This is a quiche (sort of), it has also been called an ‘Impossible Pie’ or a ‘No Fail Flan’. It is very simple and is almost impossible to stuff up. It has no pastry to make (cheating!!) Hence ‘sort of a quiche’.
I generally try and remember my recipes with rules; this one has the rule of 3. It would also be pertinent of me to mention that all measures are metric and that a cup is equal to 250ml.
3 - Eggs (about 70g but 60g can suffice)
3 – ¼ cups of plain flour
3- ½ cups of milk (your choice, full fat, skim etc it all works, oh and yes it would be easier to say 1 and a ½ cups but that would not help me remember by rules?!?!?)
And then the last 3
½ cup of cheese (shredded, grated, and shaved but not a whole lump!!)
½ cup of vegetables (finely chopped, sliced or diced)
½ cup of proteins (finely chopped sliced or diced also!)
Oh and a dab of melted butter (sort of optional and you will see why)
You will need a mixing bowl, rubber or silicone spatula, large whisk, chopping board, your favourite knife, nice glass of red and a glass or ceramic pie dish about 23 cm in diameter. You could also possibly need a fry pan. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. The same moderate temperature can be used on either fan forced or conventional ovens; it is the cooking time that will vary.
If you have any fillings that would take a long while to cook you should either par or wholly cook them before incorporating them into the mix. The sorts of things that you should cook first are mince meats, chicken, bacon. This will ensure these ingredients are going to be ready when the quiche is and you are always safer pre-cooking. You can use the butter at this stage if you like.
Allow any precooked ingredients to cool while you combine the flour, eggs and milk in a mixing bowl and using the whisk mix to a smooth ‘batter’. If you didn’t use the melted butter in the cooking of the ingredients then this would be the time to add it, to the mix. Switch to a spatula and mix in the remaining ingredients such as the cheese, vegetables and protein. Mix thoroughly to combine and pour into the pie dish. You would have also noted that you do not have to grease the pie dish, that is because of that melted butter (cleaver huh?!). Place dish in to the mid shelf of your now preheated moderate (180 c) oven. For a conventional oven this will cook in about 1 hour and about 45 minutes for a fan forced oven.
The quiche will ‘soufflé’ slightly during the cooking process, so try not to over fill the dish. If the quiche starts to brown too quickly; you can cover with a piece of aluminium foil. To make sure it is all cooked, stick a skewer into the centre of the quiche and it should come out clean (strangely like a cake).
This is a real good way of using up leftovers that you want to disguise (for the kids) or to cook from scratch any sort of fillings that you do particularly like. The traditional combination of tomato and basil works well. Chicken, thyme and toasted pine nuts is also lovely; as is bacon and corn kernels. I would in general always incorporate that 1/2 cup of cheese and remember any hard cheese will work, even a combination of different cheeses.
I tend to ‘bulk’ out this dish with finely diced or chopped vegetables. If there is any really hard veg to go in, e.g. pumpkin, then I also sauté them in the dab of butter I mentioned earlier. You can also use olive oil but I tend to used rice bran oil because it does not denature as severely as olive oils.
Now comes the versatile bit. If you spread this mix in to a ‘slice’ pan you can let it cool and cut it into serving sizes perfect of the picnic or lunch box. You can also lightly spray some cooking oil on some muffin pans (or the like) and spoon individual servings that work great as a finger food for your next party. If you do use the individual pans idea you will have to check on the cooking time and adjust. I have found with my oven the time drops from 45mins for a whole quiche to about 12-15 mins for individual ‘muffin’ sizes. Works well as a light summer lunch with a simple salad or warm and comforting with some crusty bread on a cold night. It is up to you how you make this very simple and versatile dish work by simply adjusting the flavourings.
If you have Ovo-Lacto vegetarian friends or family (as I do) you can leave out or swap the animal proteins for other protein sources and they will be equally happy as would anyone else because most times nobody notices if I leave out meat altogether. For the coeliacs you can change the flour from wheat based to a non-gluten (like buckwheat) and that should be them sorted too.
