Pea, Goat's Cheese and Mint Quiche...

It's the annual School Quiz, and the endless battle to create something that can be transported like a picnic, but is more gourmet than soggy sandwiches... I made the mistake of asking Hubby what he fancied, and he requested quiche... Quiche!  I've never made quiche, primarily because my mother-in-law makes such a fantastic one, and, well, just because... But if I was going to have to make quiche, I wanted something really unusual, vibrant and delicious...


I do love the web - instantly thousands of choices at my fingertips... I found a fantastic recipe on the BBC site (of course) which consisted of a layer of peas, with goat's cheese, mint and spring onions... Perfect, and just passably vegetarian for those allowed eggs and cheese.  This is absolutely going to be on my summer repertoire, and the girls loved it!

Ingredients:

300g frozen peas
3 tbsp olive oil
handful mint leaves
2 eggs
284ml pot double cream
4 spring onions, finely sliced
200g mild goat's cheese, crumbled
280g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
140g cold butter, cut into pieces

Method:

• Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Follow steps 1 and 2 of the Sticky onion & cheddar quiche recipe, opposite page. 2 While the pastry is chilling, cook the peas in boiling water for 3 mins, then drain and refresh under cold water. Use a hand blender to purée the peas with the olive oil, then stir in the chopped mint and season.
• Lightly prick the base of the tart with a fork, line the tart case with a large circle of greaseproof paper or foil, then fill with baking beans. Blind-bake the tart for 20 mins, remove the paper and beans, then continue to cook for 5-10 mins until biscuit brown.
• While the tart is cooking, beat the eggs in a large bowl. Gradually add the cream and stir in the onions. Season. When the case is ready, spoon and spread the peas over the base, pour over the egg mix, then finally scatter over the goat's cheese. Bake for 20-25 mins until set and golden brown. Leave to cool in the case, trim the edges of the pastry, then remove and serve in slices

Notes:

• Clearly I did not make my own pastry - I was preparing a meal for eight people - I'm not bonkers...  I use a very thin pastry, which doesn't require baking blind, but here I should have done - I definitely had a soggy bottom and had to pop the tart into the warming drawer to head from the bottom! Not helped by the fact I put my tart case onto a layer of foil in case of leakages, which actually then covered the perforated base of my case... Whoops...
• Don't forget to put the mint into the pea, rather than trying to scatter it on top (I forgot to put it in at first - but the mint will just float up in your egg mixture! Not ideal, though not the end of the world...)
• The opening photograph is from the BBC website - clearly I forgot to photograph my finished quiche in the rush
• Be careful which goat's cheese you use - the first time I used this, but the second this - the second took longer to cook, was 'moussier' and slightly more 'curdled'.  I've included a photo of the second, you can see the cheese fluffing up...

Spread the pea and mint mixture over the base of the BLIND BAKED tart

Then scatter the goat's cheese and spring onions over the pea base...

Definitely not happy with this one - not as good as the first!