QUICHE OF THE DAY - LEEK, BACON AND ASPARAGUS

The asparagus season is well under way and I bought a large bundle on the market.  I added sliced leek, chunky smoked lardons and a sprinkling of Emmental cheese for a delicious and filling quiche.

The circles of ready made, ready rolled pastry here in France is large enough to allow an overlap of my 20cm tart tin.  This prevents the pastry from shrinking away from the edge during blind baking.

Sitting the tart tin on a baking sheet avoids accidents where the loose bottom of the tin is pushed up through the pastry when lifting it in and out of the oven.

It has happened to me!

The quiche puffed up during baking but sank back down again as it cooled.

Ingredients

 

1 ready made pack of shortcrust pastry

8 sticks of asparagus, trimmed and halved

1 pack of smoked lardons

1 large leek, trimmed, cleaned and sliced thinly

4 eggs

2 tblsp cream or crème fraîche

about 200ml milk

a handful of Emmental cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.  Grease the base and sides of a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin.

Allow the pastry to come up to room temperature to avoid it cracking when you unroll it.  Line the tin with the excess draped over the edge, line with baking paper and fill with baking beans.  Blind bake for 15 minutes.

While the pastry is baking, cook the lardons in a frying pan on gentle heat.  There should be sufficient fat on them but add a little oil if necessary.  Add the sliced leeks and cook until almost tender.

Cook the asparagus spears in a little boiling water for a few minutes until just tender.

Remove the tart from the oven and lift out the paper and beans.  If the pastry looks damp, return to the oven for another five minutes.

Beat the eggs in a measuring jug with the cream or crème fraîche and make up to 400ml with the milk.  Season with pepper but go easy on the salt as the lardons will be salty.

Spread the leek and lardons mixture over the pastry case then arrange the asparagus on top.  Pour the egg mixture over but don't over fill.  Liquid spilling over the top of the case will cause the pastry to stick to the tin like glue!  

Sprinkle with the grated cheese and return to the oven.  Reduce the temperature by 20° to 180°C / 160° fan and bake for around 30 minutes until lightly browned and set.  There should be a slight wobble but no liquid in the middle.  

Remove from the oven and whilst still warm trim off the excess pastry with a small sharp knife before turning out onto a plate.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cuts into 6 slices.

ASPARAGUS, CHEESE AND LEEK QUICHE

A change in the weather here in the middle of France has seen us cooking less wintry food; barbecues, quiche and salads.  It makes a welcome change from soups and stews.  We had a whole week of nice warm days and well appreciated it was.

This is a version of a recipe that popped up in my news feed, an extract from a recent Hairy Bikers cookbook.  We don't buy the white asparagus that is piled high in supermarkets and on market stalls, preferring the green stuff which is sold in bundles and always a joy to cook.  This recipe uses just a few stems, so about half a bundle.

I used a pack of pastry which had been brought to France from the UK at Christmas and then frozen.  This might seem a bizarre thing to do, especially as there is no shortage of pastry in the shops here (and I could always make my own).  In my defence, the oblong packs of pastry fit my large English oblong quiche tin, which feeds quite a crowd, perfectly, and shortcrust is only available in circles here, which means a lot of trimming and patching to fit an oblong tin, with a strong risk of leakage, unless I do have the time to make my own.  Consequently I took the opportunity to stock up on oblong pastry when travelling to and from the UK by car, which is only at Christmas nowadays.

Mind you, I usually give the pastry an extra roll to increase the size a bit.  This allows it to be draped over the edge of the tin and prevents it from shrinking back during the blind baking.

It was a very tasty quiche and we served it with small potatoes and a large salad, followed by a lemon pudding.  Spring food at last.

Ingredients 

A pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry.

2 medium leeks, white part only

Half a bundle, about eight stalks, of asparagus

4 eggs

250 ml double cream

2 tblsp crème fraîche or milk

A large chunk of gruyère cheese (or cheddar)

A few halved cherry tomatoes for decoration (optional)

Method 

Allow the pastry to reach room temperature before unrolling to avoid it developing small cracks.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Grease a suitable tart/quiche/flan tin or dish.

Line the tin with the pastry, allowing a little excess to drape over the edges to avoid shrinkage.  Prick the pastry, line with baking paper, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes.  If using a loose based tin, standing it on a baking sheet makes it easier to lift in and out of the oven without the risk of accidentally pushing up the loose base and damaging the pastry case. 

