The Finer Slice: Pastry free quiche

About Me

I love to cook - not in a fancy resturant style but in a home cooked feed the family kind of way.I have been cooking since I was a child and come from a long line of women who believed in sharing love by cooking good food - in fact it came as a shock to me to discover that you could BUY cakes!!! When I got married I aquired not only 1 husband whose idea of a balanced meal was a big mac AND fries but a brother in law with Aspergers who was desperate to be independant and cook real food for himself and when I started trying to teach him it has made me take a long hard look at recipes, how they are written and what assumptions they make. When I decided that I would like to write a blog I thought you should write them about something you love so I decided to write about food, share the recipes I grew up with, those favourites I have added to my battered old box of recipe cards as well as my experiences teaching K how to cook! I hope you enjoy it

Pastry free quiche

When the summer heat starts to rise you want something light and easy for dinner and this quiche is perfect with crispy salad in the cool of the evening - it is great warm or cold and is a wonderful picnic addition

Pastry free means it is lower in calories and lighter to eat than the traditional quiche as well as making it gluten free but it is just as tasty and the great thing is you can put whatever filling you like in it!

Today I am making bacon, sweetcorn and asparagus quiche but you can swap out any of the ingredients (other than the eggs and milk) it is equally nice just with crisp in season veg or smoked sausage - watch out for items high in fit like salami though as this can cause pools of oil to form

Serves 4 main meals - approx 316 calories a serving

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups of semi skimmed milk
Salt & Pepper
handful of mixed herbs
250g diced bacon
200g fresh asparagus - washed with woody ends removed and sliced
150g drained sweetcorn
1 handful grated cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 160C

In a large bowl/measuring jug whisk together the eggs and milk - season well with salt and pepper and add the herbs

Fry off the bacon and asparagus until the bacon is crispy - add in the sweetcorn and remove from the heat

Take a medium deep flan case - mine is 20cm diameter (not one with a removable bottom else your filling will leak!) arrange the filling evenly in the bottom and sprinkle over the cheese. Gently pour the egg mix over the top and carefully place in the oven - depending on how full it makes your dish you might want to half fill it and then pour the rest in when it is in the oven to stop it spilling as you put it in

cook for 30 - 40 minutes untill it is golden brown but still has a jelly wibble in the centre when you tap it - quiche keeps cooking as it cools so it is important to have this wobble. - start checking it after 30 minutes a knife stabbed in the edge should come out clean and the whole thing should be firm and slightly golden.

As the quiche cools it will loose a bit of its height - dont worry this is normal - it will also sink away from the sides so should be a doddle to turn out when cold and ready to eat.

Now all you need is to cut it into slices to take on the picnic or in quarters to eat with salad for tea! Once cold refridgerate!