Vegetable Quiche

Just before I came home for Christmas, I had a few ingredients left in the fridge that I needed to use up or throw out.  Among these were a half-used pot of cream and 5 egg yolks.  The other trick was that I needed to make it a vegetable quiche, as I had no filling ingredients other than frozen vegetables.

Out of this, a Vegetable Quiche was born.  I searched online for quiche made with egg yolks and cream, and combined a few of those to end up with the eventual recipe.

The crust is the Master Savory Pastry from Tart Love, a book that I had owned for a few years but never used.

I also grew my own gorgeous edible flowers from seed.  I knew that they would have wilted before I returned from holidays, so I frivolously used them to decorate the top of my quiche.  Better to enjoy the flowers than lose them, right?

To make this quiche, you will need:

Crust:

2 1/2 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons salt

250g unsalted butter cut into 1/4 inch cubes

3 tablespoons ice water

Put all of the dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse until combined.  Add the butter and pulse until pea-sized crumbs form.  Add just enough of the ice water to bring the pastry together.

Place the pastry onto a well-floured bench and roll out between two sheets of baking paper to 1/4 inch thick.

Place pastry into a greased 9" tart pan, and press up against the edges.  Freeze for 1/2 hour.

Remove the crust from the freezer and blind bake in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees Celsius.  Remove the rice/pie weights, brush the crust with an egg yolk mixed with a dash of water, then return to the oven for a further 10 minutes or until the crust is golden and fully baked. 

Filling:

100ml pouring cream
150ml milk

4 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups grated cheese

1 cup cooked frozen vegetables

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Beat the egg yolks, milk and cream together.  Put the cheese into the base of the pie shell, and pile the cooked vegetables on top.  Pour the egg mixture over the top, and place the  quiche into the oven for 60 minutes or until the quiche is set and golden brown on top.