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Charred Spinach Artichoke Chicken Quiche

We picked up some artisanal sausages the other day from Trader Joe’s and they were pretty good. So here comes the quiche that uses these sausages as the base for the filling along with some select vegetables for added flavor and texture.

Charred Spinach Artichoke Chicken Sausage Quiche
Charred Spinach Artichoke Chicken Sausage Quiche

I’ve seen a lot of things charred that you wouldn’t think would work lately. Some lettuce charred over a super hot grill in New Mexico used in a salad. Various Peppers and other vegetables charred in a super hot cast iron pot in Israel and your usual Roasted Chile Peppers in both New Mexico and Colorado. This got me thinking of trying this with spinach. So after a couple of tries with the gas grill, I think I’ve got it. The charred spinach has a unique flavor and it doesn’t cook down quite as much as when you prepare it normally. You’ll need a gas or charcoal grill that is super hot. And you’ll only need it for a few minutes. No more than 4 minutes for the spinach and no more than 10 for the sausage. So this may be better prepared in advance of when you plan to serve this with another meal so you don’t make a lot of heat for just one dish.

Serves 8 – 10 (one Quiche)

Ingredients

  • 1 – 1/2 lb Baby Spinach
  • 2 or 3 Spicy Spinach Artichoke Chicken Sausages (or Spinach Asiago Chicken Sausage)
  • 1/2 Yellow Onion
  • 1/2 cup 4 or 5 shredded Italian Cheese Blend (5 cheese has more flavor)
  • 1/4 cup Half and Half
  • 3 oz Greek Yogurt
  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 9 in Pie Crust
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Pepper
  • 1 tsp Marjoram (Optional for a unique Mediterranean style spice)

Preparation

Start your grill to get it as hot as possible. Take the baby spinach and spread it out on the grill when at least 400 F. Allow to cook undisturbed until you get some good charring on the edges. Flip as much as you can over to get a little more char on the other side. This shouldn’t take more than a minute per side. The spinach will loose a lot of volume and wilt quite a bit. But as long as you get some charred edges, that should be good enough. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Let the grill cool a little and put the sausages on the grill and cook until you get the same grill marks on the sausages. Then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Slice up the Onion by quartering and then slicing into 1/4 inch pieces. Place in an oiled pan over medium high heat and saute until fully caramelized and a golden brown. If you like you should add a dash of salt and pepper while this is cooking. This can take up to 20 minutes and I always add water to help keep from drying them out too much. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

The charred spinach should be cool enough to handle by now and you should cut the leaves into slices about 1/4 inch wide and you can mix them with the onion for storage until final assembly. Cut the cooled sausages into small 1/4 to 1/2 inch chunks and store properly until final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 380 F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the charred spinach, caramelized onion, shredded cheese and chopped sausage together until fully mixed. Then loosely place these ingredients into the pie crust. In large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, half and half and yogurt together and whisk until frothy or for about 4 minutes. Also add in the salt and pepper to taste at this point. When fully whisked pour over the ingredients in the pie crust and mix it around a little to make sure that the egg mixture fully mixes in to hold everything together. Top with a little more pepper and put into the oven to cook for 35 – 40 minutes or until the top just starts to brown. Remove from the oven and either serve of pack it up for the rink.

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Mango Habanero Chicken Quiche

This is another one that was inspired by a meal that I had a few weeks ago. Qdoba has added some new items to their menu and and a couple taste good. I thought one in particular would make a great modification to one of our early quiches. And I thought that I’d try to make this as simple to make as possible. So I decided to use all off the shelf products to make this work. So here is a Mango Habanero Chicken Quiche that also has some Mango Candied Bacon included for fun.

Mango Habanero Chicken Quiche with Mango Candied Bacon
Mango Habanero Chicken Quiche with Mango Candied Bacon
All of these ingredients are simply off the shelf products and require a minimum of preparation so that you don’t need to spend a bunch of time working on preparation. Just a little bit of cooking, some mixing and your done. I originally intended to make this into a Tourtiere but changed my mind as this was meant to be simple. And if you want to taste what this tastes like, minus the eggs, try a chicken burrito from Qdoba and add their new seasonal mango salsa. They taste almost the same.

And for a bonus, if you don’t want to use the Mango Candied Bacon in the quiche, you’ve got yourself a real good snack.

