Crustless Smoked Salmon Spinach Quiche with Basil and Goats Cheese

"1664... I pushed the leeks I had been chopping into place,
then set the knife on the table, 
wiped my hands on my apron 
and pressed my lips together to smooth them"

From The Girl With A Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier

One of my favorite, most beautifully written books

There are so many things I love about raw produce.  Vegetables, fruits, grains, eggs.  One of them, is that a leek, is a leek, is a leek, and that the leek I am cutting up in my kitchen today smells and tastes the same as what a person in the 1600's, or 100's or 2000BC was chopping up.  I like that thought, and that is why the quote above is there today.  Some aspects of being human are a constant.  

A mushroom is a mushroom is a mushroom
 (unless it is one of  those sorts of mushrooms)

It only occurred to me last week, that every body in the world, past and present, has needed to eat. I mean, there are 7 billion people on this planet, and every day, hopefully at least once a day, someone is leading the charge in preparing a meal for themselves and maybe a few others. 

That is a lot of cooking happening in the world.  

Millions of ovens turning on, fires being made, pots being filled with water, spoons stirring, knives chopping... every single day. What a flurry of activity, all around cooking!  

But not only does all this cooking occur, everyone starts out where I did, as a novice (and possible disaster in the kitchen), and has to learn the art of cooking.  Weather you learn at your mothers heels, watching and helping at an early age, or begin your discovery closer to forty (no mention of names), we all have to begin with the basics, like boiling an egg, cooking a chicken, or making a pie!  I think of all the college graduates, out of home and dorms for the first time, renting their first apartment, and facing their own kitchen... and this FIRST experience happens to... well, most of us.   It is SOOOO exciting. 

And all this learning of cooking leaves room for an abundance of food blogs... so get writing and snapping pictures, because there are billions of people out there looking for food ideas and instruction every day.  

Anyway, all of that has nothing to do with salmon or eggs or quiche, but this here crustless quiche is a good one for us beginners, as it is fast, healthy and delicious.

PS. Do you like my new photography backboards?  My father-in-law, Tom, made them for me!  I love them. Thanks Tom!

Crustless Smoked Salmon Spinach Quiche with Basil and Goats Cheese

Adapted from Life's Ambroisa's Rosemary Lavender and Goat Cheese Crustless Quiche

Ingredients

7 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

4 ounces goat cheese
smoked salmon - a handful

6 basil leaves (from my garden!) - chopped

10 spinach leaves (from my garden!) - chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Greece a pie or quiche pan

2.  Whisk together all the ingredients, then plop in the salmon and goat cheese at the end.

3. Pour into prepared pie pan

4. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until cooked through.  (You may want to turn your quiche half way through cooking, so it doesn't do what mine did and bake higher on one side.  Apparently part of my oven is lower than the other, and the egg was uneven in the oven!  Oh well!)

5.  Enjoy