It's spring, and my mind is set on quiche. I'm not exactly sure why -- is it the combination of the flaky puff pastry crust with the creamy filling and the salty cheese melted on top? Is it the fact that it is so easy to prepare? Or is it just because it's the perfect dish for these warmer days, when it doesn't really matter what time you eat, or where you eat...

Quiche can be served hot, luke warm, or cold, and it's so informal -- it's lunch, it's dinner, it's a picnic, it's a left-over... it's whatever.

I always have puff pastry in the freezer, and usually have eggs, cream, cheese and bacon in the fridge as well. A quiche is quickly made. Many different fillings are possible -- rucola, spinach, mushrooms, watercress, endive, peas, peppers, asparagus, courgette -- you name it! Combine with grated gouda or cheddar or be more creative with goat cheese, ricotta, or camembert. As a basis, for the creamy bit, and depending on the size of your dish, I like to stick to 2 to 4 eggs per quiche, in combination with about 50 to 100 ml crème fraîche or double cream.
Actually, the exact amounts can be played with -- it's always a bit different!

The other day, I preheated the oven to 200°C and buttered three quiche dishes and lined them with puff pastry. Using a fork, I pricked little holes in the bottom of the quiches and set them aside while I made three different fillings.

The best quiche recipes

Quiche one became a 'quiche lorraine style' onion/leek quiche. My kids' favourite. Here's the how-to:

Gently fry 100 g bacon in it's own fat. Once brown, add two large onions (diced) and one leek in thin slices. Sauté gently until soft. Divide the mixture over the prepared pastry. Beat eggs with crème fraîche and some freshly ground black pepper. Divide egg mixture over onion mixture, and sprinkle with 100 g of grated cheese. (This is my smaller dish, so I used two eggs and 60 ml of cream.)

Quiche two became a broccoli quiche. Here's what I did:

Cook the florets of one head of broccoli in salty water for about 5 minutes. Drain well and divide over the prepared pastry. Divide approximately 150 g unsalted cashew nuts over the broccoli. Cut a 250 g camembert cheese in slices and spread over the broccoli. Prepare egg mixture (I mixed 4 eggs and 100 ml of crème fraîche with some salt and pepper) and divide over the quiche.

The third quiche is an old favourite -- tuna quiche.

Drain 2 tins of tuna. Prepare egg mixture (4 eggs, 100 ml cream), and mix the tuna and 100 g grated gouda (or cheddar) with the egg mixture. Pour the tuna / egg mixture in the prepared pastry dish. I like to put cherry tomatoes on top -- I love the taste of roasted tomatoes and it looks so pretty!The three quiches bake for about 25 to 35 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and brown on top and the pastry is cooked. Eat hot, warm, or cold, for lunch, dinner, tea, or whatever.Bon appétit!

xxx Esther

PS Tarte à la tomate et à la moutarde is also deliciously easy!