Serves 8 – 12 ( one quiche)

Ingredients

Filling

  • 1/4 – 9 oz jar of Major Grey’s Chutney
  • 1/2 lb Chicken Breast
  • 2 tsp Olive Oil
  • 1/2 – 15 oz can Pinto Beans
  • 1/2 – 15 oz can Southwest Corn or Corn with Peppers
  • 1/4 to 1/2 – 10 oz can RO*TEL diced Tomatoes with Habanero (depends on how spicy you want it)
  • 1/4 cup sliced Green Onion
  • 1/2 – 7 oz cup Fage Yogurt (2% has a little better flavor)
  • 1/4 cup Half and Half
  • 4 large Eggs
  • 1/4 cup shredded Italian Blend Cheese (or if you want it fancy Smoked Gouda is good too)
  • 9 in Pie Pan with Pie Crust (I used a pre-made pie crust for the one in the picture)

Mango Candied Bacon

  • 1/2 lb Bacon (use your favorite cut, just not too thick)
  • 1/4 – 9 oz jar of Major Grey’s Chutney
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp Red Chile Flakes
  • 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Preparation

Mango Candied Bacon

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Remove the bacon from the package and lay out the bacon on top of a cooking rack placed in a lined cooking sheet so there is no overlap of the bacon strips. Using either a fork of a brush, spread out an even layer of the Chutney over the top of all the bacon. Then evenly sprinkle on the Chile Flakes and Pepper. Put it in the oven and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, or until it’s just starting to turn brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. When cooled remove from the tray and chop into bit sized pieces. A good quarter of these always get eaten before making it into the quiche. But put them away until ready for final assembly.

Quiche Filling

While the Bacon is cooking you can chop up the chicken breast into nugget sized pieces. Pour the Olive Oil into a small cup or bowl, and lightly coat the chicken pieces. Then prepare a cooking sheet by lining it with foil and evenly distribute the chicken pieces on the sheet. If you like, sprinkle lightly with a little salt and pepper. Place in the oven and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, turning over halfway through cooking. The chicken should start to turn lightly brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool until you can handle them easily. Then chop them up a little more into 1/2 inch cubes. Store properly until final assembly.

While all that is cooking, get a mixing bowl and open and drain the Beans, Corn and RO*TEL. Save about 2 Tbsp of the RO*TEL liquid (be careful as this makes it spicier) to mix into the eggs later. Put the Beans and Corn into the bowl and mix completely. Put the RO*TEL in another container if you want to layer this into the quiche. All this does is make the top a little more colorful. Store these properly until ready for final assembly.

And lastly if your using a prepared pie crust cook it according to its instructions.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 380 F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Chicken, Bacon, Beans and Corn and thoroughly mix. Put this mixture into the prepared pie crust. Top with a layer of Cheese, RO*TEL Tomatoes and the sliced Green Onions. Then combine in a mixing bowl the Yogurt, Half and Half, Eggs and the liquid from the RO*TEL that you reserved earlier. Beat this mixture with a whisk until frothy. Pour this over the filing in the pie crust, shake it up a little to make sure the egg mixture fills all of the spaces in the crust. Top with a little salt and pepper to taste, and put it in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the top is a golden brown. Remove from the oven and either serve or pack it up for the rink.

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Cajun Blackened Chicken Frittata

After a dinner trip to Popeye’s for some Cajun style dinner the wheels started turning to figure out how to make my dinner into a quiche. The flavors should work so off we went looking for portioning and trying to figure out how to get the right spices into the chicken. And of course we included Red Beans and Rice into this because that is one of the best Cajun sides. All this combines to make this a very tasty Cajun Blackened Chicken Frittata.

Cajun Blackened Chicken frittata
Cajun Blackened Chicken Frittata
This took some research and testing to get the flavors close to the original. And had to come up with a similar seasoning that would taste like the little flavor packs that most people don’t know are available at Popeye’s. Or you could just get a dinner there and ask them to throw in a bunch of extra Cajun Sparkle packets. Personally, I think the Sparkle makes this dish, but it could also be the Red Beans and Rice. Who am I kidding, it’s the Blackened Chicken. We made this frittata style, but you could also use a buttermilk biscuit style crust to make this a quiche. If we ever get that perfected, we’ll add this to the recipes.

Ingredients

Cajun Sparkle

  • 1 Tbsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Sage (ground)
  • 1/2 tsp Paprika
  • 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Accent Flavor Enhancer (Optional)

Filling

  • 1/2 lb Chicken Breast
  • 3/4 Cup Buttermilk
  • 3 Tbsp Tabasco Sauce
  • 4 Tbsp Zatarains Blackened Seasoning
  • 8 oz canned Red Beans (about half a can)
  • 1/4 Cup finely chopped Andouille Sausage
  • 1/2 Cup Cooked Rice
  • 1 tsp Butter
  • 1/4 chopped Onion
  • /4 Cup finely shredded Mozzarella Cheese

The Rest

  • 1 – 9 inch Pie Pan
  • 1 Tbsp Butter
  • 1/4 Cup chopped Green Onion or Chives
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp Cajun Sparkle (to taste, how strong to you want your Cajun flavor)
  • 1/4 Cup shredded Smoked Gouda
  • 4 large Eggs
  • 3 oz. Greek Yogurt
  • 1/4 Cup Half and Half

Preparation

You can make the Cajun Sparkle anytime before making this dish and store it for later use. The portioning makes a little more than 2 Tbsp of the seasoning, which is the amount you’ll need, so you can combine all of the Cajun Sparkle ingredients above and put this into a spice container for storage. Also, if you don’t like MSG you should leave out the Accent, as it’s mostly MSG.

