To Blanch or Not To Blanch

It's been almost a week since my last post, and although I've been busy, I have not abandoned my project. In fact, I tried another new recipe which further highlighted my ineptitude around the kitchen. Not complete ineptitude, I can handle some basics - I just lack a certain finesse. That finesse including a few possibly basic cooking terms. Like blanching. To me, that means "turn white". Thankfully, my recipe provider understands the need to explain the instructions in her recipes.

Example: blanch the spinach (dump it into boiling water for a short time)

I appreciated the additional explanation, as attempting to turn the spinach white would have been a fruitless endeavour; however, for a short time, is rather vague. How long is a short time? 30 seconds? Seven minutes? I certainly had no idea. And, as we've seen, previous vague instructions like "add some cornstarch to thicken" did not cue my cooking common sense to kick in.

Rather than mess up another recipe, I asked someone in the staff room. Ah, apparently, a short time is about a minute, or until the spinach is limp. Helpful. Then I asked my next question, which in hindsight, even I admit was embarrassing: "Would it be about the same amount of time for frozen spinach?"

Pre-cooked, frozen spinach. Given a second to think about it, I could have answered that one myself. But the fact that my brain even entertained the thought long enough for my mouth to spew it out is rather telling. These things do not come naturally to me!

Enough about the blanching. Here's what I actually made, and spinach aside, I had no other hiccups.

The Recipe: 
Ham and Spinach Quiche

1 cup cubed ham

1 small package of spinach, blanched in boiling water. Squeeze out water from the wilted leaves. (Or 5 cubes of frozen cooked spinach -- don't forget to squeeze out the extra water.)

1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Scatter the above ingredients in to pie shell.

In a medium mixing bowl :

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Pinch of black pepper

Beat together and pour over pie shell crust and filling.

Bake @350 for 35-45 mins. or until center is set. Cool for 10 mins. before cutting.

* You may sub in any cooked veggie you like in place of the spinach (i.e., broccoli, asparagus, etc.).