These posh little quiches are perfect for a special lunch alongside a couple of salads, but also make a good start to an elegant dinner. Substitute the salmon with briefly steamed asparagus pieces if you would like to make a vegetarian version. Or use asparagus if you cannot find samphire (sea beans). This dish really benefits from being baked in deep tart cases, as the shallower versions leave you with too much pastry, too little filling and easily over-cooked fish.
Time: 90 minutes
Serves: 4 deep, 8-9 cm
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- oil, for greasing
- 35g cold butter, cut into small dice
- 90g wholemeal spelt flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 heaped teaspoon dried chervil
- very small pinch sea salt
- 1-2 tablespoons ice-cold water
For the filling:
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 small salmon fillet, preferably wild
- little coconut oil butter or ghee
- 1 small leek, trimmed, halved lengthways and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons cream, full-cream milk or milk substitute
- 1 lemon grated zest
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon, Juiced
- 1-2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
- 25g samphire, roughly chopped
To serve:
- freshly ground black pepper
- handful flat-leaf parsley, leaves finely chopped
Method
Grease 4 loose-bottomed, 8–9cm tart tins, by dipping a pastry brush in oil and brushing the insides.
Put the butter, flour, chervil and salt in a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles coarse sand. With the motor running, add the cold water until the dough just starts to come together. Tip out and knead briefly until you have a cohesive, smooth ball of dough.
Roll out the pastry thinly between two sheets of greaseproof paper, then cut out 4 circles large enough to line the tart cases (use a large round pastry cutter or lid of a food container). Carefully press each into a tart tin and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until ?rm. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F/Gas 4.
Bake the tart cases blind (without the filling or any need for baking beans) for 10–15 minutes and remove from the oven. Use a pastry brush to brush some of the beaten eggs onto any cracks that may have formed in the tart cases during baking and return them to the oven for another couple of minutes before removing and setting aside to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, place the salmon on a small baking tray and bake in the oven for no more than 5 minutes (or less if it is a very thin fillet). Remove and use a fork to gently separate the flesh (that will still be mostly raw) from the skin. Set aside.
Heat the oil, butter or ghee in a small pan and sweat the leek until tender. Allow to cool before using a blender or stick blender to blend it with the eggs and cream (or milk) until smooth. Stir in the lemon zest, juice and mustard.
Divide the samphire and flaked salmon between the pastry cases, pour over the egg-and-leek mixture and bake for 20 minutes, or until set. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving, topped with a grinding of black pepper and some finely chopped parsley.
Recipe taken from Good Better Green by Zita Steyn
We know we should eat more greens, but we so easily get stuck in a rut and just steam some broccoli or green beans, time and time again. The recipes in this beautiful book demonstrate how to incorporate leafy greens, green vegetables and herbs in new and exciting ways and in any meal. Soups, sauces, dips, sides, mains, salads, juices and bakes – there are so many ways with greens, whether they’re the star of your meal, or concealed in a dish to make them kid-friendly! Forget boring healthy eating, the key to eating well is to have the inspiration to make interesting and varied dishes that pack a nutritional punch while still being delicious. Try Butternut Squash Lasagne with Spring Greens, Lamb, Mint and Coriander Burgers, or Avocado and Lime Curd Tartlets. Good Better Green has all this, as well as an at-a-glance guide to cooking all sorts of greens to accompany a meal.
You can purchase Good Better Green at cooked.com
Published by Hardie Grant Books.
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