To prepare the chicken you’ll need to start at least 24 hours before you’ll need the chicken to be cooked as this needs to marinate for 24 hours. Prepare the marinate by mixing the Buttermilk and Tabasco Sauce in a bowl. Chop up the chicken into 1/2 inch cubes and place in the marinate. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Prepare a cooking sheet by lining with foil and then either using a light cooking spray or oil coating to keep the chicken from sticking to the foil. Then heat a skillet over high heat. When the skillet shimmers, take the marinated chicken chunks out of the marinate and roll in the Blackening Seasoning. Knock off the excess so that each chunk is evenly coated.  Immediately place the chunks into the skillet for about 2 minutes turning the chunks about every 30 seconds. When they have a little char around the edges, transfer to the cooking sheet and place in the oven for another 5 – 7 minutes. Remove when done and set aside until ready for final assembly.

To prepare the Red Beans and Rice, you’ll need to mix the half can of Red Beans with the Andouille and Onion and cook for about 10 – 15 minutes over medium high heat to reduce the liquids and mix the flavors together. You can even add a pinch or two of the Cajun Sparkle while this is cooking. When thick like a gravy, reduce heat and allow to cool. Properly store until ready for final assembly.

The only thing remaining is to prepare the rice. Simply prepare it by the instructions on the box and add in 1 tsp butter when it’s done and thoroughly mix in. Store this separately until ready for final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Coat the pan with the butter. Layer in the rice just so that it makes an even layer in the bottom of the pan. Then in a mixing bowl mix together the Green Onion, Mozzarella and the Blackened Chicken chunks. After you get them thoroughly mixed, then place them on top of the rice in the pan. In a mixing bowl combine the Eggs, Yogurt, Half and Half and Sparkly and whisk together for about 3 -4 minutes to thoroughly mix. Then gently add the Red Beans to the egg mixture mix thoroughly. Pour this mixture over the chicken and rice in the pie pan and top with the shredded Gouda cheese. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the cheese is a golden brown. Remove from the oven as it’s ready to serve or pack it up for the rink.

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Mexiterranean Quiche

Mexiterranean Quiche
Mexiterranean Quiche

This quiche was inspired by some recent searches for ways to add extra fiber to our diets.  We stumbled across some well seasoned and fried to a crisp chickpeas and decided to combine this with some old school pan fried chicken.  Might as well add some green chile prepared using the same frying method.  Brings a little extra heat to the game.  The name for this quiche was provided by one of the boys as I was describing what was in it.  Mexiterranean quiche taking some of the goodness of the Mediterranean dishes that use the chickpeas (otherwise served as Hummus) combined with the medium heat of the Green Chile Peppers.  And it was all charred in a cast iron skillet to get a nice crispness to the bite.

Ingredients

  • 3 Tblspn Olive Oil (Avacado Oil is a good substitute)
  • 2 – 15 oz can of Chickpeas
  • 1/2 tspn Cayenne
  • 1 tspn Paprika
  • 1 tspn Cumin
  • 2 tspn fresh Parsley, chopped and divided
  • 1 tspn Salt, divided
  • 2 tspn Pepper, divided
  • 2 Chicken Breasts
  • 1/2 cup Chicken Broth or Stock
  • 1/4 cup Flour
  • 3 Anaheim Green Chile Peppers, seeded and chopped in 1/2 inch chunks
  • 16 oz Queso Fresco or Fetta Cheese, crumbled
  • 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
  • 15 oz Plain Greek Yogurt
  • 1/2 pt Half and Half
  • 9 large Eggs
  • 2 prepared pie crusts

Preparation

First, drain and rinse the chickpeas in a strainer and pat dry with paper towels.  Chop up the chile peppers.  Slice the chicken breasts in half or, my preference, hammer the chicken until about 1/4 inch thick.  Spread a coating of oil over the chicken and lightly coat both sides with 1 teaspoon of Parsley, salt and pepper and let rest for at least 5 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the rinsed and dried chickpeas with 1 tablespoon of oil.  Add in 1/2 teaspoon of Cayenne, 1 teaspoon each of Paprika and Cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon of Sea Salt.  Mix thoroughly until all of the chickpeas are well coated with the spices.  Get out your well seasoned cast iron skillet and heat it up using the highest heat possible and carefully put 1 teaspoon of oil into the skillet and wait until it starts to smoke.  Then put in the seasoned chickpeas and cook until they are browned on at least 2 sides.  Be careful as some of them may pop and spray a little oil at you.  Cooking these should take about 7 – 15 minutes, depending on your heating surface.  When done, remove from the skillet and store separately until ready for final assembly.

