Leek and cheese quiche
Ingredients
For the pastry:
150 g flour
75 g cold butter
For the filling
1 leek – washed, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
30 g butter
50 g grated cheese
1 egg
50 g creme fraiche
100 ml milk
seasoning
Have ready a 23 cm shallow round oven dish.
Method
Make the pastry
Place the flour in a bowl and add the butter.
Use a knife to cut into small pieces and then rub these into the flour until they resemble breadcrumbs.
Add cold water 1 tsp at a time while gently stirring with the knife aiming for a medium dry mix.
Assemble with the hand without kneading – this is the key to a good light short crust.
Form into a ball .
Chill the pastry for 10 minutes.
Heat the oven to 200 C.
Make a cartouche from a 23 cm square of grease-proof paper.
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to form a 25 cm circle.
Use the pastry to line the dish.
Place the cartouche on top of the pastry and press.
Bake for 10 min then remove the paper lining.
Make the filling
Heat the butter in a frying pan and gently fry the leek. Add a Tbsp of water to stop browning and cook until soft. Take off the heat.
Whisk the creme fraiche with the milk.
Add seasoning and the egg and continue to whisk until smooth.
Add the grated cheese.
Assembly
Spread the fried leeks filling in the pastry shell.
Pour the egg and cheese mixture over.
Return to the oven and continue to cook for 20 min.
Eat hot or cold as a snack, or for meal serve with a salad like the rich red cabbage salad here. For a more substantial meal add baked beans.
Notes on ingredients
This recipe makes four good pieces of quiche.
You can make a larger quiche by increasing the ingredients. The only key rule is to keep the pastry ingredients to the same proportion: two parts flour to one part butter.
You can improvise with the filling of the recipe. For instance: use 200 ml milk instead of milk and creme fraiche, increase the amount of leeks and reduce the amount of cheese or just sprinkle cheese on top.