I got my mum a Rachel Allen food processor for her birthday. Her birthday isn’t til March but she had her present early. She’s been baking all sorts recently, and her new speciality is quiches. They’re delicious!
The food processor is great because it can be used for mixing cakes, slicing & shopping ingredients, blending food, and even kneading dough.
We were only recently saying how Molly seems to enjoy playing with things around the house more than her own toys. She loves scrunched up bits of paper and sweet wrappers – we often find stashes of these under the furniture! She also likes hiding out in cosy places, so we thought it would be funny to cut a hole in the box that the food processor came in, leave it on the floor and see what she did.
She soon made it her own little hide out! Theres a blanket in there now, and sometimes all you can see if her tail sticking out of the hole!
Here’s the recipe my mum uses for her Roasted Tomato, Basil & Parmesan quiche:
Ingredients
- 300g cherry tomatoes
- drizzle olive oil
- 50g parmesan , grated
- 2 eggs
- 284ml pot double cream
- handful basil leaves, shredded, plus a few small ones left whole for scattering
For the pastry
- 280g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
- 140g cold butter , cut into piece
Method
- To make the pastry, tip the flour and butter into a bowl, then rub together with your fingertips until completely mixed and crumbly. Add 8 tbsp cold water, then bring everything together with your hands until just combined. Roll into a ball and use straight away or chill for up to 2 days. The pastry can also be frozen for up to a month.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a round about 5cm larger than a 25cm tin. Use your rolling pin to lift it up, then drape over the tart case so there is an overhang of pastry on the sides. Using a small ball of pastry scraps, push the pastry into the corners of the tin (see picture, above left). Chill in the fridge or freezer for 20 mins. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.
- In a small roasting tin, drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put the tomatoes in a low shelf of the oven.
- Lightly prick the base of the tart with a fork, line the tart case with a large circle of greaseproof paper or foil, then fill with baking beans. Blind-bake the tart for 20 mins, remove the paper and beans, then continue to cook for 5-10 mins until biscuit brown.
- When you remove the tart case from the oven, take out the tomatoes, too.
- While the tart is cooking, beat the eggs in a large bowl. Gradually add the cream, then stir in the basil and season. When the case is ready, sprinkle half the cheese over the base, scatter over the tomatoes, pour over the cream mix, then finally scatter over the rest of the cheese. Bake for 20-25 mins until set and golden brown. Leave to cool in the case, trim the edges of the pastry, then remove from the tin. Scatter over the remaining basil and serve in slices.
There are loads of different flavour combinations to try out, these sound yummy too – goats cheese & watercress, cheddar & onion, leek & mushroom, rocket, mushroom & bacon, goats cheese, potato & onion. Enjoy!
mmmmm. I love quiche. So many people say they don't like them because of those horrible shop bought ones. Homemade quiche rules, add a jacket spud (or new pots) and a salad and you are laughing. Does your mum have a lovely pinny to wear when she is making her delicious quiches. Keep you eye on mine http://www.pukkapinnies.etsy.com !!!
aaawww…Molly is just too cute.