SALMON, PEA AND POTATO QUICHE

"Here she goes again" I can hear myself saying! Yes, another blog post about leftovers!

I've been "off the lead" for a couple of weeks while Nick is back in the UK for one of our scheduled visits, which usually revolve around seeing friends and family, and mending things.  The MOT for the car we leave in the UK falls due at this time of year and when I was last there it had a dashboard warning which declared "ENGINE FAULT. REPAIR NEEDED".  Naturally I ignored it and it ran perfectly well except for the annoying audible warning!  However it needed to go to the garage anyway for its test so we allowed a bit longer for the visit in case parts needed to be ordered.  It was a simple fix so all is well.

So, with Nick out of the picture I decided to host a "ladies that lunch" for some other singletons at home.  For starters I served the little vegetable tarts which you can see here.  For main course I made roast salmon on a bed of courgette and tomatoes which you can see here.  For dessert I made five pana cottas with a strawberry topping.  I made these the day before so that I just had to add the topping last minute.  Only three other ladies had replied to my invitation so I had "quality tested" the spare one for my dinner.  When a fourth guest accepted last minute and having eaten one of the puddings I rustled up a second dessert of apple and gooseberry crumble using fruit and topping from the freezer, to Mary Berry's recipe which you can see here.

Naturally there were leftovers!  A few unused cooked peas, beans and broccoli from the starter, plus nearly half a pint of the egg mix.  I have found it best not to over fill the tarts, as the leftover mix can be used later.  (Usually I just pour it over a few savoury bits and pieces to bake a kind of "crustless quiche".)

There was also one salmon fillet with a few bits of courgette and tomato left and a few potatoes. I had a pack of shortcrust pastry in the freezer which I thawed out and then just piled everything into it including ripped up flakes of salmon.  I used my general method for making a quiche which  you can see here, adding a few slices of a rather past it noggle end of goat's cheese and some tomato to decorate the top.  Three quarters of the way through the cooking I pressed the filling down a bit using the back of a fish slice as it looked like some bits were going to be browned too much.  This made sure everything was submerged in the custard and resulted in a well filled quiche.

It was absolutely yummy!  Another "free lunch"!  It took me three days to eat my way through it on my own but was so delicious I would most definitely make it again from scratch!  In fact it would have made the ideal lunch dish for the ladies.

Ingredients 

a pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry

2 tblsp caramelised onion chutney (or any other suitable chutney made with onions)

a handful of cooked peas, green beans and broccoli florets

1 cooked salmon fillet

a few chunks of cooked courgettes and tomatoes from the roasted salmon recipe (or fry some)

2 small cooked potatoes, sliced

2 eggs

2 tblsp of crème fraiche

approx 100ml milk

a few slices of goat's cheese, or any other cheese, grated or sliced

a few slices of tomato

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 fan.  Line a loose bottomed 20cm tart tin with the pastry.  Use the baking paper that comes in the pack to line the pastry case, add a layer of baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes.  (I find it a good idea to put the tin on a baking sheet, which removes the risk of accidentally pushing the loose bottom up when lifting the pastry case in and out of the oven.)

Remove from the oven, remove the baking beans and paper and, if the pastry still looks a bit damp, return to the oven for another 5 minutes.

Spread the onion chutney over the pastry case.  Add the cooked greens in an even layer and distribute the sliced potatoes evenly over the top.  Tear the salmon fillet into strips and arrange them evenly over the veg.

Beat the cream and eggs together in a jug and add enough milk to make up to 250ml.  Mix well, add salt and pepper and pour evenly over the filling.  Add the cheese slices (or some grated cheese) and tomato slices.

Return to the oven, reducing the temperature to 160C / 140 fan.  Bake for 20 minutes then press any bits of filling that are above the surface of the custard back down so that they are submerged.  

Bake for another 10-20 minutes until the filling is set and slightly browned.

Allow to settle and cool for 10 minutes before serving.  Serve warm or cold with salad or anything else you fancy.  Chips and baked beans would be nice!  Equally a simply "English" salad or something more exotic.

Cuts into 6 regular or 4 generous servings.