Recipe for homemade quiche spinach ricotta healthy easy pie

Homemade quick and healthy spinach and ricotta quiche

Quick homemade Quiche

This spinach and ricotta quiche is a regular dish in our home because spinach is one of the two vegetables that my son eats! Filled with healthy vegetables, ricotta cheese, and eggs with a light and crispy crust, this amazing pie makes also a great appetizer and is really popular at parties.

Ricotta and spinach is a classic Italian combination, found in ravioli, cannelloni, lasagne but also in torta pasqualina, which inspired this quiche.

If you have time, I suggest you make the dough yourself as it is very quick and healthier then bought ones, but if you are in a hurry, grab some puff pastry from the store, possibly already rolled out and round.

Intro torta Pasqualina healthy spinach ricotta quiche pie
The perfect dish for parties

Italian recipes

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Our loved spinach and ricotta quiche – my children call it torta verde, which means green pie – is an easy and quick weeknight dinner. It requires only a simple preparation and some time in the fridge (it makes the crust super crispy!). Perfect also to use up leftovers, like cheese or cold cuts: just chop or grate and add them in!

As I mentioned at the beginning it is inspired by a very classic Italian dish, called Torta Pasqualina: originally from Genova the eastern pie was prepared with the local and available products around Easter, such as greens, herbs, onions, eggs, cheese. Made with a quite complicated pastry and decorated with eggs carefully placed, raw, in molded holes in the filling. It looks beautiful and tastes delicious, but since it is very elaborate, I have my easy and quick version. My mother used to make it too, with store-bought puff pastry. We prefer the homemade easy crust pie, as it is less greasy. Scroll down for the recipe!

How to bake a quick and healthy quiche ricotta spinach Italian pie
Recipe for homemade quiche

Recipe for easy homemade spinach and ricotta quiche

Pastry:

Going for a healthier choice? Then you’ll be making a shortcrust pastry and are going to need the following ingredients:

250g of plain flour

125g of cold butter, cut in pieces

60ml of cold water

4g of salt

Mix everything together with the flat beater (kitchen aid) until the dough comes together.

You can double the quantity and freeze half of the dough to use in the future, this will help you save precious time when you need it!

Take a pie tin or cake tin, cover it with wet and squeezed parchment paper (it is easier to adjust when it is wet). Take 2/3of the dough and flatten it directly on the paper. I don’t like to roll things out and hate cleaning up afterward, so I usually just flatten the dough roughly with my hands (from its original ball form to a frisbee form) and then place it on the paper and press it with my fingers from the center to the sides. Of course, you can use a rolling pin if you are up to it!

With the remaining 1/3 make some balls, roll them out like snakes and use them to make the border.

With a fork make some holes in the bottom and press it on the sides to make a nice pattern on the crust. Let it cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Filling:

While the dough rests you can move on with the filling (or just have a cup of coffee first!), this is what you need:

250g of chopped frozen spinach (if you only find the whole leaves, just blend them with a hand mixer after cooking them)

250g of ricotta cheese

25g of grated parmesan (Reggiano, if possible)

1 egg

salt

a pinch of grated nutmeg

Cook the spinach (250g) in a saucepan until they have no more water (but be careful not to burn them!). Let them cool down. Once they are cool, add the ricotta (250g), grated parmesan (25g), egg (1), salt and nutmeg and mix everything together (I do it in the saucepan, so one thing less to clutter the dishwasher!). Here you go, you have the filling!! How easy was that??!!

Should you have any leftovers of bacon, speck, cheese in cubes, throw them in as well! They’ll make your pie even tastier!

Cook for 30 minutes in the preheated oven at 190-200 C degrees.

It’s going to be piping hot, so be careful when you dig in!

Enjoy with a good salad!

Pin spinach ricotta quiche quick easy weeknight meal family pie healthy recipe
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I hope you enjoy the pie as much as we do! Stay tuned for more Italian recipes!

2020 will also bring more focus on cooking with seasonal products! I am joining my Blogger Friends and we will share seasonal recipes with you regularly! #saisonalisstbesser

Looking for other ideas with spinach? Check out the Savoury Feta and Spinach Muffins!

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