This is a really nice dish for a summer picnic or just a summer lunch in the garden - it's light and packed full of flavour. It's best made the day before you want to eat it, which gives the pea and mint time to develop even further.
For this recipe you will need an ovenproof dish measuring 25cm in diameter.
Ingredients:
For the pastry (unless you opt for shop bought. You will need 1 Packet of Shortcrust Pastry for this recipe)
280g Plain Flour
140g Cold Butter, diced
8 Tbsp Cold Water
For the filling
300g Frozen Peas
Handful of Fresh Mint/1 1/2 Tbsp Dried Mint
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 Spring Onions
2 Large Eggs
285ml Double Cream
200g Soft Goat's Cheese
How I make my Pea, Mint and Goat's Cheese Quiche:
First, make the pastry if you are not opting for shop-bought. Put your flour and cold, diced butter into a mixer and blend together until the butter has disappeared and it resembles wet sand. Then add the water and mix until you have a lovely soft, smooth pastry. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Grease your oven dish and remove the pastry from the fridge. Roll out to a reasonable thickness and until you have sufficient diameter to cover your dish with overhang. Using your rolling pin, pick up the pastry and place it into your dish. Dock with a fork. Place it back into the fridge for 10 minutes while your oven pre-heats to 180ºC Fan.
You will now blind bake your pastry. Place a piece of baking paper on top of the pastry and fill your dish with baking beans or if you don't have these you could use rice or any dried beans. Blind bake for an initial 20 minutes, then remove the dish from the oven, take out the beans and paper, and pop the pastry dish back into the oven for a further 5-10 minutes or until the pastry is brown.
While this is happening, bring a pot of water to boil and cook your peas for c.3 minutes. Drain in cold water, then put into a blender along with the oil and mint and some seasoning, and blend to a smooth-ish paste. Set aside.
In a clean bowl, mix together your eggs and then add the double cream, followed by the spring onions and some seasoning.
When the pastry base comes out of the oven, line it with the pea puree and then carefully pour over the custard and finally break up the goat's cheese and dot around the tart.
Pop back into the oven for c.20 minutes or until the top is browning and the custard looks cooked.
This quiche is delicious hot or cold, and especially delicious the following day. It makes a great picnic item as you can transport it in the dish wrapped in foil. Just make sure to keep it in the fridge overnight. It goes well with a salad.
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