Savoury Egg Tarts
A good quiche simply melts in the mouth. This one, creamy, rich and delicately flavoured with onion and herbs, is truly a quiche royale
Although French in name and origin, quiche has become a general staple, a favourite in pubs and restaurants, for formal parties and casual picnics. Its usual basis of eggs, cream and cheese, like the tomato and mozzarella basis of a pizza, combines well with a wide range of other ingredients – fish, meat, vegetables, and different cheeses.
The difference between a good quiche and an excellent one – a quiche royale – lies in proper handling of the pastry in order to get a light, crisp finish, and in getting the texture of the filling exactly right. It should be firm enough to hold its shape when cut, but soft enough to retain its succulence.
A princely quiche
For the quiche royale, the normal quiche mix of eggs and cream is enriched by using extra eggs, double cream and Gruyére cheese. The Herby Quiche Royale gets its special lift from finely sliced onion and lots of mixed fresh herbs, while the Hot and Sweet Royale has sweet peppers inside and a peppery pastry crust.
Savoury Egg Tarts
Equipment
- 20 cm wde, 40mm deep (8 in wide, 1,5 in deep) loose-bottomed flan tin
Ingredients
- 350 g shortcrust pastry
- 40 g butter
- 1,5 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil
- 2 large onions thinly sliced
- 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
- 150 ml double cream
- 115 g gruyére or cheddar grated
- 1 tbsp each fiely chopped fresh herbs-basil
Instructions
- Start by making the shortcrust pastry and lining the flan tin.Roll out pastry and line flan tin.Line the pastry with crumpled greaseproof paper and fill with beans. bake for 15-20 minutes.Cool, then carefully remove baking beans and paper.
- bakinthe shell.the old trick of blind baking the pastry in hot oven, befor adding the filling, ensures a crisp base.Here, its more important than usual, as the quiche filling is cooked at a very low temperature in order to keep the texture creamy.(if you don't have the specially-made ceramic baking beans used here, you can use dried beans or peas.)When the filled tart is baking, check that the top is not colouring too much. it should be only lightly coloured, if it start to get too brown, cover it loosely with foil and continue cooking.
- Making the custardit's important to slice the onions really ginely to get delecate overll texture. Then cook them very gently until they are vertualy transparent.Don't let them brown, or their caramelized flavour may over-whelm the subtle tastes of the herbs – and make the pale filling unattractively brown.the extra egg yolk and the double cream make this rich filling. so for a lighter mix, replace with a half and half mix of milk and cream.
- Reduce oven temperature to 160° C/325° F/gas 3. Melt together half the butter and 1 tbsp of oil in a frying-pan and cook onions until soft and transparent.Leave to cool.
- Beat eggs and egg yolk together, add them cream and leave to one side. Melt the rest of the butter and oil together and leave to cool.