While the pastry is cooking, wipe, wash and trim the leeks and cut into slim rounds.  Fry gently in a little butter until softened but not browned.

Trim and wash the asparagus stalks.  Cut into short lengths, say 5cm, and cook in boiling water for a few minutes until just tender.

Remove the paper and beans from the tart and return to the oven for a couple of minutes to dry the pastry.

Arrange the leeks and asparagus over the pastry and cover with a good sprinkling of grated cheese.

Whisk the eggs and cream together in a measuring jug and make up to 450ml with extra cream, crème fraîche or milk.  Pour this gently over the filling but don't overfill; stop just short of the top.  Dot with cherry tomatoes if using.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160° C / 140° fan / gas mk3 and return the quiche to bake for around 30 minutes or until it is nicely browned with a slight wobble.  Don’t leave it in there until it's solid. Leave to cool a bit to allow for setting before removing from a loose based tin. Trim off the overhanging pastry with a sharp knife.

Serve warm or cool with potatoes and salad.

Makes 6 generous portions.

PROSCIUTTO, PEAR AND BRIE TARTS

These tarts came about after a lucky find at the local déchetterie.  Three apparently brand new Yorkshire pudding tins on the table where people leave good useable items for others to help themselves to.  I don't think I have seen tins like this for sale in France so suspect they came from an English household.  We will never know!

I spotted them and swooped before anyone else did - the table is, I suspect, a good source of items for people to increase their own stock for sale at brocantes!

Thinking they would be great for making not Yorkshire puddings but small tarts for a starter or lunch, I took them home.  Not long afterwards I stumbled upon a recipe for Prosciutto, pear and Brie aperitif sized tartlets, that could be adapted for larger versions.

They worked really well, looked slightly rustic but were tasty and the perfect size for a light starter.  The only tricky part was finding the right object to use as a template to cut circles of pastry exactly the right size.  It needed to be about 1cm larger in diameter than the holes in the tin so that there was not too much overlap or shrinkage. I tried various saucers, jars and plates but eventually found a terracotta dish at the back of the cupboard that was just right.  It later occurred to me that we have a selection of new plant pot saucers that I could have tried!

One pack of pastry will make four tarts of this size with trimmings which can be made into something else, such as sausage rolls, mince pies, jam tarts or cut up and frozen to be used as the topping for a jumblefruit pie.  I imagine that the recipe would work well with other fillings too, such as smoked salmon, mushrooms, lardons, and many other cheeses.

Ingredients 

A pack of ready made, ready rolled puff pastry

8 rashers of prosciutto (or similar)

1 pear

8 slices of Brie

1 egg, beaten

A few sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)

Method 

Remove the pack of pastry from the fridge about 15 minutes before you intend to use it, otherwise it can crack when you unroll it.

Grease the four holes of a Yorkshire pudding tin, or similar tart tins.  Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.

Unroll the pastry and cut out 4 circles using a cutter, template, dish or clean plant pot saucer about 1 cm larger in diameter than the holes in the tin.  Press gently into the holes, avoiding leaving a bubble underneath the pastry.  Crinkle 2 slices of prosciutto into each tart.

Peel the pear and cut in half vertically.  Remove the core using a melon baller or teaspoon and slice thinly.  Divide the slices between the tarts and arrange on top of the prosciutto.  

Lay two slices of Brie on top of the pear.  Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg.  Sprinkle thyme leaves over the top.

Bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Serve warm.  Can be made ahead and reheated from cold in a hot oven for a few minutes.

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.

A LEAKY QUICHE RESCUE MISSION success snatched from the jaws of disaster!

With guests arriving for dinner I was flummoxed when, on removing my blind baked quiche pastry from the oven there was a large crack in it and a couple of small ones.  It was bound to leak.

Rats!!  What to do, what to do?  There was no time to make a batch of pastry, or to pop to the shops to buy another pack.  I put my thinking cap on and came up with a solution.

I had half of a "wonderloaf" in the house.  The pappy white sliced bread that’s neither very nutritious nor tasty but is good for cucumber sandwiches and toast with marmalade.  I pinched a bit out of a slice, rolled it into a small sausage, brushed one side liberally with some of the egg filling and squashed it into the cracks with the back of a fork.  I hoped it would stick sufficiently to plug the gap.

