'Do something with those mushrooms' she said...

So I did.

It's been a long day. Not a great day, so the prospect of spending some calming time in the kitchen was a welcome relief. A slow, leisurely meander through the fridge revealed some ready-to-roll puff pastry, eggs, a small carton of soya cream and a stray leek. All clues pointed to a Quiche.

To blind bake or not to blind bake? Always blind bake shortcrust pastry before making a quiche. All that means is that you need to half bake the pastry before putting the filling in. Otherwise you risk undercooked pastry, not nice. On the telly they tell you to fill it with 'baking beans' or rice, this weighs down the pastry so it dosen't puff up. But the nature of Puff pastry is to puff, so I just let it...it still works. Here's what to do:

Roll out the pastry and line the base of your dish:

Bake it for about 10 mins on a moderate oven, and it will come out looking like this:

Prick the puffy bit to flatten the middle, to make space for the filling, and it will look like this:

Then prepare the filling.

My filling was simple. Heat butter and olive oil, saute the mushrooms and any other veg, I added broccoli. Flavour with herbs, I used dried thyme, mint, and rosemary, also some garlic. Add any herbs, fresh or dried, whatever feels good. When it cooks down, the mushrooms release a lot of water. You don't want this in the quiche or else the lovely crispy puff pastry will go soggy. So remove the veg with a slotted spoon to lift away from the liquid and fill the pastry.

Whisk together a mixture of eggs (i used 3), single cream (i used a soya based cream), and any seasonings you like. Salt, Pepper, more dried herbs, chilli powder and a touch of Sweet Smoked Paprika complements the mushrooms beautifully. Add a little of the mushroom liquid too. You don't have to use cream, milk is fine, but using cream gives a nicer result. Pour this all over the veg mixture. Here it is pre-bake:

Bake for about 30-40 mins, depending on your oven.  

While its cooking, return to the pan with the excess liquid that cooked out of the mushrooms. Bring back to a simmer, add some butter and flour and whisk it all together. It will turn into a lovely thick mushroom sauce. Add water to adjust the thickness, and adjust seasoning to taste. Keep this intense sauce to drizzle over the top.

Here's tonights cooked quiche:

The pastry is now completely cooked to perfection, the filling is set, holding the veg together.

It's lovely to leave it just as it is, and serve the mushroom sauce on top.

However, I had a bit of rocket knocking about, so I dressed the quiche with the leaves and drizzled the sauce over the top. The fresh rocket leaves add a nice texture, and some will be wilted by the warm sauce on top. Makes the whole dish more layered and interesting. The peppery rocket with the intense mushroom flavour is lovely.

I served it up with a side of minty mash, and more sauce over the top.

Went down a treat. My mum loved it, Dad went back for seconds, and bro was silenced through it. So I know it tasted good.

I, however, have totally lost my appetite and couldn't eat a bite.

But cooking it was great therapy anyway.

x