The moment there’s a hint of sunshine I start thinking about quiche. I know. Most normal humans start thinking about holidays, bikini bodies or maybe even Spring cleaning or starting on the garden chores… but no, for me it’s quiche. There’s something about the way the first glimpse of the Spring sunshine comes streaming through the windows on a Saturday morning makes me think about picnic food. Typically I always associate most changes in the year with food; Winter with stews and of course Christmas, Summer with salads and barbecues and Autumn with soups, pies and Halloween and all the fancy treats. So Spring for me is about chocolate and quiche! March, April and May are also the best months in the UK for new growth and life. We also tend to have the nicest weather during these months and a few days of recent warmth and sunshine has everyone in a frenzy with the tease of brighter things to come.
leek, mushroom and pea quiche
Last weekend our lovely neighbour Anne gave us a basket of her hens eggs. She has a mixture of little chickens running around the grounds of her delightful cottage up the hill from us. I believe most of them are Bantams and they lay the cutest little eggs, just slightly bigger than Quails eggs but each one is the epitome of what an egg should be. Packed with flavour and a yolk so yellow/orange they should invent a name just for that colour… in fact you can clearly see from the wonderful colour of the quiche filling how yellow they were. You may think i’m mad making quiche with these eggs but bizarrely The Viking won’t eat fresh farm eggs any other way than in a cake or quiche where he can’t see them. Being a vegetarian who’s bordering on veganism he simply can’t disassociate the little home chickens from the egg, whereas a tray of regular free-range eggs that come in a box from the supermarket is fine. He’s an odd man but I love him. This is my favourite quiche. Very simple but delightfully moreish with the mushrooms, leeks and peas adding a sweetness to the whole. The strong cheddar in the pastry adds zing and depth of flavour to what can be a rather dull part of the quiche. The quiche filling itself contains no cheese, only cream and sour cream. So it’s fantastically rich and there’s nothing wrong with that!
- 250g plain flour
- 100g butter
- 50g finely grated strong cheddar cheese
- water to mix
- 6 or 7 Spring onions – chopped
- 2 medium leek – finely sliced
- 100g mushrooms – sliced – I used roughly 9 chestnut mushrooms
- 100g peas
- butter and olive oil
- fresh chives, rosemary and thyme – finely chopped
- salt and pepper
- 4 free-range eggs – beaten (I used 8 mini bantam eggs)
- 150ml single cream
- 100ml soured cream
i’m using a 25cm, 3cm deep fluted tin with a loose bottom which i’ve greased well
in a large pan gently melt a generous amount of butter with a little olive oil and throw in the spring onions and the leeks and plenty of pepper and let then sweat for a little until they begin to soften, then add a little salt and the thyme, then turn up the heat a little and saute them further, take them out of the pan and set aside
add a little more butter and olive oil to the pan and gently saute your mushrooms until soft, then season well with pepper and rosemary and once they begin to colour throw in the peas and stir well, finally stir in the cooked leeks and opinions, then set aside to cool
Better than mine! Looks wonderful x
never! Yours will always be the best quiches x
Lovely green Spring-like ingredients! We are in the midst of a late winter snowstorm, but … a girl can dream !
indeed… dreaming about food is the best!
We are huge fans of quiche in this house and also find ourselves thinking of quiche as the weather improves. By the end of February we are longing for warmth and sunshine and looking forward to lunches outdoors – with quiche on the table of course! This one sounds delicious and the richer the better – there’s no fun in a mean quiche!
Thanks Jean… it’s sunny again today and now all I want to do is cook more quiche!