Garden Spinach and Silverbeet Quiche

 

 

I gathered an armful of young silverbeet and spinach leaves from the garden this morning to make this quiche and felt like an earthmother without gumboots.

They have to be young for this recipe so no fat white stalks! For the filling I added some mascarpone cheese rather than cream for its rich and slightly tangy flavour.You could use either spinach or silverbeet or both, just whatever is growing in your vegetable patch.

I've just started to make my own pastry again. It does mean you have to think ahead because it needs chilling before filling. What put me back on the path was a box full of ceramic beads ( which look like undersized marbles) , a birthday present from my sister-in-law Alison. In years past I simply used macaroni ( which I kept in a separate jar in the pantry so it could be re-used)

 The tin did not have a removable bottom as I was scared that some of the filling might leak out so I lined it with baking paper to make sure the quiche was easy to remove.

Pastry:

Ingredients:

75 grams if diced chilled butter
150 gm of flour
2 tablespoon of very cold water ( chilled in the fridge for a while)
1 egg yolk

Method:

Whizz  the chilled butter, and flour in the food processor until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the yolk and chilled water and pulse briefly just until the mixture comes together.
Remove from the food processor and knead briefly into a ball.
Roll out to line a 20 cm tart tin.
Put in the fridge to rest for an hour/or in the freezer for quarter of an hour.
To prebake the pastry crust in the oven cover  the top of the pastry with baking paper and fill with ceramic baking beans.
Cook for 10 minutes at 190C.
Remove the baking beans and paper and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Filling:

About 250 gm of young silverbeet and spinach leaves 
1/2 cup of milk
1/3 cup of mascarpone cheese
2 large eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of cheddar cheese (grated)
1/4 cup  of parmesan cheese ( grated)

Method:
Remove the stalks from the spinach and silverbeet. Rinse well and put in lidded saucepan with the water still clinging to them.
Bring to the boil and cook briefly until they have wilted and are reduced in volume.
Put into a sieve or colander and press with the back of a spoon to remove as much liquid as possible. Then chop.
Mix the eggs, the mascarpone cheese and the cheddar cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Stir in the spinach and silverbeet mixture.
Pour carefully into the pastry lined tin.
Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.

Bake in the oven at 180C until the filling is firm to the touch ( about 30 minutes)

A variation:
I also make this quiche with a mashed potato bottom and the same filling and baking time as as above. This makes an easy vegetarian meal.