Tomato & Broccoli Quiche with a Layer of Pea Puree

Tomato & Broccoli Quiche with a Layer of Pea Puree

Pastry

280g/10oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
140g/5oz cold butter, cut into pieces
8 tbsp very cold water

Pea Puree

300g frozen peas
3 tbsp olive oil
handful of fresh mint, chopped

Vegetables

½ broccoli cut into florets
10 baby plum tomatoes
1 red onion, thinly sliced
½ tbsp olive oil

Custard

2 eggs
284ml double cream
1 cup grated cheddar
salt & pepper to season

Tip the flour & butter into a bowl, then rub together with your fingertips until completely mixed and crumbly. Add 8 tbsp cold water, then bring everything together with your hands until just combined. Roll into a ball and use straight away or chill for up to 2 days.

Roll out the pasta on a lightly floured surface to a round about 5cm larger than a 25cm tin. Use your rolling pin to lift it up, then drape over the tart case so there is an overhang of pastry on the sides. Using a small ball of pastry scraps, push the pastry into the corners of the tin. Chill in fridge or freezer for 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 200c / fan 180c/gm6. While the pastry is chilling make the filling.

Cook the peas in boiling water for 3 minutes, drain and rinse in cold water to refresh. Whizz up the peas with the olive oil and mint. Set this mixture aside.















Cook the broccoli in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and rinse under cold water. Dry fry the tomatoes in a hot pan, moving around until they start to brown a little and split. Gently fry the onion in olive oil, until soft. Set aside.

Take the pastry out of the fridge or freezer. Prick the base lightly with a fork. Cover with a layer of greaseproof paper, fill with ceramic beans or rice and bake blind for 20 minutes, remove the paper and beans and bake for another 5 – 10 minutes until golden brown.















While the pastry is baking whip up the custard. Beat the eggs in a bowl and gradually add the cream. Stir in the onions and add 3/4 cup of grated cheddar, then season with salt and pepper.

When the case is ready, spread the pea puree over the base, top with the vegetables and then pour over the egg mixture. Scatter over the remaining cheese. Bake the quiche for 20 – 25 minutes until set and golden brown. Don’t worry if the filling is a little wobbly, it will set as it cools. Leave the quiche to cool in the tin. Once cool, trim the edges of the pastry and remove from the tin.






















Making the quiche was quite a long process but extraordinarily satisfying! The only thing I would do different next time, would be to cut the quantity of pea puree in half. So it is just a hidden extra as you bite into your quiche and not a main player, if you know what I mean? I may use the fillings again with ready-made shortcrust pastry, if I don't have as much time. It was a good filling and just the right amount.
















I served this quiche with some of my beetroot salad, which was lovely and tart. A great contrast with the creamy quiche.

A Vegetarian Feast in a Quiche!

I am stealing that quote from Judith over at Shortcut to Mushrooms. Judith is hosting a Vegetarian Feast Foodblogging Challenge and the challenge is to make something flat and savoury with a crust. So I am putting forward my quiche as my entry. If you would like to join in, you still have time. Judith's deadline is the 31st May. And on the subject of deadlines, please have entries in for No Croutons Required by the 20th May. The details are here.

Beetroot Salad

I just love beetroot and I thought it would look really pretty in a salad, so I made this dish that is similar to a coleslaw in style.




















Beetroot Salad

5 fresh beetroot, peeled and grated
5 spring onions, shredded
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 small white cabbage, shredded (purple cabbage would look stunning!)

Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vingegar
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together the salad dressing and combine with the vegetables. Voila!

Serves loads of people, honest!
















I enjoyed this salad and the sharpness of the dressing was a lovely contrast to the creamy quiche I served it with (quiche to follow). However, make sure everyone has some. Delicious, but the honk of garlic was something else!

Lemon Cheesecake with a Blueberry & Raspberry Topping

Lemon Cheesecake with a Blueberry & Raspberry Topping

Base
12 ginger biscuits
100g butter, melted
1 tsp clear honey

Filling
600ml double cream, lightly whipped
500g mascarpone
juice of 2 lemons
zest of 2 lemons
2 tbsp icing sugar

Fruit Topping
200g caster sugar
400g mixed frozen raspberries and Blueberries
Juice 1/2 lemon

Place the fruit, lemon juice and caster sugar in a pan and bring to the boil. Leave to simmer for a few minutes until starting to thicken. Set aside to cool.

