Challenging Arts & Crafts: Quiche

Showing posts with label Quiche. Show all posts

One of the best things ever invented in baking is the ready made phyllo or the puff pastry. They are so versatile to use and a blessing in one´s kitchen. You don´t have to spend so much time making this dough to achieve flaky and crispy layers.

I always see to it that I have this ready in the fridge, so anytime when some visitors come up, I can always produce something quick and tasteful.

For this recipe, I used rucola leaves... it has a mild taste which I prefer more than the fresh spinach...

Ingredients :

1 readymade puff pastry ( approx 270-275 gms ) for
a 24 cm pie form

250 g Ricotta ( fresh italian White cheese)
200 g Rucola leaves
3 eggs, 2 cloves crushed garlic
3 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced ( reserve about 4-5 slices for
topping)
3 spring onions cut into small pieces
salt & pepper

cooking oil to sautée the leaves

butter to coat the pie form

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C. Coat the pie form with butter, roll out the pastry, remove the paper (set aside for later use), place the pastry onto the form slightly pressing it so that it covers the form completely. Tuck the pastry edges towards the inner side just like in a pizza crust (see Image nr. 1)....

Place the pastry paper or parchment on top of the pastry, then add dried beans to bake blind the pastry for 10 minutes under 180°C.

Remove the paper and the beans and bake 5 minutes more to get a brown crust all over. Set aside for later filling.

3. In a pan with 1 tbsp butter, slightly fry the rucola leaves until they get limpy and loose its liquid, put in a colander to squesze out more liquid.... set aside.

In the same pan, add 1 tbsp cooking oil & fry the crushed garlic, 2 sliced tomatoes and the cut spring onions til done, about 2 minutes.... set aside.

4. Fill the puffed pastry with half of the egg-Ricotta mixture. Arrange the Rucola and tomatoes on top of it and add 1/4 of the of the egg mixture. Then, top with the reserved sliced tomatoes. Pour the rest of the egg mixture and bake at 175°C for about 20 minutes.... for crispy edges, bake more for 5 minutes at 175°C..

Can be served warm or cold, goes well with white wine.

Note: If the puff pastry tends to become too dark during the baking process, cover the pie with an aluminum foil, remove cover 5 minutes before the baking time ends.

Have a nice time baking!!

Thank you for reading my blog.... am wishing you a Happy Weekend!!!

Til next,

Mercy

So glad that I found the tartlette forms 2 years ago in a shop that actually sells coffee. They are very practical forms as their bottoms/base are removable. I used them for this recipe so I could freeze each portion and will be ready to eat anytime for grabbing, that way, I don´t need to slice the tart.

So friends, here´s how I made the Tarts:

Ingredients:

1 roll ready made puff pastry

500 grams of fresh or frozen spinach ( if frozen, thaw the pack the night before)

3 medium tomatoes

1 onion cut into strips

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 egg

2 tbsps olive oil

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp sour cream

1 tbsp creme fráiche (or double cream)

1 tbsp raisins

1 tbsp pine nuts ( or coarsely cut almonds)

salt & peper

optional : finely grated grana padano (italian cheese)

How to :

Roll out the pastry onto a board, remove its parchment/sheet and divide it into 4. Place each in the tartlette form tucking the excess edges towards the inside of the form. Put a sheet of wax paper to cover the pastry and add the dried beans on top of it to bake blind the pastry for 10 minutes with 180°C.

Remove the sheet and the dried beans and bake for more 10 minutes so the base gets golden brown in color, set the pastry aside for later use.

In a pan with 1 tbsp olive oil, fry the crushed garlic followed by Spinach leaves until spinach get softer & limpy and looses water, slightly season with salt & pepper, remove excess liquid and put the spinach on a plate, set aside.

In the same pan add 1 tbsp olive oil, fry the onions, add the cut tomatoes, sprinkle it with the soya sauce and fry til they get soft, set aside.

Mix the egg, the sour cream , creme fráiche, season with salt & pepper and add 2 tbsp of this mixture to the onion and tomato and 2 tbsp to the spinach. Mix carefully so the liquid blends in with the vegetables.

Using a spoon, fill each crust with the spinach and the onion mixture arranging the filling loosely into the crust... add a tbsp of the egg mixture randomly and add the raisins, pine nuts and the grated grana padano cheese on top , place in the middle rack of your oven and bake at 180°C for about 20-30 minutes. When baking is done, carefully remove the form´s bottom and arrange on a platter. Serve warm or cold.

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Challenging Arts & Crafts