DinnerInTenMinutes.com

Who was it that said ‘real men don’t eat quiche’?  Well, the three men in my house all love quiche, and I’m going to share with you how to make quiche in ten minutes.

If you’re a quiche eater, you’ll know that it has a pastry base.  This recipe uses frozen pastry (thawed, of course) to save time.  It’s worth keeping a supply of shortcrust and puff pastry in the freezer.  There are numerous quick, easy recipes that use pastry – and I hope to share many of them with you over time.  You’ll need shortcrust pastry for this how to make quiche recipe.

Because pastry isn’t the healthiest of foods (it has quite a high fat content – ‘bad’ fat I’m afraid), I always roll out shortcrust pastry quite thin.  This not only means less unhealthy fat for the family, it also means the pastry should turn out nice and crispy.  I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like thick, soggy, under-cooked pastry.  Take a leaf from my recipe book and roll your shortcrust pastry nice and thin.

This recipe should take around 10 minutes to prepare.  You can then sit back while your quiche cooks in the oven.

How to Make Quiche – Ingredients

• 1 sheet frozen shortcrust pastry – thawed and rolled thin
• 4-6 rashers of bacon – fat removed and chopped small
• 3 or 4 eggs, whisked
• Approx 300 ml fresh pouring cream – or yogurt – or combination of two
• Optional – Corn from 1 or 2 fresh cobs – or use frozen corn
• Parmesan cheese

How to Make Quiche – Method

1. Heat oven to moderately high
2. Fry chopped bacon in a little oil until crisp
3. Mix together whisked eggs, cream/yogurt, cooked bacon and corn kernels
4. Cut pastry according to pan size (see below for choices)
5. Spray (or coat) pan with oil to stop pastry sticking (I used olive oil from a spray can)
6. Line pan with pastry
7. Pour quiche mixture onto pastry then sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top
8. Bake in oven until just firm to the touch and slightly golden on top (don’t over-cook or your quiche will be a bit ‘rubbery’)

Choosing a Pan Size – How Long to Cook

You can make Mini-Quiche, Not-So-Mini Quiche and Flan-Sized Quiche using this how to make quiche recipe.  It’s up to you.  Bear in mind that the bigger the quiche, the longer it will take to cook.  The basic ingredients are the same.

• For mini-quiche I use two cake trays (12 quiche per tray – 24 total) – approx cooking time 10 minutes
• For not-so-mini quiche I use one muffin tray (deeper than a cake tray – 12 quiche per tray) – approx cooking time 20 minutes
• For a flan-sized quiche I use an approx 10 inch/25 cm flan dish – approx cooking time 30 minutes

Three Tips

1. The mixture will almost double in size, so don’t overfill the pastry
2. Depending upon the type of flan dish you are using, you may need to part-cook your pastry base for 5-10 minutes.  This shouldn’t be necessary for the cake and muffin tins
3. Your quiche/s should come out of the oven looking all ‘puffed up’ and beautiful.  Alas, it will very quickly sink a little.  Don’t be upset – this is normal!

Alternative Fillings

You can make a whole range of quiche fillings.  Instead of using bacon, try a combination of vegetables.  Here are a few ideas:-

• Pre-cooked spinach and broccoli work well.  Just place on top of the pastry and pour egg mixture on top
• Pumpkin, pre-cooked in the oven with a little olive oil and chili flakes is also delicious in quiche
• Try sliced raw mushroom or sliced raw tomato, placed on top of the mixture, just prior to sprinkling with Parmesan
• Sun dried tomatoes, olives and feta also go beautifully in quiche
• For a more cheesy filling, just add some grated tasty cheddar to the egg mixture
• There are endless choices – experiment a little

So there you have it, another dinner in ten minutes recipe – how to make quiche.  If you’re tempted to give it a go (and I hope you are) please let me know how you get on.