Crush the biscuits in a bag with a rolling pin, sometimes you need a double layer of bag, so that it doesn't burst and make a right mess. Tip the biscuit crumbs into a mixing bowl and stir in the melted butter and honey. Press the mixture over the base of a loose-bottomed tin (about 20cm) and leave to set in the fridge while you make the filling.

Beat the cream and mascarpone in a bowl until smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and icing sugar to the cheese, being sure not to mix it too much as it could split.

Smooth the mixture over the base, cool in the until needed.

Remove the chessecake, carefully from the tin and spoon over the fruit topping.

We really enjoyed this cheesecake. My American friends will be shaking their heads and tutting because it isn't baked. But honestly, this kind of cheesecake has it's own merits. It is creamy and tart and so easy to make. I think you just have to approach it from a different viewpoint and don't expect the texture of a baked cheesecake. Go on, give it a go!

No Croutons Required - May

It is time for me to host No Croutons Required.

But first, I suspect you would like to find out who won the Mushroom Challenge in April.

The winner was Suganya over at Tasty Palettes. Suganya won the challenge with her Baked Portobello.














Doesn't it look mouthwatering?

If you missed the mushroom challenge, you can catch up with the roundup here.
-----------------------------
On with the challenge!

To celebrate the end of Winter, we are asking for a salad.

Our theme this month is cheese, be it blue, crumbly, creamy, pongy, smoky, gooey or chewy. From vegetarian to vegan.

The Rules

1. Post about your Cheese Salad.

2. Mention "No Croutons Required" in your post and link back to Tinned Tomatoes. You are free to use the "No Croutons Required" logo in your post.

3. Email me a link to your post at nocroutonsrequired@googlemail.com and include your name, the name of your blog, your location and the name of your dish, with any anecdotes.

4. Entries must be in by 20 May 2008.

The roundup of entries will then be posted and readers will be able to vote for their favorite salad in the poll.

The winning salad will be announced at the end of the month and the winner will receive this super duper badge to display on their blog.

5. Good luck :)

Book Meme

This Meme was started by that smart cookie - Yvonne - It Had Better Be Good.

She has tagged the entire blogosphere with her book meme. A little bit interesting, don't you think! As we nose about in other people's lives, well their books to be exact!

The rules are simple:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you

I have two books at the side of my bed, which I am lying across just now!

Al Capone Does My Shirts
Gennifer Choldenko

Page 123. Sentence 6, 7 & 8

Every Monday I see Scout and them warming up on my way to the boat. I walk by without even looking.

On Alcatraz there's nothing to do, no one to do it with and nothing to look forward to either.

My next is:

Giorgio Locatelli
Made in Italy - Food & Stories
Page 123, fifth sentence:

They are very beautiful: dark brown with a white stripe or 'belt'(cinta); and are very agile because they were bred to live in the wild, and if they run at you, you have to move fast, because they really are quite scary.

So, what do you think he was talking about?

I'm not giving you the next three sentences.

It is too much fun to see what you come up with :P

I can't wait to read the posts :)

I now have to tag 5 people. So I am going to go for the five, I think, will also have a book beside their bed right now!

Julia at A Slice of Cherry Pie, who started up a book club for us over at her forum.

Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen who was curled up yesterday, reading a book.

Wendy at A Wee Bit of Cooking, who I know loves a good read.

Tadmack over at I Wish I Were Baking, who is a writer herself, but always, always has a big pile of books to read!

And lastly, Peter over at Kalofagas - Greek Food & Beyond. I am very interested to find out what he is reading, with a kind of nervous, fascination!

Curried Chickpea Burgers

Curried Chickpea Burgers

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated
3 tsp curry paste (I used Patak's Cumin & Coriander)
2 tbsp water
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 slices bread, whizzed into crumbs
2 handfuls cashew nuts
1 handful fresh coriander, chopped
black pepper

Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion, celery and garlic for 5 minutes, add the curry paste and water and cook for another few minutes. Add the grated carrot and cook for two minutes. Season with pepper.

Mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl. Shape into burgers and put in the fridge for 30 minutes before frying in a little olive oil for a few minutes on each side.

