This caramelised onion, goat's cheese and courgette quiche is simple, tasty and a whole load of fun to make. I absolutely hated quiche as a child. I think it was the combination of coming from a Nigerian family and never eating it at home and only experiencing the worst type of quiche at school for lunches. School quiche was so bad! But as I got older I fell in love with it when I experienced the cheesy goodness that is a truly well made quiche.
My preference has always been a vegetarian quiche in particular one that has caramelised onion and goat's cheese, so I decided if I was ever going to make a quiche, this was where I was going to start.
Skip to the end for the recipe!
PASTRY
I finally decided it was time to start learning how to make pastry. This was my first attempt and I can't believe how simple it was. I definitely over hyped how hard this was in my brain. To make this pastry I used 2 parts plain flour, 1 part cold cubed butter and cold water to make a ball (6 tbsp cold water). Briefly, I rubbed 280 g flour and 140 g cold butter (cubed) through my fingers until you get breadcrumb consistency. Add the water to combine into a ball. Wrap the pastry ball with cling film and leave in the fridge until required. This can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days or frozen for a month apparently.
When your ready roll the pastry out using a rolling pin until it is large enough to fill your tart tin. I did not need to use all the pastry so there was a fair bit of excess pastry left. Line the tin with pastry, shape and cut away any excess pastry.
Poke with a folk all over to allow the steam to escape so that quiche crust does not puff up in the oven.
Blind bake for 25 mins with baking beans lined with baking paper, or alternatively use dried beans, then bake without the beans and baking paper for 10 mins or until golden.
Once the pastry is done, leave to cool until required.
FILLING
Eggs/double cream mix: Combine the double cream and 3 eggs to create the main base of the quiche filling.
Caramelised onions: Slice 2 onions and cook in 2 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan on low heat for around 50 mins or so. If the onions are sticking too much to the bottom of the pan, add a couple of tbsp of water to deglaze the pan. Once done, leave to cool then add to the egg/double cream mix.
Courgette: One of Dave's work colleagues has a garden and is really into growing vegetables, including courgettes. She gave us one of her homegrown courgettes and I added it to this quiche. I grated1/2 the courgette and sliced the other 1/2 sliced into ribbons using a potato peeler. Both types of courgettes were salted and left for 30 mins in a colander to remove excess water. I then rinsed and squeezed the courgettes in a tea towel to remove any other excess water. Add the grated courgette to the egg/double cream mix. Save the courgette ribbons for decorating the top later.
Goat cheese: I used a Chavroux firm goat's cheese log. 1/2 the log was diced into small chunks and added to the egg/double cream mix. The other half cut into circles and saved for decoration.
Flavouring: Salt and pepper of course. I also chopped some fresh thyme (around 2 sprigs) and added this to the egg/double cream mix.
ASSEMBLY
Pour the filling into the tart tin and top with the goat's cheese circles and courgette ribbons.
BAKE
Bake for 40 mins or until golden brown and the filling is no longer jiggling. Leave to cool before serving.
Verdict: I am so so proud of this quiche. I can't believe I made a quiche from scratch. The idea of making pastry has always been my nemesis. I think I watched too much "Great British Bake Off" where it seemed like pastry always seemed to go wrong. Overall, I loved the combination of the caramelised onion with goat's cheese. Honestly, this is one of my favourite flavour combinations. I feel like you really taste the difference between making the quiche from scratch compared to store bought. One downside of the recipe is that it did take quite a lot of time to make and this is definitely one of those meals that only happened on a week day because of this working from home lifestyle, but it was damn it was tasty. Expect more quiche recipes on the blog!
Recipe, Serves 6
Prep: 30 mins, cooking: 1.5 hours
Ingredients
Pastry
280 g Plain flour
140 g Cold unsalted butter (cubed)
6-8 tbsp of water (Cold)
Filling
3 Eggs
284 ml Double cream
2 Onions
2 tbsp Oil
150 g Firm Goat's cheese log
1 courgette
Thyme 2 sprigs (chopped)
Salt
Pepper
Method
Pastry
Start by making the pastry. Combine the plain flour and cold butter in a bowl, and mix until they have a breadcrumb consistency, then add cold water until it forms a firm ball. Wrap in cling fling and refrigerate for at least 30 mins or until needed.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C/Gas mark 5.
Once the pastry has been in the fridge, roll it out on a light floured surface and line a 23 cm loose bottom tart tin.
Make sure it is well shaped and cut off any excess pastry
Poke the pastry all and line with baking paper filled with baking beans or dried beans
Bake for 25 mins with the beans
Remove the baking paper and beans and bake for another 10-15 mins, or until golden brown
Leave aside to cool
Filling
Start caramelising the onions. Slice the onions and cook in the oil slowly, stirring occasionally. If the onions start sticking to the pan add a small amount of water to deglaze the pan. Expect caramelising the onions to take a while (~ 45 mins). Once they are done, leave to cool.
While the onions are caramelising grate one half of your courgette and slice the other half into ribbons using a peeler, salt and leave for 30 mins in a colander, then wash well to get rid of all the salt and squeeze in a towel to get rid out any excess water.
Slice the goat's cheese into circles and chop the other half into small chunks
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and add double cream
Season with salt and pepper, and add the chopped thyme
Add the caramelised onion, grated courgettes and goat's cheese chunks into the egg/double cream mixture
Pour the filling mix into the baked and cooled tart pastry
Decorate the top with the goat's cheese circles and courgette ribbons
Bake at 190°C/170°C/Gas mark 5 for 40 mins or until the quiche has set
Allow to cool and serve
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