Day 19 and we have an older creation of mine. The first Christmas dinner I cooked for my family was as a young-ish teenager. My sister and I decided, one year, that we wanted to make Christmas dinner for the entire family (Mum, Dad, Grandma and Grandad, our Uncle and ourselves, of course). We did a lot of planning, a lot of prep and we made every meal that day– including breakfast (yes, we made menus for people to pick their own. We went all out), mains, canapes and desserts. One of our favourite parts of the meal was one of the canapes– a piece of fried chorizo, fried red pepper slice, goats cheese and rocket on a toothpick. It’s a combination made in heaven and became a mainstay for a while in all our celebration meals. Years later I decided to incorporate those same flavours into a Quiche and thus ‘Our Family’s Christmas Quiche’ was born. It’s pretty simple to make, looks fancy with the addition of the Goats Cheese cream and is a true celebration lunch or buffet addition. All the people who’ve had it have nothing but good things to say… and I think it deserves it. It’s one of my earliest creations and one of my favourites that I turn to again and again.
Ingredients:
- 1 Small Packet (100g) of ready-rolled Puff Pastry
- 2 Red Peppers
- 100g Chorizo (leave out for Vegetarian version)
- 10 Sun-Dried Tomatoes, cut into thin strips
- 6 Medium Eggs
- 150ml Double Cream
- 1 ½ tsp Paprika
- Rocket, Watercress or Mache
GOATS CHEESE CREAM
- 150g soft, rindless Goats Cheese
- 150g Double Cream
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 190 Degrees C/Gas Mark 5.
- Cut the red pepper and chorizo into 2cm pieces.
- Put a frying pan on medium-high heat. When it is hot add chorizo and cook until the fat is released.
- Line a quiche tin with the ready-made pastry (roll out into a circle if you have a block/rectangular pack). Push the pastry gently into the bottom of the tin.
- Put a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry in the tin and add baking beans/rice. Blind bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until light brown.
- When the chorizo is cooked remove from the pan but leave the fat. Add the pepper
and cook over a medium heat until slightly charred and softened. Drain on kitchen paper and leave to cool.
- When the pastry is finished take out the baking beans and then put it back in the oven for 5 minutes to cook the bottom.
- Break the eggs into a medium bowl and add the cream and paprika. Beat with a fork until all are combined. Season with salt and pepper.
- Put the chorizo, red pepper and sun-dried tomatoes into the pastry case so they are evenly spread across the case. They should come just up to the top of the pastry.
- Gently pour over the egg mixture ensuring it is evenly spread.
- Put on a tray in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the quiche is set and golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.
- Gently pull the edges coming over your tin away from the pastry. It should crumble easily and by the end you should have a clean, even edge to your Quiche.
- Make the goat’s cheese cream: Put the goats cheese in a medium bowl and mix with a spoon so it’s fairly smooth and then add the cream and continue mixing until you have a thickish cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with the Quiche and some rocket (or watercress/mache).
Tip: If you want to make your Quiche extra fancy place your goats cheese cream into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and pipe the cream in circles over your Quiche.
The Literary Onion 