Bacon, Blue Cheese & Spinach Quiche with a Sweet Potato Crust

This one was a bit of a challenge for me! I was trying to follow a mix of a couple of recipes to do this, but I had to make so many changes that the recipe sort of became my own!

I really love quiche, it's one of those things that I never have had that much of, but still manage to get excited about when someone brings one out! Alex's Mum makes lovely quiches and during the summer the family can often be found on a Sunday tucking into salad, crusty bread, roast chicken, potatoes and quiche. Does it get much better?! No. It doesn't. We actually had one the other week and I decided that I had to make one of my own. However, quiche is pretty bad for you! The filling isn't too naughty (depending on what you have) but the pastry is sinful, hence this beautiful invention!

I thought of doing a crustless quiche, but where's the fun in that?! So after some careful Pinterest surfing, I managed to put some things together and make :) And after the warm reception on Instagram/Twitter from the picture, I knew I had to put the recipe together :) (For you, Alan!)

Here's that picture!

So if you fancy it, here's what you need.

Ingredients:
For the crust:

• 1 very large sweet potato (needs to weight about 500g)
• Butter for greasing
• 1 egg
• Salt/pepper for seasoning

For the filling:

• 5 strips of bacon
• 3 tbsp blue cheese
• 2 handfuls spinach (These three ingredients are the 'flavours' in the dish. Feel free to change the quantities to your taste, or even changes the flavours!)
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Before you start, I will say that this recipe does take a bit of time and is a bit fiddly, but thankfully not difficult! In total it probably took about 2 hours from start to finish, so make sure you have the time! This is one of those ones that you want to enjoy doing, Saturday/Sunday cooking!

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to Fan 210°C/230°C/Gas 8/450°F.
2. Peel and grate the sweet potato (this takes forever, I'm sorry!) and put it in a clean tea towel. Squeeze out the excess water over the sink. The more you can get out the better at this point.
3. Whisk the egg and season with salt and pepper to taste, about 1/4 teaspoon each is usually about right. Toss the sweet potato in this mix.
4. Brush butter over the pan you're using (I used a 23cm springform pan) and then line with baking parchment (cut round the bottom for the circle and then cut a few rectangles for the side). Brush a little more butter over the parchment paper.
5. Press the sweet potato mixture into the bottom and sides of the pan to form an even crust. I only went about half way up the sides, but feel free to go higher if you like a thicker quiche. Bear in mind that if you do, or if you use a different sized dish, you will need to adjust the filling mixture accordingly! Make sure you go over the bottom well too, you need it to be well formed otherwise when it bakes, holes form (yes I'm talking from experience!). Bake this in the oven for 30 minutes (just make sure the tips don't burn).
6. While the crust is cooking, cut the bacon into 1cm squares and cook until crispy (cut the fat off the bacon to save on the total fat in the dish).
7. Take the crust out of the oven and turn it down to Fan 170°C/190°C/Gas 5/375°F.
8. Scatter the bacon pieces over the bottom of the crust & scatter the blue cheese in small chunks.
9. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream and spices. Mix in the spinach. If you particularly like spinach, you can use more by using frozen (let it thaw first) or by pouring boiling water over it before you mix it with the egg mixture. This makes it wilted and therefore mixes better and easier. Next time I think I will be doing this!
10. Pour the egg/spinach mixture into the crust. You need to make sure the spinach is covered otherwise it will just crisp up and burn. If you have made any changes the crust/you find it doesn't cover the spinach, feel free to make up a little more egg until it is covered. Mix a 1/2tbsp of milk and 1 tbsp of sour cream in for each egg you need to add (mix them in a little bowl first and then pour it over).
11. Bake for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let it sit for 10 minutes (if you can) before serving.

And then be proud of what you have accomplished! I was soooo proud to dish this up! I thought Alex didn't like it as I looked over to see he had only eaten the tip of his piece, but when I questioned him he informed me that it was actually his second piece haha!

I really hope you enjoy this one! It's something special! Please let me know if you do, as always! And comment with any other flavour suggestions!