Blue Stilton and Brie Quiche
It’s a bit crazy that we are coming into mid-September already and today I’ve seen so many posts about ‘100 days to Christmas’. I mean lads, come on…let’s not wish our lives away eh?! We’ll take each day as it comes and never mind looking 3 months in advance.
I love Autumn. I wouldn’t want to just skip over it. Especially those cold, crisp days that are foggy to start off with but come midday the skies are blue. Autumn evenings are magical - the sun is that little bit lower in the sky casting longer shadows, shining through the yellows and browns of the countryside creating a magical golden glow.
The birds so determined to sing out the last few dregs of their summer song before the country slows down and relents to the colder winter days.
In a few weeks’ time the leaves will be crunching beneath our feet and the place will be awash with orange tones. The clocks will change and houses will be alit with Jack O’Lanterns with witches and ghouls celebrating the clandestine world of Hallows Eve. Why would you fast forward that?!
The other thing great thing I love about this time of the year is the food! It’s completely acceptable to start eating comfort food again! Fabbooo. Salads be gone. Enter melted cheese. In pastry. With creamy eggs and more cheese.
I’ve included the recipe for the shortcrust pastry but I use shop bought most of the time. I love making pastry, but to be fair the results between shop bought and homemade can be pretty close sometimes. Do yourself a favour…just use shop bought! ;-)
Shortcrust pastry
100g Plain Flour
25g Self Raising Flour
25g Butter
25g Lard
About 4 tablespoons Cold Water
Quiche filling
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of cream cheese (optional, just adds a nice creaminess)
200g soft brie
100g blue stilton
100ml of milk
Salt and pepper to season
Method
1. To make the pastry, add the butter, lard and flours into a large bowl and mix with fingertips until resembles breadcrumbs. Add in a little of the water and using a wooden spoon mix until it starts to come together. Add more of the cold water a tablespoon at a time until pastry is fully combined. Don’t add too much liquid as this will cause excess shrinkage in the oven.
2. Leave to chill in the fridge for 30 mins
3. Grease a loose bottom quiche tin well with butter and then sprinkle a dusting of flour over. This stops the butter burning and the pastry sticking to the pan.
4. Roll out pastry (shop bought or homemade for those virtuous among us!) on a lightly floured work surface and place into your tin. Tearing off a little of the spare pastry, roll it into a ball and use it to push the pastry properly into the corners of the tin.
5. Place a sheet of greaseproof paper on top of the pastry and line it with baking beans or rice and place into a preheated oven at 160oC for 20 mins
6. While waiting on the quiche to blind bake, place the eggs, cream cheese, milk and, salt and pepper into a jug and use a fork mix well. Set to the side until ready to use.
7. Once the pastry is cooked, remove it from the oven and take the baking beans out. Pour the egg mix into the pastry shell. Crumble the blue cheese up into larger lumps and sprinkle into the egg. Tear off bits of the soft brie, about an inch in length and add to the eggs as well.
8. Place back in the oven at 150oC for 10-15 minutes until the eggs have set and are starting to go a nice golden colour. Don’t overcook, your eggs should still have a slight wobble in the middle.
9. I sprinkled a little parsley and some chive flower from my herb garden (who even am I?!) Leave to cool slightly before cutting.
sin é!
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