Smoked salmon and broccoli quiche

I came across this recipe in an old family book I keep. This dish makes a nice meal. I like that it can be frozen and served as individual pieces — it’s actually great if you’re cooking for one. It makes a great lunch or dinner.

The fresh broccoli combined with the flavour of the smoked salmon makes this a winner. I also really appreciate having made my own pastry. Sure, it’s a bit more fiddly than some of the dishes I make, but on this occasion it was also worth the effort. You’ll need some baking beans to blind bake the pastry but, if you don’t, you can also use dried lentils or some raw rice (not that pre-cooked packet stuff).

Serves 6

Ingredients

THE PASTRY

• 60g butter cold
• 120g plain flour
• 2 tbsp cold water

THE FILLING

• 120g broccoli cut into small florets
• Handful spinach
• 2 large eggs
• 200ml double cream
• 150g smoked salmon cut into strips

Method

1. To make pastry, rub butter into flour until you have a breadcrumb texture. Add water a little at a time to form a dough. Knead lightly then wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Lightly flour bench and roll pastry out so it’s a little bigger than a 20cm tart tin. You need to have enough pastry to go up the edges with a little overhang. Prick the base all over with a fork then return the pastry to the fridge for another 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 190C. Remove pastry from fridge and place a sheet of baking paper onto pastry; it needs to go up the sides too. Fill pastry case with baking beans. Put tart case into oven for 15 minutes to blind bake. Remove case from oven, carefully remove the baking beans and paper then return case to the oven for another 5 minutes. The pastry case is then ready to use for the quiche below.
4. Make the quiche. Steam broccoli over a pan of boiling water until it’s almost cooked, 2-5 minutes depending on florets. Drain well and place to one side.
5. Add spinach to a small pan on medium heat and allow to wilt. Once wilted, squeeze excess water by pressing spinach against the side of the pan with a spoon. Put to one side.
6. In a small bowl, combine eggs, double cream, salt and pepper.
7. Reduce oven temperature to 180C.
8. Place smoked salmon, spinach and broccoli into the tart case. Pour over egg mixture. Return quiche to oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top. There should be a slight wobble in the middle of the quiche.
9. Serve warm or allow to cool before slicing.