Cheese and Onion Quiche

To tell you the truth, I am getting quite tired with all the sweet treats I've been making. I've never had that much of a sweet tooth (Hadi more than makes up for it though :P). I'd really prefer something salty over something sweet - potato chips instead of chocolate :D

Sometimes for lunch, I would buy a cheese and onion pasty - cheese and onion wrapped up in flaky puff pastry! Yummy~ I would LOVE to make that at home, except that I really don't think I can make puff pastry just yet. I still have some trouble with shortcrust pastry (see Chicken Pie :P) but I thought I'd give it another try with this recipe :D I've used pre-made shortcrust pastry before, and even Justin (who is notoriously NOT picky with his food) thought that it was not as nice as the horrible horrible pastry I made myself last time. Supposedly, there *are* good brands of pre-made pastry, but you can't find them in Bristol, I guess :P So...here we go!

What you need:
Shortcrust Pastry:
225g plain flour
Pinch of salt
100g butter
About 4 tablespoons ice-cold water

Filling:
3 large eggs
90 ml single cream
125 ml whole milk
100g cheddar cheese, grated
1 onion, quartered and sliced paper thin
1 tablespoon butter
2 spring onions, chopped finely

What you do:

1. To make the pastry case, mix flour and salt. Add butter and cut up into small pieces.
2. Rub the butter into the flour with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add enough cold water to bind the mixture into a stiff dough.
4. Knead lightly on a floured surface. Grease an 8-inch flan/pie dish
   
5. Place the flan/pie dish on a flat surface. Roll the pastry out to a circle approximately 5 cm larger than the dish.
6. Roll the pastry around the rolling pin to support it while you lift it. Place it centrally over the dish and gently press the main part of the pastry in the base.
7. Turn the edges of the pastry inwards and press firmly against the side of the dish, making sure it is pressed well into the corners.
8. Turn excess pastry outwards over the edges of the dish, then roll the rolling pin across it to cut it off. Place the pastry in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220 C.
9. To bake, line the pastry with aluminum foil and baking beans (I just use rice :P) and bake in the bottom third of the oven until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven, and remove the foil and weights. Return to the oven and bake until the bottom is golden brown, about another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
   
10. To make the filling, in a medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggs, cream and milk until thoroughly blended. Season with salt and pepper.
11. Melt butter in a pan, and fry the onions until tender and translucent and slightly browned on the edges - about 10 to 15 minutes.
12. Spread the onions at the bottom of the pastry crust. Sprinkle three quarters of the cheese over the onions. Pour the custard mixture over the cheese and onions. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese as well as the spring onions over the top.
    
13. Bake in the centre of a 200 C oven until the filling is golden and puffed and is completely baked through - about 30 minutes. Check by slightly shaking the quiche. If it is solid without a pool of uncooked filling in the centre, it is done. You can also stick a sharp knife into the centre. If it comes out clean, it is done.

I added about 2 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese into the pastry dough, hehe. Thought it might add some flavour. It smelled reaaaaaallly good when baking, sure enough. But because I made it quite late in the day, I decided not to make the quiche (since it was too close to dinner). I decided to refrigerate the baked pastry case and cook it today for breakfast/lunch instead. Maybe because of this, the pastry was a bit soggy. Or maybe I just didn't cook it properly, heh. In either case, the pastry was more than acceptable. Just a bit too cake-like, that's all.

As for the quiche itself, Hadi and Justin seemed to like it. I'm not too big a fan of custard-y things, but I quite liked it as well, hehe. The cheese was yummy~ It made the whole thing a bit too oily though. Hadi suggested adding more cheese though, typical. :P One thing that was weird though, was that the custard wasn't very...smooth. It was a bit crumbly, as you can see from the picture. Maybe I baked it for too long, or something?

One major complaint that the boys had was ... the lack of meat. :P Sigh. They were hinting outrageously, saying that no wonder vegetarians are usually grumpy, etc etc etc. So, if I ever make this again, I would probably add about a handful of cooked shredded chicken, hehe. I would've done it, but I couldn't be bothered to cook chicken so early in the day, heh.

I couldn't finish my third of the quiche, so I had to give it to the other two. Hadi was full, but was saying that it wasn't "satisfying" and that he wanted more things to eat, heh. Justin had TWO packets of Indomie before this, but still managed to finish everything off... Bottomless pit... He ate the quiche with chopsticks though, haha. A good challenge, if you're looking for one. :P The boys seem to be a bit worried of gaining weight these holidays, though, hahaha. After all, it is only the first day, and we're (they're!) already eating so much, apparently :P

Quote of the day: Chopsticks are the reason the Chinese never invented custard.