It worked!  There was still a little leakage but nothing major.  I shall have to remember this for future and presumably any kind of bread would work. The quiche was delicious and nobody knew how close the leaky leek and goats cheese quiche was to becoming a frittata instead!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One week after the event/almost baking disaster it has just occurred to me that the thing to do would be to save the pastry trimmings until after the quiche shell comes out of the oven.

I could have easily used a bit of the pastry trimmings to plug the hole if I hadn't already discarded them.  Hmmm........I'll try to remember that in future!

EASY TOMATO AND CHEESE TART

  

The weather here in the middle of France has been rather English this summer.  However, it's still been warm enough for us to get a bumper crop of delicious tomatoes.  This is in contrast to last year when heatwave followed heatwave, our tomato plants virtually gave up and struggled to produce any fruit at all.

This year I'm scouring my cook books and the internet for imaginative ways to use them up.

This is my version of a number of recipes I found on the internet.

It's dead easy to do and makes an excellent lunch or starter.

Slices of tomato are set on a bed of grated cheese on a pastry sheet then sprinkled with herbs.

It takes next to no time to prepare and is very tasty.

For a different variation, try my friend Susan's recipe here.

Ingredients

1 sheet of ready made, ready rolled puff pastry.  Round or oblong will both work.

1 tblsp Dijon mustard (more if you like a bit more of a kick)

50g cheddar cheese, grated (any hard cheese will work)

2-3 large tomatoes

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or any other favourite herb, chopped)

A sprinkling of Herbes de Provence

Salt and pepper

A little olive oil or Olive Fry Light

Method

Remove the pastry from the fridge about 15 minutes before you want to use it.  This prevents it from cracking when you unroll it.

Preheat the oven to 200° C / 180° fan / gas mk6.

Place a sheet of baking paper on a large baking sheet.  I usually use the paper the pastry comes wrapped in, trimmed to fit the baking sheet.

Unroll the pastry onto the baking sheet and with a sharp knife score a line about 2.5cm (1") from the edge without cutting all the way through.*

Spread the mustard evenly over the pastry and within the scored border, using the back of a spoon, palette knife or pastry brush.  Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the top.

Arrange the slices of tomato over the cheese, sprinkle with the thyme and Herbes de Provence and season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle with a little olive oil or spray with a few squirts of Fry Light.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.  Serve warm or cold.

Serves 6-8 as a starter, 4-6 as a lunch with salad.

*You could alternatively cut the pastry into individual tarts before scoring and filling, which just takes a little more time.

ARTICHOKE, MUSHROOM AND MIXED CHEESE TART

I spotted this recipe in a copy of "Ocado life" magazine which my brother passed on.  He came to France for a two week holiday, bringing the magazine with him, thinking I might like it.  I did!

At the time of writing you can see the original recipe here.

Jerusalem artichokes are still available here in our part of France.  I don't know if that's normal or not as until my recent adventures with Palestine soup (see here) I have never really taken much notice of them.  A friend who lives here in France gave us some roots from her artichoke plants which we have planted and are doing really well so I look forward to harvesting our own artichokes later in the year.

The only snag with the original recipe is that it uses blue cheese, of which Nick is not a fan, although I am.  

I'm particularly fond of the blue sheep's cheese paste that you can get here and always buy myself a pot of it.  It has a strong flavour and is delicious spread thinly on crackers or "crostini" - those dry mini toasts that come in packets and are very handy for nibbles served with apéros.  Add a blob of soft cheese and a piece of walnut on top of the blue spread and they are yummy!

I digress........  We were having dinner guests and I was not sure about their cheese preferences either so I decided to make the tart in two halves.  One half blue cheese and the other goat's cheese.  I was planning to serve small slices of the tart with salad as a starter.

The recipe included 15g hazelnuts which I didn't have so I used a handful of walnuts instead.  (It's interesting that the Palestine soup recipe also included hazelnuts so maybe it's a traditional pairing, like chicken and tarragon, or beef and mustard.)  The walnuts gave the filling a nice crunch and added to the very earthy, rustic flavour and appearance of it.  

The method also said to drape the pastry over the edge of the tart tin and leave untrimmed until after baking.  I have had mixed success with this in the past, trimming the baked tart sometimes resulting in the loss of chunks of the edge and making it look rather untidy.  The alternative is to trim before baking which often results in the tart case shrinking.  It's a toss up as to which is best IMHO but on this occasion trimming later rather than sooner resulted in a perfect finish.  Take your pick!

