Quiche basics

Quiche can be a real life saver - it is quick to make, especially if you have some pastry ready in the freezer and you can use whatever you have in your cupboard or fridge. 

I love this crust - no need to blind bake or pre bake, it cooks with the filling and is light and crispy. 

For the filling all you need to remember is one egg per 100ml liquid and you can make a quiche! 

For the crust:

220 g flour

1 t baking powder

a pinch of salt

140g butter, cubed

1 egg whisked with 2 tablespoons cold water

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients and rub in the butter.  Alternatively, process in a food processor until the mixture resembles mealie meal.  Slowly add  the egg and process until the mixture forms a ball.  Press the dough into a pie dish and put into the freezer while you prepare the filling. This quantity will be enough for one large quiche.  (The dough can also be frozen for later.  Shape into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.)

Filling:

200ml cream

200ml milk

4 eggs

salt and pepper

This is the basic recipe.  Whisk all the ingredients together.  You can also use plain yogurt or cottage cheese, instead of the cream or a mixture of them all.

You can add anything you like - e.g roast veggies, finely chopped spinach, sun dried tomatoes, blanched asparagus, fried bacon, biltong or cheese.

This week we had a leek and butternut quiche, because that happened to be all I had in the fridge. 

I fried the leeks in a knob of butter until soft and roasted the cubed butternut, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees.
By the way, if you roast veggies on a sheet of baking paper, they won't get stuck and you will save yourself some washing up time!

I always put the filling ingredients into the crust and then only add the egg mixture, instead of blending all the ingredients into the egg mixture, that way the filling is more equally distributed.

So, place the leeks, butternut cubes and and some cubed Danish feta into the crust, slowly pour over the egg mixture and bake for 30 - 40 minutes, until the quiche is well risen and cooked through.