Carefully wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel.  Continue heating the skillet over high heat.  Add another tablespoon of oil and when it starts to smoke, add in the chopped chile peppers with a dash of salt and fry until the peppers start to char, about 5 minutes.  Stir a bit and fry for another couple of minutes.  Remove the peppers from the skillet and store separately until final assembly.

Reduce your heat to medium-high.  Again, carefully wipe the skillet clean and add 1 tablespoon of oil.  When the oil starts to smoke again, fry the Chicken Breasts for about 5 – 7 minutes per side.  You want the meat to have a good light browning.  Then slice up the chicken into no larger than 1/2 inch chunks.  Continue to fry for another couple of minutes.  Remove the chicken chunks from the skillet and place in a container.  Add the chicken broth to the skillet and stir in the flour slowly until you’ve completely deglazed the skillet.  Boil this down to form some gravy.  Pour the gravy over the chicken chunks and allow to sit for at least 15 minutes or store until ready for final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 385 F.  Combine the chickpeas and chicken in a large mixing bowl.  Half this mixture and spread each half into each pie crust.  Halve the green chile chunks and spread each half across the top of the filling in each crust.  Now spread across the top half of the crumpled Queso Fresco or Fetta cheese.  Mix together the Yogurt, Eggs and Half and Half, if you want add some salt and pepper to taste and whisk for at least 5 minutes.  Carefully pour the eggs mixture over the pie fillings until fully covered.  Then sprinkle the remaining Queso Fresco or Havarti over the top.  Top this with an even coating of the Mozzarella and sprinkle each with a 1/2 teaspoon of Parsley.  Place the pies into the oven and cook for 35 – 45 minutes, until the cheese starts to brown and the center of each pie is firm.  Remove and serve or pack it up for the rink.

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Chicken Pasta and Tomato Quiche

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Chicken Pasta w/ Sun Dried Tomato Quiche
Chicken Pasta w/ Sun Dried Tomato Quiche

Last week we made a Lasagna Quiche which was primarily made to be easy to make and help recover after a hard skate.  Since not everyone likes beef or pork, here is one that uses chicken for the main ingredient.  This one got topped with a little Prosciutto for fun but that is optional.

Serves: 16 – 22 (2 Quiches)

Ingredients

  • 4 Chicken Breasts
  • 1 cup Bow tie Pasta
  • 6 tsp Olive Oil
  • 2 tsp Ground Pepper
  • 1 tsp Sea Salt
  • 4 cloves Garlic, minced
  • 4 tsp Marjoram, chopped
  • 1/2 cup Red Wine
  • 1 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes (not in oil), chopped
  • 2 pie crusts
  • Base Quiche Mix
  • 2 cups Romano Cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 cup Prosciutto, diced (optional)

Preparation

Prepare the Pasta according to the instructions on the package, or alternatively you can prepare this in a skillet with just enough salted water to cover the pasta, at a boil until the pasta is soft but firm.  Remove from the water and strain.  In this case, return the pasta back to the warm skillet and mix in 2 tsp of Olive Oil to coat all the pasta.  Remove from the skillet and put in a container and refrigerate until final assembly.

Pound out the Chicken Breasts until they are no thicker than 1/2 inch.  Coat each side with Olive Oil and season each side with Salt, Pepper, 2 cloves minced Garlic and a light sprinkle of about 1/2 of the Marjoram.  In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the chicken breast to a golden brown on the outside.  This should take 4 – 6 minutes per side.  Be careful not to cook too long, the chicken will get tough.  We want this to be browned and still juice in the middle.  Set aside and allow to cool.  Refrigerate in a container until ready for final assembly.

In a small pot, over medium-high heat, combine the Red Wine and the Sun Dried Tomatoes with the remaining Garlic, Marjoram and 1 or 2 tsp Olive Oil and bring to a slow boil, stirring occasionally.  Continue to cook for 3 – 5 minutes at the slow boil.  Remove from heat and allow to cool in a container before refrigerating this tomato sauce until final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Take the refrigerated chicken and dice into 1/2 inch chunks.  Then in a large mixing bowl combine and thoroughly mix the pasta and chicken.  Then transfer equal amounts to each of the prepared pie crusts.

Prepare the Base Quiche Mix and into that add the tomato sauce and mix completely.  Pour this equally over the chicken and pasta in the pie crusts.  Top that equally with the Romano Cheese and Prosciutto (optional).

Place the quiches in the oven and cook for 30 – 40 minutes, checking after 30 minutes to make sure the cheese doesn’t get too brown.  The top should be just turning golden brown when ready to come out.  Either serve hot or pack up and head to the rink.