Homemade Quiche

Quiche

I haven’t made quiche for a while now, but over the weekend decided to throw one together.

I made some shortcrust pastry and baked it blind in the oven in a flan tin. Everytime I do that I always think I should be using some baking beans, but I don’t have any, so I lined the top of the pastry with baking parchment and used another pan on top to keep the pastry flat. One tip I picked up from the television was to fold the pastry over the edge of the flan tin and once cooked this is carved off, and creates a level pie base.

I filled the base first with some fresh spinach and the cooked onions, peppers, mushrooms and pancetta. I then added some grated mature cheddar cheese. There are lots of choices when it comes to quiche fillings,

I placed the flan in the oven and then filled it, covering the rest of the filling with an egg and milk mixture.

The quiche is then baked in the oven until the egg has set and the top of the quiche has started to brown.

Delicious warm, it can also be served cold with salad.

Quiche

I am never quite sure if I am a fan of quiche or someone who would prefer something else.

For me it always appears to be not quite a pie and not quite an omelette.

I do make quiche, and enjoyed it, but not quite sure if I am a fan.

My second quiche

Well having made my first quiche, I went ahead and made another.

Quiche

I was inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe I saw on his At Home series, though this is not quite the same as he used potatoes and asparagus  in his.

First I cooked the pastry case blind, I will admit to using ready made pastry; well it is easier and faster at times.

Once this has cooled, in a pan I cooked some onions off with red pepper, mushrooms, parsley and pancetta.

These were then placed in the pastry case.

I then in a jug, mixed four eggs, some cream and a splash of milk.

This I poured into the pastry case.

I then placed the quiche in the oven, and topped up the egg mixture (which I may have spilt if I did this before I popped it into the oven).

The quiche is then baked in the oven until the egg has set and has gone slightly brown.

Asparagus Quiche

As I was making this asparagus quiche, it occurred to me that I hadn’t ever made a quiche before.

Asparagus Quiche

So this is my first quiche.

I was inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe I saw on his At Home series, though this is not quite the same as he used potatoes in his.

First I cooked the pastry case blind, I will admit to using ready made pastry; well it is easier and faster at times.

Once this has cooled, in a pan I cooked some onions off.

These were then placed in the pastry case.

I then in a jug, mixed four eggs, some cream and a splash of milk.

This I poured into the pastry case.

I then added some cooked asparagus.

I then placed the quiche in the oven, and topped up the egg mixture (which I may have spilt if I did this before I popped it into the oven).

The quiche is then baked in the oven until the egg has set and has gone slightly brown.

National Trust Cafe

I had an excellent meal yesterday at the National Trust cafe in Swindon (next door to the STEAM museum and the Swindon shopping outlet). It’s part of their headquarters.

National Trust Headquarters, Swindon

I ordered the pork chop with tomatoes and mushrooms served with vegetables and seasonal potatoes.

The chop (which was boned or boneless) was grilled to perfection, too often with this kind of dish you find some cafes cook it in advance and keep it warm which usually means that the pork dries out and is very tough. This pork chop was full of flavour, tender and delicious. The chop was covered with a chunky sauce made form tomatoes and mushrooms which was well flavoured and for me perfectly seasoned (which means it wasn’t salty).

The vegetables were okay, the carrots tasted as though they were cooked from fresh, but I have a suspicion that the peas and sweetcorn were cooked from frozen (which isn’t surprising and they tasted fine).

The potatoes were roasted new potatoes which were well cooked and very tasty.

My other half went for the red pepper flan (okay read quiche) which was served warm with potatoes and salad. She said the flan was really nice, I was almost too focussed on my pork to ask her for a taste.

For afters I had the treacle tart, too often these can be over sweet, but this was just right in terms of sweetness, but I did find the pastry somewhat tough.

The pork chop dish was very reasonable at £5.95, the flan was only £4.95. I did think the treacle tart was sightly overpriced at £3.25 (especially as other cakes were only £1.50). However overall it certainly was value for money.

Compared to the food offerings in the shopping outlet, if you are out Swindon way, pop over to the National Trust cafe and enjoy a delicious meal in peaceful and pleasant environment.