From My Kitchen

Oooooh this was a good lunch. A really good lunch. The Teen turned up her nose at the mere thought of watercress of course, and we were still in lockdown when I made it back in April, so The Husband and I actually had multiple good lunches out of this one recipe because it easily serves 6. Recipe from Waitrose Food Magazine, and one I will be making again. This time I did actually make my own pastry because I had the time that day to let it chill before rolling it out, but more often than not I normally use ready prepped blocks, because, why not?

Ingredients

500g block shortcrust pastry

20g unsalted butter

1 onion, finely chopped

100g watercress, roughly chopped

2 large eggs

200ml double cream

100ml milk

12g chopped chives

50g parmesan cheese, grated

Zest of 1 lemon

100g goats cheese

Method

1. Lightly dust a board or your work surface with flour and roll out the pastry until it is about 3mm thick, then carefully roll it over the rolling pin to lift and place into a 5″ x 13″ ish rectangular or 23cm ish round loose bottomed tart tin. Use an extra lump of overhanging dough to gently push the dough into all of the corners and fluted edges (if you use your fingers you’ll invariably stick your fingernails through it!).
2. Leave the edges dangling, prick the bottom all over with a fork, then put the tin in the fridge to chill and firm up for 30 minutes.
3. When the time’s nearly up, heat your oven to 180C fan.
4. Grab a piece of greaseproof paper thats bigger than your tin, scrunch it up in a ball to soften it, flatten it out, then place inside the tin and half fill it with baking beans or uncooked rice. Place the tin on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Carefully lift out the paper and baking beans, then return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes until the base is a light golden colour.
6. Remove, turn the oven down to 160C fan, and use a sharp knife to trim off the remaining pastry to form a neat edge, and put it back on the baking tray.
7. While the pastry case is cooking, melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onion for a good 10 minutes until softening but not browning, then add in the watercress and cook for another minute or two until wilted.
8. Remove from the heat.
9. In a large jug or bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, chives, parmesan and lemon zest.
10. Season, and stir in the onion/watercress mix, and scrape the whole lot into the cooked pastry case.
11. Slice or break up the goats cheese and dot over the surface.
12. Slowly and gently return the quiche to the oven and bake for 20 minutes or so, until it’s still a little wobbly in the middle but pretty much set.
13. Wait for a while before you eat it – hot quiche is flavourless, just warm quiche is a delight.