Goat's Cheese, Asparagus & Parma Ham Quiche

When I was younger, my grandmother would often make a quiche for a summertime dinner. She would serve it up with some coleslaw and a green salad. I absolutely loved her quiche and in its simplicity was actually one of the most delicious things she cooked for us. Her quiche took its inspiration from the classic Quiche Lorraine and contained bacon, onions and Irish cheddar instead of gruyere as used in the French version. It was truly delicious. I don’t know how my grandmother achieved it, but her custard filling rarely seeped out of its pastry case; I wish that I could say the same!!! It’s one of those baking challenges that I have to admit, I’m yet to achieve on a consistent basis – it drives me mad!

 

Since first eating my grandmother’s quiche, I have had a real fondness for savoury tarts and as I started cooking myself I regularly experiment using different ingredients in my quiches. Perhaps one of my absolute favourite savoury tarts is an onion tart, where what seems like a monstrous amount of onions are sliced and slowly cooked until they reduce down and become beautifully sweet and lightly caramelised. These are then mixed into the creamy custard and baked in the already blind-baked tart shell. So simple – but SO delicious.

 

Here I have included some spears of asparagus, some goat’s cheese and a little Parma ham in the filling for the tart. I was going to sweat off some onions and included them as well, but instead decided to chop up some fresh chives and I added a generous amount to the custard. These were ideal as they imparted a subtle onion flavour which was in no way overpowering. The custard that I made, in addition to 3 eggs was enriched with an extra yolk and some double cream. This along with the inclusion of goat’s cheese and ham does make for a rich dish but, if served with a simple salad, it isn’t heavy or stodgy to eat. In any event, you could use whole milk in place of the double cream, but I like the creamy richness of the cream.

 

I like to serve and eat tarts of this type at room temperature, but it can be served hot from the oven. Any leftovers are perfect eaten as a tasty lunch or snack the next day.

This is not a prescriptive recipe and in fact, I would actually urge you to experiment and try different ingredients in the filling. Sometimes, if I’ve made some pesto, I will add a swirl of it after I have filled the pastry case with the custard and other ingredients – yummy! The thing to remember is don’t pack loads of different ingredients into your quiche; simplicity is the keyword here so just pick two or three and you will be rewarded with a tart that will taste so much more than the sum of its parts!
 

Ingredients:

Pastry:
250g plain flour, sieved
125g butter, cubed
1-2tblsp cold water
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Filling:

3 large eggs

1 egg yolk

200ml cream

75ml whole milk

1tblsp chopped chives

150g goat’s cheese (the type that is made in logs), rind removed

12-16 spears of asparagus, trimmed

4-6 slices of Parma ham

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
 

Method:

To make the pastry:

1. Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and add the butter. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over 1-2 tablespoons of water and mix everything together with a fork to form a dough.

2. Turn out on to a lightly floured work-surface and knead briefly to form into a ball. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the dough to rest.

To blind-bake the Pastry:

3. Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan Oven 170C/Gas Mark 5. Place a 23cm x 3 cm deep round, fluted tart tin with a removable base on a large baking tray. Lightly sprinkle some flour on the base of the tart tin as this will stop the pastry sticking when it cooks. Set to the side.

4. Roll out the pastry as thinly as you can, into a circle large enough to cover the base and sides of the tart tin. Press the pastry gently into each of the flutes around the edge of the tart tin. Do not trip the pastry, but leave it so that it is sitting slightly above the tin, to allow for shrinkage that might occur.

5. Lightly prick the pastry with a fork and line with a sheet of crumpled non-stick baking parchment. Fill with dry beans and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

6. Take the flan tin out of the oven and carefully remove the baking parchment containing the baking beans. Set these aside to cool before storing. Gently brush the pastry with some of the lightly beaten egg white and return to the oven for a further 7-10 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the oven and using a sharp serrated knife trip the pastry edge so that it is level with the top edge of the tin. Discard the pastry that you have removed.

7. Set aside to cool slightly whilst you make the filling. Reduce oven temperature to 150C/Fan Oven 130C/Gas Mark 2.

Filling:

8. Place the eggs and yolk in a medium-sized bowl and whish together using a small balloon whisk. Add the cream and milk and whisk together to fully incorporate. Pass the mixture through a sieve into a clean large jug. Mix in the chives and season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

9. Crumble the goat’s cheese onto the base of the blind-baked pastry case. Tear up the Parma Ham and arrange on top of the cheese. Finally arrange the asparagus spears in a circular fashion (like the spokes of a bicycle wheel) on top of the ham and cheese.

