Trying my own pastry...

...wish me luck...


I decided that with all the food over holidays it is nice sometimes to just stop and have something fairly plain and simple...a bit like the steak and salad issue back here...so another salad was decided upon...but to go with it I decided to make a quiche...
Now I have made a quiche before, but many, many moons ago, and if I remember right, it had a soggy bottom and filling leaked through the sides!!! So not a great quiche as quiches go!!!


Because of this, and because I had recently re-found my pastry blender I decided today was the day...


I searched for a suitable recipe...I had mushrooms (oyster and white) in the fridge to use up...and some leeks too...then I found this recipe for Leek, Mushroom and Gruyere Quiche and that was that...the perfect quiche for the ingredients I had!! Fate had decreed it was to be!!


So I made my pastry first - obviously!! (bit tricky to make the rest of the quiche without it!) Which was pretty easy...you just use half fat to flour...in this case 140g cold butter - diced, rubbed into 280g plain flour...












I used my pastry blender to rub it in, but to be honest, next time will just get my hands in from the start...then bring it together with your hands to a dough using about 8Tbsp cold water - the colder the better...roll into a ball and either use straight away, or pop in cling film in the fridge until needed...

...when you roll it out until it is about 5cm larger than the flan tin you're using...in this case, a 25cm one...carefully lift the pastry over and gently push into the case/tin...prick the bottom of the flan case...and pop in the fridge to chill for 20 mins or so before you...

 ...pop some greaseproof paper and baking beans in and blind bake at Gas 6/180c for 20 mins...















...then remove the lining paper and beans and put back in the oven for another 5-10mins or until the pastry is looking golden brown. My case was looking ok, but it had come away from the sides of the flan case slightly...I think maybe because I didn't use enough baking beans??








Then it was filling time...
I made my filling whilst the case was blind baking...
So what did I use for the filling?
*2 eggs
*About 4 leeks - mine were small organic ones, so actually used 6 of them...but they were tiny!
*About 300g mushrooms in total - a mix of oyster and white
*300ml cream - double
*150g gruyere - grated
*A generous knob of butter

Take your leeks, and chop finely, add butter to a pan and fry the leeks for 10 mins or so to soften, but not colour...

...then add in your mushrooms, and turn up the heat to fry them for about 5 mins...

 ...Whilst that is all going on, whisk your eggs and cream together in a bowl, add half the grated cheese and mix in the leek and mushrooms once they are ready...season it and...

 ...pour it carefully into the quiche case and top with the rest of the grated cheese...Pop this in the oven (same temp as earlier) for about 25-30 mins or until the center is firm...(it actually took about 40mins in my oven for some reason!! Maybe my quiche case was deeper than the originally recipe??)

Once cooked, leave to cool slightly before trimming the pastry edges - to make it look nicer!! and it will also firm up a wee bit, making it easier to cut and dish up...














We had ours with a nice salad, simply dressed with oil and vinegar...and it was lovely...


We finished it off the next day, cold, as lunch...and I have too say it was even better cold...would definately make this again...and take the leftovers to work for lunch!!