Spinach Quiche Squares

These smell amazing when they're baking and are a really satisfying breakfast food. The cheese and savory herbs also add a lot of hearty flavor. The nice thing about this recipe is that it's flexible for you to tweak to what your desired flavors are. If it's just for a casual weekend morning breakfast, you can incorporate your favorite omelet ingredients and just bake it like a quiche rather than frying like an omelet. I made these vegetarian, but they might taste good with some bacon too. If you want to serve it at a more formal affair for guests, then these ingredients are classic, not overpowering, and hard to mess up!

1 1/2 bags of frozen spinach (about 3-4 cups), thawed
2 shallots chopped
2 tbsp. garlic chopped
olive oil

Fry the shallot and garlic in the olive oil. If you're adding bacon, then chop it into small squares and add it at this time. I wouldn't add more than 1.5 to 2 strips, so that the bacon flavor doesn't overpower the other lovely but subtle flavors. Thaw the frozen spinach in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Add to the garlic/shallot fry and continue to fry the spinach until cooked. If using bacon, then wait until the bacon is cooked to add the spinach.

For the egg batter:
9-10 eggs
1 cup ricotta cheese, strained overnight in a strainer placed over a bowl so excess water is extracted
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
salt to taste
1 tsp. black or white pepper
1 tsp. dried rosemary

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the ricotta and Parmesan together until incorporated. Add the eggs and beat with a hand mixer until you get a smooth yellow batter. Add nutmeg, salt, pepper, and rosemary to season once the batter is smooth. Once the spinach is done, let it cool for 5-10 minutes and fold it into the egg batter. Make sure it's not piping hot, so it doesn't scramble the egg in your batter! Mix it together with your spoon.

Rub the bottom and sides of a 9x15 baking pan with a thin sheen of olive oil. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for approximately 40 minutes or until browned on sides and fork in center comes out clean.

Some variations might be cutting onion into strips and caramelizing it, and then adding it separately to egg batter from cooked spinach. Caramelized onion would be awesome in this recipe, especially if you add bacon.

You can serve with Tabasco and sour cream, or just Tabasco.