Cheese and Onion Quiche (with Wild Garlic)

5 from 1 vote

Cheese and Onion Quiche (with Wild Garlic)

Classic cheese and onion quiche made that bit more special with sweet shallots softened and caramelised in butter and plenty of seasonal wild garlic for good measure. Simple to make and most of all delicious.

Course Light Dinner, Lunch, Party Food, Picnic Food

Cuisine British

Keyword Cheese and onion quiche

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Pastry chilling and pre-baking time 35

Total Time 1 20

Servings picnic servings

Calories 395kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Ingredients

Pastry

125 g plain wholemeal flour
125 g plain white flour
125 g salted block butter cold and cut into cubes, I like Flora Plant
2 tablespoon icy cold water you might not use all of it, depending on your flour

Filling

500 g shallots or regular white onions shallots peeled and halved; if using regular onions, peel and thickly slice them
40 g salted block butter for sautéing shallots; see notes
50-100 g wild garlic washed, dried and finely chopped; see notes
3 large eggs see notes
200 ml soya cream or use regular dairy cream if consuming; see notes
65 g your favourite cheese or dairy free equivalent I use and love Cathedral City "Our Plant Based" Extra Mature;
salt and pepper to taste

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Making Pastry

Put flour and cold butter in a bowl of your food processor and pulse until you've got sand like consistency. If you don't have food processor simply use your hands to rub butter and flour together to the same effect.
125 g plain wholemeal flour, 125 g plain white flour, 125 g salted block butter
Add cold water, drop at a time and pulse or mix it in gently with your hands until your dough starts coming together into a ball.
Turn it out onto a floured surface and shape into a disc. Wrap it into wrap of your choice and put in the fridge to chill for at least 15 minutes.
2 tablespoon icy cold water
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
Roll out the pastry to fit loose-bottomed tart tin (23-25cm/9-10inch).
Quick Tip: Roll the dough out a bit bigger than the bottom of your tin so that it will cover the sides as well. To transfer it into a tin, use the rolling pin to help you lift it over. Don't worry if the dough tears (it almost always does for me) as it's easy enough to patch up with excess pastry.
Line the tin with pastry (bottom and sides) and trim any overhanging bits with the stroke of a knife against the edge of the tin. Save excess pastry for later in case you need to patch any holes.
Line your pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beans to blind bake first. Bake in preheated oven for 15min.
Next, remove the paper and beans, patch up any holes with the saved pastry (if necessary) and return (uncovered) to the oven for another 5 minutes. Once 5 minutes is up take the pastry out of the oven and set aside as you finish preparing your filling. Lower oven temperature down to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

Filling

You can start working on your filling whilst the pastry is chilling or baking depending on your individual serving timeline.
Peel and halve shallots or if using regular or red onions that are larger then you would halve them first and then slice quite thickly (4 slices per half an onion).
500 g shallots or regular white onions
Melt the butter in a shallow frying pan with a lid and sauté the onions low and slow until they start falling apart, get soft and caramelised. Set aside.
40 g salted block butter
In a medium size jug mix together eggs and (soya) cream, salt and pepper.
3 large eggs, 200 ml soya cream, salt and pepper
Add chopped up wild garlic and mix it in.
50-100 g wild garlic
Transfer cooked shallots/onions onto pre-baked pastry case and spread them out evenly.
Pour over egg mixture, levelling it off gently so that it fills pastry case nice and even. Finish off by sprinkling over some grated cheese.
65 g your favourite cheese or dairy free equivalent
Bake in preheated oven (temperature lowered to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 5) for approx. 30-40 minutes until set. Take the quiche out of the oven and let it cool down in a tin for a bit before slicing and serving.
Enjoy!

Notes

Nutritional information is per serving (based on 8 servings) and will differ depending on the ingredients used. It should be treated as a rough guideline only.
I like to sauté my onions in plenty of butter. Feel free to use olive oil instead. You can also use mixture of butter and oil or reduce the amount of butter as per your own preference.
Use as much or as little wild garlic as you like. I tend to use a lot here as cooking mellow its flavour and there is no garlicky harshness. In the absence of wild garlic use chives, green onions, mixture of soft herbs (dill, parsley) or baby spinach/chard leaves.
If you don't eat eggs and would like to make this quiche vegan, see FAQs above for instructions.
Cream can be substituted with your favourite plant/dairy milk.
Keep in the fridge (covered) for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

TIPS:

Don't skip pre-baking your pastry. This way you will have beautifully crispy crust, no soggy bottom.

Chill your pastry before rolling it out. Just 15 minutes will make it easier to handle.

Don't get disheartened if your pastry is breaking as you're trying to lay it neatly over the tin, it happens. Do your best and any holes and cracks can be easily patched up with excess pastry. It doesn't need to look perfect.

Use tart tin with loose bottom for easy removal of your quiche.

Consider investing in inexpensive ceramic baking beans. They do come handy if you happen to bake lots of pies, tarts, quiches etc. However, if you don't have them you can use any dried beans instead, just to weight the pastry down, although these won't last indefinitely.

Nutrition