roast spring onion and fennel quiche with beetroot pastry

This roast spring onion and fennel quiche with beetroot pastry is my first quiche of the year and I went all in with the most wonderful earthy pastry made with some left-over roasted beetroots.  It’s divine and I’m definitely going to be adding more roasted veg to pastry in the future.  It adds not only a wonderful taste but a gorgeous texture too.

A celebration of Spring

The quiche is a sort of celebration of Spring.  We’ve been experiencing some very odd weather recently.  On Saturday it was freezing cold and then on Sunday is was positively balmy and so I thought a nice Spring dish is what we needed.

for the beetroot pastry

• 150g plain flour
• 100g rye flour
• 150g butter
• 2 roasted beetroot (or 1 steamed beetroot – Sainsbury’s do a nice one)
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh herbs – I used thyme and rosemary
• water to mix

for the filling

• 4 salad onions (the giant Spring onions) – sliced in half lengthways
• 1 fennel bulb – cut into wedges
• 5 garlic cloves
• fresh rosemary and thyme– finely chopped
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 4 eggs – beaten
• 220ml Greek Yoghurt
• 100g stilton – broken into chunks
• a little milk to loosen the mix

Make the beetroot pastry

The pastry really needs to be made in a food processor or similar. Simply place the beetroot, flour and butter into the processor and whizz until it becomes a fine pink powder (it may clump slightly which is fine.) Add a dash of water and blitz again until a ball of dough forms.  You may need to add a little more water to get a nice smooth dough that holds together. Wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge for at least 30 minutes

Roast the veg

Pre-heat the oven to 160C (fan.) Lay the onions, fennel and garlic onto a roasting dish and sprinkle with the fresh herbs and a little salt and pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil and stir well, coating all the veg.

Roast for 30 mins until the veg are tender (you may need to remove the onions after 20 mins to stop them burning – simply set them aside on a plate and return the dish to the oven.)

now your pastry should be ready, roll it out and line your greased quiche pan. place some baking beans on top of the pastry and blind bake for 15 minutes on 150C

once your pastry is turning golden, take it out of the oven and set aside whilst you beat the eggs into the yoghurt.  Add a dash of milk if needed to slightly slacken the mix.  Place the roasted veg into the pastry case followed by the yoghurty egg mix and crumble the cheese over the top (I like to leave it quite chunky but tuck it into random places) and bake on 160C for about 25-35 minutes until golden and risen, set aside on a wire rack to cool.  The quiche should easily slide out of the tin. (famous last words…)

For more quiche recipes check these out on Dom in the Kitchen.

Eat and of course, enjoy!