It was a success, although somewhat more faffy than I would normally go for, hence the two stars rating.  The preference was 50/50 for the blue or goat side of the tart and there was plenty left to enjoy the next day.  We had ours with some rocket dressed with home made French dressing.  Delicious!

Ingredients

a pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry (or make your own)

approx 350g Jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed

2 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped

1-2 tblsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

1 onion, peeled and sliced

approx 200g chestnut mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

a small handful of shelled walnuts, roughly chopped

75g of blue cheese (or goat's cheese, or a mixture, or any cheese you like)

3 eggs

150 ml double cream

150 ml semi skimmed milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 200° C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.  Grease a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin.

Chop the scrubbed artichokes and put them into a roasting tin, add the thyme leaves and drizzle with the olive oil.  Roast for 30 minutes, turning once.

Add the onions, garlic and walnuts, mix together and roast for a further 20 minutes, turning once.

Line the tart tin with the pastry, allowing the excess to drape over the sides.  Place the tin on a baking sheet (I find this makes getting the tin into and out of the oven easier).  Prick the base, line with baking paper, fill with baking beans and bake for 20 minutes.  You can do this while the veg are still roasting but watch your timings!

Take the pastry case from the oven, remove the beans and paper and bake for a further 5 minutes to result in a nice, crisp and golden base.

Meanwhile, make the custard filling by putting the eggs, cream and milk into a jug and whisk together.  Season with salt and pepper.

Tip the roasted veg into the baked tart case, crumble the blue cheese on top (or arrange the slices if using goat's cheese) pour over the liquid filling and return to the oven for 20 minutes or until set.  Don't over bake as a slight wobble in the middle is just right.

Allow to cool slightly before trimming the pastry edge.  Serve warm.

Makes 4-6 servings a main course, 6-8 as a starter.

COURGETTE, MUSHROOM AND BACON QUICHE

It was the same old story, nothing in for lunch and a rummage in the fridge required.

Things have been getting a bit fraught here.  Dealing with the affairs and care for my dad who has just turned 93 has become immensely time consuming and frustrating.  Grappling with all the pitfalls and obstacles has turned into a comedy of errors and the most difficult thing I have ever had to do.  You can read about the latest nonsense here.

The upshot is that managing our own shopping has become a bit hap hazard lately and there is often nothing instantly recognisable as a meal in the fridge.  Thank goodness for oven chips.  And wine.

To make this quiche I simply used a pack of Tesco ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry that I found in the freezer (and left on the side for a few hours to thaw out) and followed my general method for making a quiche which you can see here.

Whilst the pastry case was blind baking in the oven, I fried the courgette, onion, bacon and mushrooms in a little oil until softened.  I then tipped the lot into the hot pastry case, added a few slightly tired cherry tomatoes, followed by the egg mixture and a sprinkling of that much despised but loved by us finely grated Parmesan cheese.

Delicious!  Enough for two generous main meal portions.

Ingredients

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry

1 large courgette, sliced

1 medium onion, peeled and sliced

3 rashers of smoked back bacon, chopped or cut into strips

3 fat chestnut mushrooms, wiped and thickly sliced

6 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 tbslp approx of grated Parmesan cheese.

3 large eggs

a dollop of Elmlea "double cream"

enough milk to make the beaten eggs and cream up to 400ml

Method

See the link in the text!

Serves four as a main course, six as a light lunch or starter.

A PIE AND A QUICHE

 When I cleared our fridge in France I brought back to the UK three packs of ready made pastry.  They were "pâte brisée", or plain shortcrust pastry.  I had bought them to bake something savoury for an event but in the end made a cake instead.  They still had several days left on them before the use by date but they needed using up.

With one I made a chicken, leek, mushroom and potato pie using this method here.

The chicken, mushroom and potato elements were leftover from the previous evening's dinner, a sort of fricasee that Nick created and served with lovely new potatoes.  I just added the leek and a pack of smoked lardons, also from France.

With another pack of pastry I made a bacon, caramelised onion chutney, spinach and cheddar quiche using this method here.

The lardons were in a twin pack so this used the second half.  We had it with homemade coleslaw using this recipe here.  (Also with baked beans - but nobody's perfect!!)

