Quiche
Oct 13th 2008MargeFood & Recipes & Succot & Vegetarian
Succot is here otherwise known as the festival of the Tabernacles. You can read more about Succot here. During Succot I like to have a nice hot slice of quiche whilst eating in the Succah, especially as it gets cold in the North of England. However if you are enjoying Succot in a warmer climate then by all means have your quiche cold. 
mushroom and courgette quiche complete with pastry Succah!
Ingredients:
- 230g plain flour (50:50 wholemeal to white)
- 120g margerine or butter
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 pint of milk
- seasoning
- basil (optional)
- soy sauce
- oil for sautéing
- balsamic vinegar (optional)
- a dollop of green tomato chutney (optional)
- 60g grated cheese
- 450g mushrooms
- 1 onion
- 3 large courgettes
- 2 tsps cornflower (optional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200oC) for at least 20 minutes.
- Take your quiche or flan dish and grease the inner surface and set aside.
- Take the margerine and flour and combine using the rubbing in method. Add the pinch of salt.
- Adding a little cold water at a time make up flour mixture into a dough shape.
- On a floured surface lightly knead the dough using the rock and roll method (pinch it together and roll it rather than bread style kneading).
- Leave the pastry ball in a bowl and put it in the fridge whilst you prepare the vegetables.
- Wash and chop up all the vegetables keeping each type separate.
- In a large wok or deep saucepan lightly fry the onion in a little oil for a minute or so. Add the courgettes and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
- Season the vegetables and add a dash of soy sauce and if using, the same of balsamic vinegar. Stir fry well. You can also add a good dollop of green tomato chutney if you wish.
- Now add the mushrooms and fry them also. (You can see why you need a big pan. If you don’t have one then use two pans and split the vegetable mixture between them). If using basil add a few washed leaves at this point.
- Now do not be tempted to add more water. The mushrooms will give out plenty of water and you want some of this to evaporate off as the vegetables cook down.
- Once the vegetables are soft (10 minutes or so, maybe longer), transfer them to a large bowl and allow to cool off.
- Now go back to the pastry: flour the surface again and also a rolling pin. Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out to fit your quiche dish. When rolling out pastry make sure you keep the pastry moving and do a quarter turn every few rolls. Stay calm and relaxed too or your stress will go into the pastry - true!
- Roll the pastry onto the quiche dish. Go around the dish and lift the pastry slightly from the edge so it sinks down into the dish. Go around the pastry walls and ‘pinch’ lightly against the wall of the quiche dish. Now comes the best bit - hold the quiche dish from underneath with one hand and cut around the edges of the quiche dish with a sharp knife to remove the excess. This is bliss!
- Now take a length of foil and place it in the quiche dish, also place either baking beans or a weighty oven proof plate (I used a pyrex lid), in the quiche dish, bake the pastry blind for 10 minutes. This starts the pastry off without allowing it to rise
- Once you have baked the pastry blind carefully remove the weight and foil (it will be very hot).
- In a bowl beat eggs and add grated cheese. If you want a thick texture then add a couple of teaspoons of cornflower too. Add the milk and beat again.
- Mix the vegetables with the egg mixture and pour the contents into the quiche dish. If you have any leftover pastry you can make pastry leaves and put them on top of the vegetables (in my case I did a pastry Succah!)
- Bake in the top part of the oven for 40 minutes (though not right at the top you don’t want to grill it!
- Enjoy and have a very happy Succot!
The Succah at Casa Marge
