Courgette & Cheese Quiche

I 'found' an abandoned courgette at the allotment earlier this week.  Someone had obviously decided that it was too big and ugly to eat and thrown it out into the communal compost pile.

I hate throwing food away, and my courgettes aren't ready yet, so I salvaged it to make a quiche for Alresford Country Market.

Makes 4x 6in quiche

Pastry
100g cold butter
175g plain flour

Filling
2 large courgettes or 4 little ones
120g strong cheese ie cheddar, parmesan, feta...
4 eggs
3/4 pint whole milk

Start by making pastry (or buy ready made short crust).  Cube the butter and place it in a food processor with the flour.  Add 1tbsp cold water and pulse for about 5-10 seconds.  Keep pulsing and adding water, a tablespoon at a time until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  You should not need to add more than 4tbsp of water.

Tip the crumbs out on to a clean surface and squish together into a block.  Place in a clean plastic bag and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Whilst chilling the pastry, prepare the courgette filling.  If using small courgettes, just thinly slice them and fry gently in 1tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan until they begin to colour.  My courgette was pretty much marrow sized so I had to peel off some hard skin, scrape out some seeds, and then grated the courgette in the food processor before frying it.  Leave the courgette to cool whilst you roll out the pastry.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Divide the pastry into 4 or how ever many quiches you are making.  I use 6" foils and know that this amount of pastry will make four.  Roll out on a floured surface to just slightly thinner than a £1 coin and fold into the foils.  Don't worry if it doesn't quite fit as any holes can be simply patched with off cuts from this or the next one you roll out.

Place the foils on a flat oven tray.  Share the courgette mixture between the quiches, sprinkle 30g cheese over each 6" quiche, and season each quiche with a pinch of salt and pepper.  In a pint jug, beat the 4 eggs with a fork then top up with milk all the way to the very top of the jug beating gently as you add the milk.  You will need just over a pint of egg & milk.  Share this out equally between your quiches.  Gently mix the courgette and cheese in the eggy milk without poking any holes in your pastry.

Bake the quiche for 40 minutes at 180C.  Cheese alway browns quickly so keep an eye on them, watching out for hot spots in your oven, and turning the tray and even the quiche during the cooking to ensure they all brown evenly.

Serve hot or cold.

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