Leek Quiche and a failed shortcrust pastry

Being quite chuffed about the bread, I stuck with the savoury theme and branched out to savoury pastry.  The filling I was quietly confident about, as I knew I could just make this up as I went along, but I’ve never made my own pastry and I was a little nervous.

Shortcrust pastry, I’ve learnt, is a temperamental mixture that I know I will have to practise quite a few times before getting it right.  This first attempt was not a success.  Thankfully, the rest of the leek quiche was and we had something to eat for dinner.

I used the food processor method and in hindsight, I should have added more water than I did.  I was too nervous of messing it up.  The recipe said 1 – 4 tablespoons of water, but it’s better if you don’t add any.  I added 2 tablespoons and when I brought it out of the fridge, waited for it to warm up again (which feels like an eternity!) and started rolling it out, it turned into a big mess of crumbs.  So I just pressed the crumbling mess into the quiche tin.  Not a great start.

I also don’t think I blind baked it for long enough.  After taking it out of the oven, the bottom still looked quite raw and the butter glistened.  Again being too nervous to ruin it, I didn’t return it to the oven.  Second error.

So we ate the quiche and most of the pastry for dinner.  These parts were very tasty, but I may have to keep some shop bought shortcrust for emergencies until I get it right.

Leek Quiche

Shortcrust pastry (shop bought in my case, homemade if you can)

4 leeks, sliced

Good sized knob of butter

½ cup water

Good pinch salt

3 eggs

1 cup milk

4 slices prosciutto, sliced (can use bacon or ham instead)

Pinch grated / ground nutmeg

Black pepper

Grated cheddar cheese for topping

Turn the oven to 180 C / 350 F.

In a saucepan, add the leeks, butter, water and salt, bring to the boil and then simmer until the leeks are soft.  Drain and then cool.

Blind bake the shortcrust pastry by pressing into a quiche / tart baking tin, cover in baking / parchment paper and pour in baking beads or raw rice/beans to cover the base well.  Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes or until the pastry looks half-baked.  Remove the paper, rice / beads.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, milk, prosciutto, nutmeg and pepper and mix well.  I didn’t add any extra salt as the meat is already quite salty.  Add to the leeks and mix well.

Pour this mixture into the prepared pastry, top with grated cheese and bake for approx. 30 min or until the cheese is nice and golden.  Enjoy!

Tags: Baking, Blind-baking, Leek Quiche recipe, Pastry, Quiche, Quiche Recipe, Shortcrust pastry