baking, heat the skillet over high heat. Add the spinach and ¼ cup water. Keep turning with a tongs until completely wilted. When cool enough to touch, squeeze out as much water as possible by hand, then wrap in paper towels and squeeze again. Chop in small pieces. Reserve.

6. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until brown and liquid has evaporated, stirring several times, about 10 minutes.

7. Add the spinach to the mushrooms and season with salt. Put half of the spinach mushroom mixture in the crust, sprinkle the Swiss cheese evenly over, then the parmesan. Put the remaining spinach mixture on top.

8. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, egg whites, milk, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoons pepper and nutmeg. Pour over the filling in the pie plate. Elevate the top mushrooms that are submerged so they will show when finished. Think presentation.

9. Bake 20-25 minutes until set. Let cool about 20 minutes before cutting.

10. Whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the salad greens and toss to coat.

11. Cut quiche into quarters, place on serving plates and top each with 1 cup of salad. Eat!

{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

Sommer @ A Spicy Perspective September 5, 2010 at 6:07 pm

Very interesting lists! That will definitely make a blogger think! Love the looks of your quiche–especially the crust!

Baking Serendipity September 5, 2010 at 7:09 pm

Interesting lists. Awesome quiche! Love this post 🙂

Andrea @ Fork Fingers Chopsticks September 5, 2010 at 8:52 pm

LOVE the potato crust. Why didn’t you use all the egg yolks?

Monet September 5, 2010 at 9:33 pm

I love the thought of a potato crust. This would make my quiche experience something entirely new! And I so appreciate those lists you posted…how interesting! I would have never thought that meatloaf would have ranked so high. But I’m not surprised about banana bread…everyone loves it, and how could they not?

Laura (Blogging Over Thyme) September 5, 2010 at 9:57 pm

Such a fun post! It was really fun reading what all the top 10 were for different cities. Would never have guessed that banana bread would be so world renown in popularity!

This quiche looks delish, I’ve made frittatas before, but never gotten around to a quiche. The potato crust sounds much more clever and tasty than the original!

Lynne September 5, 2010 at 10:38 pm

Andrea ~ This quiche recipe is supposed to be a lower fat version, hence, no pastry crust made with butter and less egg yolks. Of course, now I have two egg yolks in my frig. Maybe I’ll have to make more of those Twirly Lemon Cookies that only use yolks. Any ideas?

Nuts about food September 6, 2010 at 5:27 am

Eaton mess is a favorite last minute dessert at our house. It really is delic!
Food you can freeze is also a favorite, since all you often want is a ready, home cooked meal. I never thought of portioning and freezing quiche. Thanks!

Vivienne September 6, 2010 at 7:25 am

The potatoe crust is awesome! I recently read a post about a rice crusted quiche too….everyones going healthier these days…i like!

Stella September 6, 2010 at 2:09 pm

Hey Lynne, those lists are just smart. I’m going to make all of the vegan/vegetarian items on them (smile). More importantly though, your potato crusted quiche looks wonderful. It’s so much more healthful than an A.P. flour & butter crust, plus it sounds delicious anyway!
p.s I love Eton Mess;)

Adair @ Lentil Breakdown September 6, 2010 at 5:12 pm

I’ve made a cauliflower quiche-type dish with a grated potato crust from the Moosewood cookbook several times. It’s pretty good but time consuming. You don’t fry the potatoes though. Just bake them in the pyrex pan first. Your crust sounds more like a latke which is probably tastier. I think I’ll try this but I’ll use shitakes. Yum!

Carolyn Jung September 6, 2010 at 8:51 pm

What fascinating lists. I feel like I ought to just Google “coronation chicken” and “fondant potatoes” now, since being in the States, I have no idea what those are. But boy, do they sound good! 😉

polwig September 7, 2010 at 7:55 am

Thanks for the clarification I had no idea what coronation chicken was. This recipe is awesome and right up my alley. It is like a perfect marriage between a quiche and fritatta 🙂

Kim at Rustic Garden Bistro September 7, 2010 at 12:51 pm

Lynne,

Make mayonnaise with your two egg yolks. As for the rest of your post, wow, what interesting information re: the top 10 searches! I’m a big quiche person, so now I’m wondering why I’ve never blogged about it. Might be time to get on the bandwagon. 🙂 The potato crust is a new idea for me – might have to try that next time!

[K]

My Man's Belly September 7, 2010 at 7:42 pm

Well I know that when I need to find a quiche recipe I’m not going to Google it, I’m going to Cookandbemerry it!

Juliana September 7, 2010 at 8:21 pm

I never tried this shredded potato crust, although seen it before…the quiche looks awesome…no wonder it is so popular…will have to try it soon. Thanks Lynne!

Catherine September 17, 2010 at 1:45 pm

Tasty! Oh, how much I love quiche, and this one really really looks good!

Thanks for sharing the recipe, as soon as I get some cheese, this is whats going to pop out of my oven! :-]

Cathi

Steven November 4, 2010 at 2:33 pm

I made this quiche last week and the potato crust was awesome! I loved that it was crisped up in a skillet as opposed to baking it in the pie pan first. I am making it again this weekend for guests and will be trying it with sweet potatoes.

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