Se7en make Quiche in Se7en Steps…

So we are on holiday and my kids are learning life-skills. And I was reckoning that quiche is probably a very good life-skill to grasp. I have great visions of quiche being whipped up for lunch, while folk finish up their schoolwork. Sounds good to me!!! So this is what you are aiming for:

Let’s Meet The Players:

• For the pastry: These ingredients make enough pastry for four good sized bases. The dough is quick and easy to make and store, just pop the dough you don’t need into the fridge until you need it.
  • 4 cups of flour.
  • 1 3/4 cup of butter.
  • a pinch of salt.
  • 1/2 a cup of water.
  
• For the filling: For each quiche or batch of mini-quiches you will need:
  • 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese.
  • 1 cup of milk.
  • 2 beaten eggs.

Let’s Play the Game:

1. I don’t know why folks shy away from pastry. It’s easy, It’s quick. It’s easy to prepare in advance and it’s impressive!!! Measure out your flour and add the pinch of salt.



2. Chop your butter into smaller blocks and add them into your flour.

   

   Pinch away until you have a bread crumb texture.

   
3. Now add your icy water and mix your dough into a ball.

   

   If your dough is sticky then add a bit of flour or add a dash more water to get a shiny smooth dough.

   

   Wrap your pastry dough in some cling wrap and leave it in the fridge to rest, for at least half an hour. You can leave it there until you need it, at this stage you can even freeze it until you need it!!!



4. Once your dough has rested cut it into four. Roll out the bases individually and pop them into your pie-pans. Smooth off the tops of the crust with your rolling pin. For mini-quiches cut out circles of rolled out pastry using a glass and pop them into a muffin pan.



5. Now you need to bake your pie-cases blind, which sounds so fancy but is so easy: Prick the base of your pie with a fork. Then pop a circle of baking paper into your pie. Place a Layer of baking paper into the pie crust and place a layer of dry beans or dry lentils into the pie dish. Bake in an 200 degree Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit) oven for about 10-12 minutes, until it is brown and crunchy.



6. While your pie is baking you can prepare your filling. We had corn, halved garden tomatoes, mushrooms, cooked spinach, bacon bits, and browned onions. Basically anything you have lying around. I make a buffet of choices and then let the kids make their own mini-quiches. If they make their own then they tend to eat them!!!



7. Finally, sprinkle half the cheese onto your pie cases and then pop your “extra fillings” on top. Carefully pour over the eggs and milk mixture and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of that. Pop them back into the oven for about fifteen minutes – until they have set and are starting to brown on the top.

And you are done:

Seriously, I can live with these. Well done Hood #2!!!

Bon Appetito!!