You might have remembered me rambling on earlier this week about free range eggs and luscious leeks from the garden. Well, I decided I would have to honour my hearty home grown ingredients with a suitably delicious recipe. I had a big hunk of nutty comté in the fridge as well, which I decided I would add to the mix. So, French cheese, sweet spring leeks and free range eggs….What would you have made with this lucky dip of ingredients?
For me it had to be quiche. I came up with a creamy cheesy leek quiche. I don’t know what it is about food from home, but it always tastes better, so needless to say, this quiche was delicious. I should also add that the colours in this photo were not adjusted in anyway. The quiche is actually that yellow! The egg yolks were almost orange. I am taking part in the Eat Only Irish for a week challenge in May, so this one will definitely qualify as an all Irish dish. I just need to sub the comté for some nice Knockdrinna or Killeen. Oh, and I might need to leave out the pepper and find some Irish spice substitute! Any ideas?
Here’s how:
Pastry
– 4oz plain flour
– 2oz of butter – cubed
– a pinch of salt
– a few drops of cold water.
Filling
– 4 leeks -chopped into small thin discs
– 1 small onion diced
– 1 oz of butter
– 3 eggs
– 5 floz of cream
– 5 floz of natural yoghurt
– salt and pepper
– 50-70g (depends on how cheesy you like it) of comté cheese
Lightly grease an 8 inch quiche tin-preferably a tin with a removable base. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. To make the pastry, first sieve the flour into a bowl. Next, add the diced butter and a pinch of salt to the flour. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs. Then mix in a few drops of water, just enough for the pastry to come together into a dough. Leave the pastry to rest in the fridge for twenty to thirty minutes.
Meanwhile melt the butter in a saucepan and sweat the leeks and the onions. I put the foil butter paper on top of the veg to keep in all the moisture and make it extra buttery. Once the leek and onion mix has softened down, season with salt and pepper. Take off the heat and leave aside.
Next lightly beat the eggs on in a large bowl. Pour in the cream and yoghurt and season with salt and pepper. Add the grated cheese to the egg mixture.
Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll it out on a floured surface until you have a round disc that’s large enough to fit into your 8 inch tin. Carefully place the pastry into the tin. Leave some pastry overlapping the edge as the pastry will shrink in the oven. Prick the pastry shell with a fork. Put some greaseproof paper over the pastry case and some rice or baking beads on top to stop it rising. Then bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Once it has been blind baked for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and place the leeks inside the pastry case. Then add most of your egg mix (but not all) on top of the leeks. Now, place the quiche on the middle shelf in the oven, then carefully add the rest of the egg mix. Cook for 30- 40 mins until the quiche is set and the top is golden brown.
