What do you do when the temperature feels like -1 degree Celsius outside?  Aside from putting on a thicker sweater, I ended up in the kitchen cooking a quiche…  (it’s nice and toasty near the oven :))

I have made a quiche before, but wanted to surprise my dad with this version, filled with broccoli, green beans and bacon. And it’s fun to make him curious by telling him lunch is a surprise. 🙂

My method is slightly different then I used previously.  This time I did not precook the pastry but cooked everything in one go and I also didn’t use the fan but normal oven.

Ingredients:

• fresh broccoli, approx. 500gr., washed and cut in small roses
• 6 slices of fresh bacon, cut approx. 0.5cm thick, sliced finely
• 250gr green beans
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• 1 Role of All-Purpose Pie Crust (Pâte Brisée) – you can either make it yourself or get it from the frozen food section at your local supermarket
• some butter for slow cooking
• 3 Eggs, beaten
• 150 ml. of fresh cream
• some freshly grated cheese – I used Gruyere Cheese, but parmesan or mozzarella are great too.
• Pepper & Salt, oregano, thyme (or ‘herbes de provence’)
• 1 role of Baking Paper- my store bought crust comes wrapped in baking paper.

Method:

First grab a pan and melt the butter. Then add your broccoli roses, green beans, garlic and spring onion so you cook these for approx. 10-15 min till starting to go tender. Season thoroughly.  Place on small heat and grab another pan for the bacon.  Heat the pan on a high heat and fry the bacon till crisp and brown.

In mean time, roll out your all-purpose pie crust and place on top of baking paper in your baking tray. Preheat your oven on 180 degrees, no fan.

Beat your eggs with the cooking cream together and season with pepper, salt, oregano, thyme and a little basil.  If you find the mix a little heavy, you can always thin this out with a bit of milk.

When your veggies are ‘Al Dente’ (firm to the bite), take them off the heat. Now you can mix your crispy bacon with them in the pan.  If you have cooking juice from the bacon, add this into your veggie-bacon mix, this will enhance the flavour.

Pour your veggie bacon mix into your baking tray, on top of the pie crust. Spread evenly.

Take the mix of egg and cooking cream and poor this over the veggies, making sure to fill up all the empty spaces. Ideally about 90% of your mix will be covered by the egg mix. Add cheese on top.   Place your pie in the oven, and cook for 35-40 minutes. Ensure the pie is crispy and brown, and all ingredients are cooked through.