10. Open the oven door and place the baking tray containing the tart tin into the oven. Carefully pour in the custard to a level just below the top edge of the pastry. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until the custard is just set and is a light golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. (I personally like to serve it cooled to room temperature).

Serves 6-8.

 

Smoked Haddock, Poached Egg & Hollandaise Sauce

I have always absolutely loved poached eggs. Whilst I am fond of scrambled, fried and boiled eggs, poached is the way to do as far as I am concerned. When I was a child, my mother used to make me a poached egg on toast most mornings for my breakfast before I went to school and as such they hold a certain nostalgia for me. If I had to choose, breakfast, or brunch would probably be my favourite meal. As an adult, during the working week, when I am usually dashing out of the house in the morning, so I tend to have something that is quick to prepare, but I love those types of weekends where I can indulge my passions for a proper breakfast, which would tend to include a poached egg on a split muffin and a few slices of bacon (along with plenty of generously buttered hot toast with lashings of homemade marmalade, all washed down with lots of tea. HEAVEN!

The thing about poached eggs is that if you want success to be guaranteed, you really need to use the freshest eggs possible. I am incredibly lucky to have a ready supply of the finest quality fresh eggs from the most fabulous hens reared by my neighbour Paddy. The eggs produced by these hens are free-range in the truest sense of the word and are the best quality that I have ever used in my cooking. Every now and again I toy with the idea of keeping hens but, to be honest, I don’t see the point when I can get such great eggs from Paddy! I am convinced that the reason the eggs are so great is because the hens are so well looked after and because they have such a happy life.

 

The recipe that I present here – a variation of Eggs Benedict, but substituting smoked haddock for the more usual ham, really relies on the quality of the eggs, which in addition to poaching I have also used in a rich, buttery hollandaise sauce. If you really aren’t keen on smoked haddock, you can of course resort to the more commonly used slice of ham or even some grilled bacon. Although there are relatively few ingredients, this dish is an incredibly luxurious breakfast/brunch dish and one that is really worth doing if you feel like spoiling yourself every once in a while.

 

You could sit the smoked fish and poached egg on a split English muffin, but here I have actually used half a homemade potato scone which I feel works perfectly with the smoked fish and poached eggs. If you feel like doing the same, the recipe can be accessed here.

Many people shy away from making their own hollandaise sauce, but it is surprisingly easy and if you approach the task with confidence and make sure that you add the melted butter in a thin stream, you should have no problems.

Of all the recipes that I have posted, this has to be one of my all-time favourites and I would urge you to try it out. This is a seriously sexy dish!
 

Ingredients:

For the poached eggs:
2tblsp white wine vinegar

4 eggs

1 medium sized bowl of iced water

For the smoked haddock:

300g smoked haddock (preferably undyed)

200ml milk or a little more if required

For the hollandaise sauce:

90ml dry white wine

90ml white wine vinegar

1tsp of whole black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

3 egg yolks

300g butter, melted

A little freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salt & white pepper to taste

To serve:

2 muffins/potato scones split and toasted

1tblsp finely chopped fresh chives
 

Method:

To poach the eggs:

1. Fill a large saucepan with boiling water from the kettle and set over a moderate heat so that the water is steadily simmering. Add the vinegar (NB do NOT add any salt to the water as this will cause the egg whites to disperse rather than set around the yolk as you want).

2. Crack the eggs and individually drop into the water – don’t do this at a great height from the water, but relatively close to the surface. Adjust the temperature so that it is barely simmering and allow the eggs to poach for 2 to 3 minutes depending on size of the eggs. Remove each egg when ready and place directly into the bowl of iced water. Set aside.

To poach the fish:

3. Place the smoked haddock in a small fring pan or shallow saucepan and barely cover with milk. Bring up to the boil and then reduce heat and allow to simmer gently for 6-8 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. Remove from the heat, but allow it to sit in the milk and set aside.

To make the hollandaise sauce:

4. Put the white wine, vinegar into a small saucepan with the peppercorns and bay leaf and bring up to the boil. Let it bubble for about 5 minutes until it has reduced to about 50ml. Remove from heat and allow to cool and then remove the peppercorns and bay leaf and discard.

5. Place the egg yolks into a large metal bowl and place the bowl over a pan of just simmering water making sure that the surface of the bowl is not directly touching the water. Whisk in a tablespoon of the reduced wine/vinegar solution. Continuously whisk until the mixture turns paler in colour and the eggs increase in volume to a point where a ribbon-like trail is left when you remove the whisk.

