Ah, Quiche! The poor quiche has a bit of a bad rep simple because it has a bit of a funny sounding name! But we should not mock the quiche for it is delicious! Throughout the summer months I will frequently have one in the fridge just waiting to be grabbed for causal lunches, a picnic, a light supper. It’s a very versatile dish and once you have the basics down you can whip one up in no time!
This little quiche is an asparabacon quiche. Asparabacon is one of the finest flavour combinations so adding it to a quiche seemed like a brilliantly obvious step!
I’m not going to lie though, I think I’ve had it with pastry! I CAN make pastry, sure. It’s not that hard… but I hate it. It’s just one of those fiddly jobs that I just don’t really enjoy. I think that these days you can get some good ready made pastry at a decent price in any supermarket so I may just throw the towel in and go for an easy life! We shall see!
There’s an entire bundle of asparagus in this small quiche, which is a lot, yes, but ASPARAGUS! Fresh, British Asparagus too! If you want to dial back the asparagus that’s cool, but why not indulge yourself a bit?
Serves 4 / Makes 1x 8″ quiche
150g plain flour
50g butter
25g trex (or just 75g butter)
1-2 tbsp cold water
6 large eggs
200 ml milk
1/4 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 bungle asparagus spears, trimmed of the woody end
125g smoked bacon lardons
25g grated cheese
– Put the flour, butter and trex in a mixing bowl and rub together with your hands until it forms a breadcrumb consistency.
– Add the water a little at a time mixing until it comes together into a dough.
– Shape into a flat round, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
– Heat the oven to gas mark 5.
– Roll out the pastry on a floured worksurface into a rough circle. It should be about the thickness of a £1 coin and large enough to cover an 8″ sandwich tin with a little overhang.
– Gently pick the dough up using the rolling pin and drape it gently into the 8″ sandwich tin, lightly press down into the edges and smooth up the sides and over the lip making sure there are no trapped air bubbles.
– Cover the pastry with foil and fill with baking beans.
– Place on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes.
– Remove from the oven and gently remove the foil and baking beans. If it won’t release evenly put it back in the oven for 5 minutes.
– Bake uncovered for a further 5-10 minutes until the pastry is just cooked and has lost that sickly pale look!
-Prepare your filling: Whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together in a jug.
– Scatter the bacon and asparagus evenly over the pastry shell.
– Pour the egg mixture into the pastry shell. If you’ve got it right and there are no holes this is where your filling should stay. If you’ve got it wrong, well, that why it’s on a baking tray!
– Scatter the grated cheese on top.
– Pop it back into the oven (if it’s leaking get it back in as quickly as you can so that egg seals the hole!)
– Bake at gas mark 5 for 45 minutes until the egg is set in the centre and the top is a golden brown.
– Leave to cool completely before running a sharp knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the pastry.
– Place the bottom on a sturdy bowl smaller than the tin and press down evenly to unmould it.
– Run a sharp knife between the pastry and the tin base to separate it.
– Serve and enjoy!
Anna in the kitchen 