ASPARAGUS, HAM AND BROCCOLI QUICHE

 

Did you know that yesterday was National Quiche Day and International Chardonnay Day?  (Or maybe the other way round.)

 

No, I didn't either until after we had had quiche with salad and a nicely chilled glass of the aforementioned for lunch!

 

 

I was inspired to make this particular quiche after reading my friend Ken's blog post which you can see here.  He and Walt make one of these every year when the French white asparagus first appears for sale.  It always looks so delicious and I have meant to make one for a long time, but never got around to it.  Or never remembered when our English green asparagus is in the shops.

 

 

 

 

The asparagus spears are boiled until just tender, cooled then wrapped in slices of ham.  I made mine slightly differently from Ken's because I only had a small pack of asparagus in the house.  So I filled in the gaps with a few extra bits of ham and some cooked sprigs of broccoli.  I also sprinkled some cheddar on top, just because it seemed like a good idea.

 

 

We ate ours outdoors in the glorious sunshine that seemed more like July than the end of May.

 

You can see how I constructed it and what ingredients I used from the photos.  For a detailed account of how to make it, it's a variation on my standard quiche recipe which you can see here.

 

Ingredients

1 pack ready made ready rolled shortcrust pastry

5 slices of cooked ham, plus extra for filling in the gaps

10 spears of asparagus, trimmed and boiled until just tender

a few small sprigs of broccoli to fill in the gaps, boiled until just cooked

a handful of grated cheddar cheese

3 eggs, beaten

a good dollop of double cream or crème fraiche

approx. 200ml milk

salt and pepper

BLACK PUDDING, MUSHROOM, GOAT'S CHEESE AND WILD GARLIC QUICHE

 

 

Made using my usual way of making a quiche, which you can see here.

I had four thick slices of black pudding left over from a brunch and I wondered if it would work.  A kind of Bury in Lancashire meets Lorraine in France!  It worked!

Ingredients

1 pack ready made ready rolled shortcrust pastry

4 slices black pudding, grilled and diced

6 chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced

a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

a handful of wild garlic leaves

a few slices of goat's cheese

3 eggs, beaten

a good dollop of double cream or crème fraiche

approx. 200ml milk

salt and pepper

a sprinkling of mixed herbs

 

Method

 

See the link above.

 

MUSHROOM, BACON AND SPINACH QUICHE with variations on filling.

It's still the case that ready made pastry is easier to get than flour in most places, and it's ideal for a quick quiche.

The ready rolled shortcrust pastry in the UK comes in an oblong shape.  In France it is circular.  (The only rectangular pastry you can buy in France is a puff pastry, which is very handy for sausage rolls.)

In the UK you either get a squareish brick of unrolled pastry or an oblong if it is rolled.  Luckily you can also buy an oblong loose-bottomed tart tin exactly the right size for ready rolled UK pastry.  I wonder which came first - the tin or the dough?

For this quiche I used mushrooms, bacon, onion, spinach and Cheddar cheese but the possible variations are endless.

A quiche will usually contain onion and cheese as well as the other flavours.  If you don't have an onion a thin smear of onion chutney or any other chutney over the pastry will be delicious instead.  I recently saw a recipe for a quiche made of just Branston pickle and Cheddar cheese - it looked and sounded delicious.

If you don't have Cheddar cheese virtually any other cheese will do; grated parmesan, crumbled feta, crumbled Cheshire or blue cheese, sliced goats cheese, Brie or Camembert are all delicious.  Instead of spinach leaves you can use lightly cooked sprigs of broccoli.  Or asparagus......the season is almost here.  Peas are good too.

In place of the bacon you can use bits of ham, cooked sausage, cooked chicken or cooked salmon.  The variations are endless - although be careful what you put together - not sure Branston pickle and salmon would work!

Ingredients

1 pack ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry, at room temperature*

4 rashers smoked streaky bacon (or any bacon you have), sliced into chunks

1 onion, chopped

a good handful of mushrooms, white, brown or a mixture, sliced (not too thin)

a handful of spinach leaves, rinsed

Cheddar cheese for grating

3 eggs

a spoonful or dollop of double cream (or crème fraiche)

about 200ml milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 fan.  Grease an oblong or large round tart tin or flan dish, unroll the pastry, line the tin and trim the edges.  Use the paper from the packet to line the pastry case, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes.

While the pastry is cooking, fry the onion and bacon in a little oil until soft (not too brown).  Remove from the pan and add the mushrooms.  Cook until soft.