6. Remove the bowl from the heat and very slowly whisk in the butter, drop by drop at first making sure that it is well incorporated before adding some more. Keep whisking until all the butter is mixed in and the sauce is thick and creamy. Season and add in a little freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste. Set aside and keep warm.

To serve:

7. Boil some water in a small saucepan and re-heat the eggs for about 1 minute. Remove each egg with a slotted spoon and allow to drain briefly making sure that there is no excess water.

8. Remove the fish from the milk and break into large flakes. Divide the fish equally, placing it in large flakes on each toasted halved scone. Place a reheated poached egg on top of each portion of fish.

9. Spoon a generous amount of hollandaise over each egg and sprinkle with some chives. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linzertorte

In my previous post, I gave my recipe for Fig & Hazelnut Cake, a cake which was made using ground hazelnuts which I had roasted, skinned and ground myself. Well, after making that cake which turned out to be far more delicious than I possibly thought, I actually had quite a lot of ground hazelnuts left over. I initially toyed with the idea of making one of my favourite desserts – a Raspberry & Hazelnut Meringue Cake but in the spirit of adventure that had overtaken me, I decided that I would do a little research and see what else I could bake using a hazelnut/raspberry combination.

The internet is a great thing… at the press of a button you can search for something and a whole raft of information will be offered up to you on whatever topic you wish to know more about. It’s hardly surprising that most of my internet activity is centred on researching new recipes and cookery techniques. When I carried out a search on hazelnut and raspberry combined together, there was one dish that kept cropping up, time and time again… Linzertorte!

There are a lot of things that are described as being a Linzertorte; simple raspberry jam tarts or raspberry jam filled biscuits are regularly referred to as Linzertorte… but they are not! Well, not in the traditional sense, because a true Austrian Linzertorte consists of a nut-based (usually hazelnut) pastry topped with a redcurrant, raspberry or plum jam which is then decorated with an open latticework of more of the pastry. Spices such as cinnamon, cloves or nutmeg are also usually included in the nut pastry and when the tart is baking the smells that emanate are incredibly evocative of Christmas. In fact, Linzertortes are very much associated with the festive season, but no-one said that they could only be baked at Christmas and given that I was awash with ground hazelnuts I decided that I would try making one.

The first couple of recipes that I tried were very highly spiced and to be honest, I found the amount of ground cloves very overpowering, even though it is one of my favourite spices. I’ve tweaked the recipe a little in terms of the spicing but also the ratio of flour to nuts in the pastry. I am delighted with the result and given the positive reaction of everyone who tried it, I can see this becoming one of those recipes that I am requested to make time and time again!

The uncooked dough is on the soft side, but this is the way that it is meant to be. Rather than try and roll out thin strips of the dough with which to create the lattice work, I found it much easier to put the mixture into a disposable piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle and pipe it instead!

The Linzertorte is served cut into wedges and although it does have a slightly cake or tart-like look to it, I would actually liken it more to a biscuit.

Ingredients:

140g caster sugar
140g butter, softened

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3 egg yolks

140g plain flour

100g ground hazelnuts

40g ground almonds

¼ tsp ground cloves

1tsp of ground cinnamon

4 tblsp quality raspberry jam

To finish:

A little icing sugar for dusting
 

Method:

1. Grease and base-line a 20cm round springform tin with non-stick baking parchment. Set aside.

2. Place the caster sugar and butter into a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together until light and fluffy. Add the grated lemon zest and egg yolks and mix again until fully incorporated.

3. Sift the flour and spices together and mix into the dough using a wooden spoon followed by the ground nuts.

4. Line the tin with two thirds of the dough, pressing it out evenly to the edges with the back of a metal spoon. Place the rest of the dough into a disposable piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle. Pipe a long strip around the outer edge of the dough to create a lip or edge to the tart. Spread the raspberry jam evenly in the centre of the tart bringing it out to the edges of the ‘lip’ that you have just created. Pipe the remaining dough in strips to create an open lattice design on top of the tart (See accompanying photos). Place in the fridge to chill a bit while you preheat the oven.

5. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4.

6. Bake the Linzertorte in the oven for 30-35 minutes until nicely browned and the jam is beginning to bubble a little. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature in the tin before removing to a serving plate and dusting with a little icing sugar.
 

Serves 8-10.