Makes 8 burgers

Serve in a burger bun with salad leaves and mustard.

I made 8 burgers, well when I say burgers, they actually fell apart. So they weren't so much burgers, but more a burger crumble! I am thinking of adding a beaten egg next time.














I had some mixture left over and it was just too tasty to discard. So I grated a carrot and some cheddar into the mixture, added a dollop of mayonnaise and mixed together. I filled soft tortilla wraps with this gorgeous filling along with some salad leaves. Voila, lunch for tomorrow! Should be good :)

Cookie Prattle

Cookies with Pistachio Nuts & M&Ms
(adapted from a recipe by Vicarious Foodie)

1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
1 1/4 cups porridge oats
1 cup chocolate m&ms
1 cup mini chocolate buttons
1/2 cup shelled pistachios, halved
170g butter, softened but still cool
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 medium egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350/180/Gas Mark 4

Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Mix in the egg and vanilla.

Sieve in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until well combined. I found I needed a couple of tablespoons of water at this point, probably because I used a medium egg. A large egg would be preferable. Use a rubber spatula to mix in the chocolate, oats and nuts. It really makes life easier!

Divide the mixture into balls the size of a golf ball. Place on 2 lined baking trays (I ended up doing them in 2 batches of 2 trays and put the rest in the fridge). Press the balls down with the palm of your hand.

Now this is where Vicarious Foodie came up trumps! You put one tray on the top shelf and one on the middle, then 20 minutes into cooking you swap the trays over, also turning them, so the back of the trays come to the front. Nice even cooking! My cookies were a little smaller, so I baked them for another 4 minutes, instead of 8. I let them cool a little before moving them to a wire rack.

Makes approx 24 cookies

You can see the original recipes for Wild Cherry M&M Cookies here.

I tried out these cookies at the weekend with view to making another batch during the week. My friend Craig was having a Cake Bake for charity, so I said I would contribute. This first batch of cookies, I took into work, where they were quickly scoffed. Comments were positive and the general opinion was that they were good because they weren't too soft and chewy, hmmm, must be the Scottish palate! I think I might try them bigger next time, because, I quite like chewy cookies.

Anyway, back to my story. So, I thought I would make a couple of fruit loaves (my mum's recipe) and a new batch of cookies. Things didn't go to plan. I forgot just how long you have to leave the fruit loaf mixture to cool before you add the flour and eggs. The loaves came out of the oven at quarter to 10 at night, so no cookies for Craig!

Graham was most disgruntled that he wasn't getting a slice of fruit loaf to sample! Oh, well!

I put the cool loaves in clear bags and tied them closed with yellow satin ribbon. Pity I didn't take a photo, but I was rushing out to work at this point.

Here is an old photo from the same recipe.

Orange & Brazil Nut Loaf

Ok, so I cheated!

Sorry Johanna! I know you wanted a savoury nut loaf for your A Neb At Nut Roast event, but I couldn't resist trying out this James Martin recipe for a zesty Orange and Brazil Nut Loaf.















Orange & Brazil Nut Loaf

5 small oranges
1 lemon
300g shelled brazil nuts
250g caster sugar
6 Eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice














Wipe the fruit well and put in a large saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer briskly with the lid on for 20 minutes, topping up with hot water if necessary. Remove the fruit from the pan and leave to cool for 20 minutes.
















Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Spread out the nuts on a baking tray. Toast in the oven for about 5 minutes until pale golden. Chop roughly, then tip into a food processor and grind to a fine powder.

Reduce the oven temperature to 170°C/gas 3. Grease a 25cm springform cake tin.

Cut the fruit in half and remove the seeds - don't remove the peel though. Put everything in a food processor. Add the nuts, sugar, eggs, baking powder, cinnamon and allspice, and purée for 30 seconds. Scrape the purée from the sides of the bowl. Process for another 20 seconds until you have a thick batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean - the cake should be quite moist.

Leave to cool in the tin. When cold, remove the cake from the tin and transfer to a wire rack. Leave to sit for a few hours before eating.














I made 2 loaves out of this mixture. Needless to say, I didn't leave them for the recommended few hours before I cut one open.

It is a zesty and moist cake, ahem, I mean to say, loaf!