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Recipes from my Lincolnshire kitchen

wild garlic and asparagus quiche with chive and cheddar pastry

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… if you live rurally outside London you will know that the garden centre is the social hub of the wider community… it is the epicentre of rural life and most garden centres are to us what shopping malls are to the urbanite… a place to purchase plants yes but oh so much more.  There are two garden centres not far from Belleau in opposing directions; one is part of a small but nationwide chain, the other is an independent but nevertheless quite established establishment.  The one that is part of a nationwide chain is very nice – the prices are lower and there is a lot to offer.  As well as plants is has tools, sheds, garden furniture, pet goods, indoor plants and a wide array of nick-knacks such as stationary, cards, candles etc – it also has a decent cafe.  It’s popular and it’s all very nice.  The independent garden centre is like stepping into another world.  If it belongs outside, or is outside adjacent then this garden centre stocks it… and more.  Plants yes but it’s like walking through a magical kingdom of stuff to do at the weekend… live fish, furniture – both indoor and out, clothing, jewellery, pet-goods, an amazing kitchenware department and at Christmas it has the most outrageous display of lighting, decorations and stuffed polar bears you can imagine.  You could easily take the kids here for the day out! There’s a maze, trampoline park and 2 cafes. They even have an animatronic dinosaur exhibit which is relatively believable if not a little dusty… The Viking and I visited at the weekend to purchase some plant or other but of course two hours later and we left with random goodies for the cottage… and of course everyone and their mothers are there, literally it seems like families come and try and lose their relatives amongst the displays of realistic animal statues… 10ft stone gorilla anyone?

wild garlic and asparagus quiche with chive and cheddar pastry
another favourite for this time of year, the asparagus and wild garlic just work so well together and with the richness of the added mushrooms this is one hell of a quiche… we’re lucky enough to have a very large valley in a secret corner of the countryside that is awash with wild garlic.  It’s quite phenomenal and so I have no qualms about pilfering a handful but please do try and get permission from the landowner if you can and don’t take any more than you need.  I’ve chopped fresh chives into my cheddar shortcrust and it’s worked superbly well… and definite pastry favourite.  This quick was served for brunch as well as a quick grab breakfast over the weekend.

for the pastry
250g plain flour
100g butter
50g finely grated strong cheddar cheese
3 chive leaves – finely chopped
water to mix
for the filling
2 large portobello or mushrooms – halved and then thickly sliced
150g wild garlic – stalks chopped
butter and olive oil
6 or 7 asparagus spears
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon or regular thyme
salt and pepper
4 eggs – beaten
150ml single cream
100ml soured cream (or cottage cheese / creme fraiche)

i’m using a 25cm, 3cm deep fluted tin with a loose bottom which i’ve greased well

pre-heat the oven to 150C fan

start with the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour in a large bowl until you have something resembling breadcrumbs, stir in the grated cheddar  and chopped chives then add a tablespoon or two of cold water and bring together into a dough with your hands, you may need to add a little more water to create the dough but you will feel how ‘short’ the pastry is.  Flatten out the ball slightly, wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge for at least 30 minutes
in a large pan gently melt a generous amount of butter with a little olive oil and throw in the mushrooms – without wanting to teach you to such eggs, here’s a little mushroom frying tutorial – first have the heat low, add your mushrooms to the pan and shimmy them around until they’re well coated in oil and butter, then leave them alone for as long as possible – on a low heat we’re talking 10 minutes.  They should now be soft, so shimmy them around, add the herbs, a little salt and more black pepper than you think you should and turn up the heat… you now want the mushrooms to go a little golden but not burn so i’d say a further 6 minutes till you have the desired colour – halfway through this, add the asparagus to the top of the mushrooms and pop the lid on to let them steam for about 5 mins, then add the wild garlic, lid back on and  let it soften as the mushrooms cook – turn the heat off and let the pan cool on the hob
now your pastry should be ready, roll it out and line your greased quiche pan. Scrunch up some baking parchment to make it pliable, then flatten it out and then lay this into the pastry case and pour some baking beans on top. Blind bake for 15 minutes on 150C

after 15 mins, remove the pastry and carefully lift out the beans – place the pastry back in the oven for another 5 mins to allow the base to turn golden

once your pastry is pale gold, take it out of the oven and set aside whilst you beat the eggs into the creams – season well.

carefully tip the mushroom, asparagus and wild garlic into the pastry case – I do this by hand to get an even arrangement and the mushrooms are usually cooler by this time, finally pour the cream egg mix all over and  bake on 160C for about 15-20 minutes until golden and risen, set aside on a wire rack to cool.  The quiche should easily slide out of the tin.

eat and of course, enjoy!

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Comments

  1. Felicity says

    Oh the joy of wild garlic and English asparagus! Our little woodland now has a flourishing patch of wild garlic and it is spreading each year. It was kind of you to share the secret.x

  5. Mark Willis says

    Powerful that quiche may be, but I can't help thinking that it would be even better served with a couple of rashers of crispy bacon!! (Sorry).

  7. Sarah Trivuncic says

    This looks wonderful – I can almost smell it from the pictures! Is Simply Eggcellent taking a break this month? (Seems a missed opportunity to kick it off and I was just checking whether something I'd done would fit this month's theme)

  9. Jean says

    One of our favourite walks with Lulu takes us through woods where there are huge swathes of wild garlic and it's all ready now for picking.
    Your quiche looks wonderful and delicious, I shall gather some leaves and get some asparagus today!

  20. Karen S Booth says

    I LOVE garden centres as much as I ADORE wild garlic! This quiche looks amazing Dom and you can make it for me when I come to visit you! Karen xxx