I haven’t come up with a vegan version yet but give me some time and I will keep trying. Try it out, experiment with flavourings and seasonings. Eat well, be well and enjoy your time in the kitchen.
I generally try and remember my recipes with rules; this one has the rule of 3. It would also be pertinent of me to mention that all measures are metric and that a cup is equal to 250ml.
3 - Eggs (about 70g but 60g can suffice)
3 – ¼ cups of plain flour
3- ½ cups of milk (your choice, full fat, skim etc it all works, oh and yes it would be easier to say 1 and a ½ cups but that would not help me remember by rules?!?!?)
And then the last 3
½ cup of cheese (shredded, grated, and shaved but not a whole lump!!)
½ cup of vegetables (finely chopped, sliced or diced)
½ cup of proteins (finely chopped sliced or diced also!)
Oh and a dab of melted butter (sort of optional and you will see why)
You will need a mixing bowl, rubber or silicone spatula, large whisk, chopping board, your favourite knife, nice glass of red and a glass or ceramic pie dish about 23 cm in diameter. You could also possibly need a fry pan. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. The same moderate temperature can be used on either fan forced or conventional ovens; it is the cooking time that will vary.
If you have any fillings that would take a long while to cook you should either par or wholly cook them before incorporating them into the mix. The sorts of things that you should cook first are mince meats, chicken, bacon. This will ensure these ingredients are going to be ready when the quiche is and you are always safer pre-cooking. You can use the butter at this stage if you like.
Allow any precooked ingredients to cool while you combine the flour, eggs and milk in a mixing bowl and using the whisk mix to a smooth ‘batter’. If you didn’t use the melted butter in the cooking of the ingredients then this would be the time to add it, to the mix. Switch to a spatula and mix in the remaining ingredients such as the cheese, vegetables and protein. Mix thoroughly to combine and pour into the pie dish. You would have also noted that you do not have to grease the pie dish, that is because of that melted butter (cleaver huh?!). Place dish in to the mid shelf of your now preheated moderate (180 c) oven. For a conventional oven this will cook in about 1 hour and about 45 minutes for a fan forced oven.
The quiche will ‘soufflé’ slightly during the cooking process, so try not to over fill the dish. If the quiche starts to brown too quickly; you can cover with a piece of aluminium foil. To make sure it is all cooked, stick a skewer into the centre of the quiche and it should come out clean (strangely like a cake).
This is a real good way of using up leftovers that you want to disguise (for the kids) or to cook from scratch any sort of fillings that you do particularly like. The traditional combination of tomato and basil works well. Chicken, thyme and toasted pine nuts is also lovely; as is bacon and corn kernels. I would in general always incorporate that 1/2 cup of cheese and remember any hard cheese will work, even a combination of different cheeses.
I tend to ‘bulk’ out this dish with finely diced or chopped vegetables. If there is any really hard veg to go in, e.g. pumpkin, then I also sauté them in the dab of butter I mentioned earlier. You can also use olive oil but I tend to used rice bran oil because it does not denature as severely as olive oils.
Now comes the versatile bit. If you spread this mix in to a ‘slice’ pan you can let it cool and cut it into serving sizes perfect of the picnic or lunch box. You can also lightly spray some cooking oil on some muffin pans (or the like) and spoon individual servings that work great as a finger food for your next party. If you do use the individual pans idea you will have to check on the cooking time and adjust. I have found with my oven the time drops from 45mins for a whole quiche to about 12-15 mins for individual ‘muffin’ sizes. Works well as a light summer lunch with a simple salad or warm and comforting with some crusty bread on a cold night. It is up to you how you make this very simple and versatile dish work by simply adjusting the flavourings.
If you have Ovo-Lacto vegetarian friends or family (as I do) you can leave out or swap the animal proteins for other protein sources and they will be equally happy as would anyone else because most times nobody notices if I leave out meat altogether. For the coeliacs you can change the flour from wheat based to a non-gluten (like buckwheat) and that should be them sorted too.
I haven’t come up with a vegan version yet but give me some time and I will keep trying. Try it out, experiment with flavourings and seasonings. Eat well, be well and enjoy your time in the kitchen.