When the pastry is cooked, remove from the oven, remove and discard the paper.  Reduce the oven temperature to 160C / 140 fan.  Arrange the onion, bacon and mushrooms evenly over the pastry then lay the spinach leaves over the top.  Sprinkle with grated cheese, as much as you like to taste.

Put the eggs into a jug and beat.  Add the cream or crème fraiche and beat together.  Season with salt and pepper and add enough milk to make up to 400ml.  Mix together and pour gently over the filling.  It's best not to over fill and have some liquid left over rather than it overflow.  Arrange some slices of tomato or pepper on the top to decorate if you like.

Return to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until nicely browned and the filling is just about set.  It should have a slight wobble in the middle and will firm up as it cools.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cuts into 6-8 portions.

*The pastry will crack if you try to unroll it straight from the fridge.  Bringing it up to room temperature (about 30 minutes out of the fridge) will make it more pliable and easier to unroll.

SAUSAGE AND POTATO QUICHE

 

A quiche is a good way to use up leftovers.

 

This comes under the general heading of fridge bottom quiche, in other words, filling a pastry case with whatever you have left over and making it into a really tasty dish.  It can be either a light meal with some salad or a main meal with added veg, bread, etc.

 

Interestingly, apart from a brief encounter in Aldi a couple of weeks back, I haven't seen ordinary flour on the supermarket shelves for a while.  However, when I made a quick smash and grab shopping expedition to Tesco at the weekend (just after lunchtime on Sunday and it was very quiet) there was no flour but plenty of packs of ready made pastry.  Just what you need for a quiche.

 

 

The main ingredient for this one (which I made last year as it happens) is some slices of that delicious smoked sausage you get in France called Morteau.  There are other smoked sausages and in the UK I would use some Matteson's, the u-shaped sausage readily available in supermarkets.  In reality any cooked sausage will do.

 

This time I used a rather swish long and narrow tart tin but as you can see, the ready made, ready rolled pastry was not quite the right shape and there had to be a join.  Nobody seemed to notice!

 

 

Other ingredients were some sliced leftover small potatoes, a fried chopped onion and a handful of leftover cooked broad beans.

 

 

The final ingredient was some sliced very ordinary goat's cheese then the usual egg mixture.  I often add a little grated Emmental but on this occasion I didn't. 

By the way, did you know that you can still make a perfectly delicious savoury tart or quiche if you have no eggs at all?  You make the filling from a kind of white sauce instead and I wrote about it once before here.

 

 

This particular quiche was notable for two things.  Firstly it was declared by my brother, who was staying with us on holiday at the time, to be the best quiche he had ever eaten.  Secondly for the fact that it was very nearly an upside down smoked sausage quiche as in removing it from the tin I somehow managed to tip it out onto the board the wrong way up.  It only just missed ending up on the floor but with two of us and various fish slices we managed to turn it back the right way up completely intact.

 

Ingredients

 

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled pastry (or make your own if you have the flour)

1 onion, peeled and chopped

a few slices of smoked sausage

3-4 small potatoes, cooked and sliced (not too thin as they could break up)

a handful of leftover cooked broad beans (you could use broccoli, asparagus, or French beans)

a chunk of goat's cheese, cut into 6-8 slices (you could use slices of virtually any cheese)

3 eggs

a dollop of cream or crème fraîche

about 250ml milk, semi skimmed or full fat

 

Method

 

Butter a tart tin with a removable base, 23cm round or oblong.  Unroll the pastry and line the tin with it.  Line with baking paper, fill with baking beans and blind bake at 180° fan for 15 minutes.

 

Fry the onion in a little oil until lightly browned and soft. 

 

Remove the tart tin from the oven, remove the paper and baking beans and turn the oven down to 160° fan.  Arrange the sliced sausage over the tart base.  Scatter the onions, then the beans, then the potatoes evenly over the sausage.  Finally top with the sliced cheese.

 

Put the eggs into a large jug and beat.  Add the cream or crème fraîche and mix together.  Season with salt and pepper then make up to 350ml with the milk.  Beat together to combine thoroughly and pour gently over the filling in the tart.  It's best to have a little left over than to over fill.

 

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the filling is puffed up, lightly browned and almost set with a slight wobble. 

 

Remove from the oven and set aside before serving warm.  The filling will settle down and set completely.

 

Serves 6.