Real Men Eat My Quiche

We had a picnic this evening at the Zoo, all part of a work family night thing.  There was an Abba cover band playing - Babba - and it was quite an enjoyable evening (despite the constant drizzle and eventual rain storm).  I had thought about making a potato salad but Ant doesn't really like it (he eats mine but only out of kindness).  I had a recipe for an asian noodle salad but thought that might be a bit messy to try and eat sitting on a picnic blanket.  Inspiration struck when we were in Tasmania, when we were out for lunch.  On the specials board was a "chicken, cheddar and chives quiche" - light bulb moment ahoy.

So, I made a variation on this for our picnic.  Anthony said it was one of the best quiches he'd ever eaten, but I think he is biased.  I have to say I really enjoyed it too - it was somewhere between a quiche and an eggy tart and the flavors mixed together nicely.  I substituted caramelised onions for the chives and I used the breast meat from a grocery store rotisserie chicken...so a lot of the hard work was already done.  I made the pastry myself (and the recipe I use is Maggie Beer's classic and it is surpisingly easy and infinitely tastier than store bought pastry).

Pastry:

Ingredients

125 grams plain flour
100 grams chilled butter
65 mls sour cream (approximately)

Method

Chop all the butter into small cubes. Weigh flour and put into mixer. Blend flour and butter until it resembles a large breadcrumb consistency.

Add sour cream and process until it starts coming together.

Turn onto a floured bench and pull together with your hands into a rounded shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes before rolling out and lining your tin.

Blind bake at 200C for 10 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights, and bake for a further 5 minutes.

NOTE: When lining the tin, have the pastry come up high as the pastry will shrink.  This pie crust works great for savory dishes but also works really well in sweet pies too.  This makes enough for one crust, double recipe for a two crust pie.


Filling:

Ingredients

2 x rotisserie chicken breasts, chopped in 1 cm chunks (we had the rest of the chicken for lunch, so no waste!)
125 grams sharp crumbly cheddar, crumbled
50 grams medium sharp American cheddar (orange cheese)
1/2 cup caramelised onions (from my crockpot recipe)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups cream
fresh ground pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
pinch of sugar

Method

Layer cheddar and chicken in the bottom of the baked pastry shell. Spread onions out on the top of the cheese and chicken. 

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and then add the cream.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add a small pinch of sugar to the egg mixture and whisk one final time.

Pour egg mixture into the pastry shell.  Bake for 15 minutes on 200C, then turn the oven down to 160C and bake for a further 30 minutes.  The top of the quiche should be golden brown - depending on your oven this could take another 10 minutes or so.  Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.