Great for a summer picnic, this quiche is also not hard to prepare.
for the pastry:
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- ½ cup / 1 stick / 112 g cold unsalted butter
- ⅛ to ¼ cup ice water
for the filling:
- 1 red onion
- 1 zucchini
- 1 eggplant
- 1 pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 9 oz / 250 g cherry tomatoes
- 1 ¼ cups / 300 ml cream
- 3 eggs
- few basil leaves
- 5 oz / 150 g goat’s cheese
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor (or whisk together by hand in a bowl). Cut butter into small pieces and pulse (or quickly cut in with a pastry blender or your fingertips) until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some larger pieces remaining. Drizzle ⅛ cup water over mixture. Pulse (or mix with a fork) until mixture just begins to hold together. If dough is too dry, add ⅛ cup more water, 1 tbsp at a time, and pulse (or mix with a fork). Gather the dough into a ball, wrap loosely in plastic, and press into a disk using a rolling pin. Refrigerate until firm, well wrapped in plastic (1 hour).
- Meanwhile, heat oven to 400° F / 200° C. Cut onion, zucchini and eggplant into ½ in / 1 ¼ cm slices, remove pepper seeds and cut into strips, peel the garlic. Toss them together with the olive oil and some salt and pepper. Put on a baking tray and bake for 20 mins. Add the cherry tomatoes and return to the oven for another 15 mins until tender and start to caramelize.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use it to line a 9 in / 23 cm tart tin. Refrigerate for 30 mins. Reduce oven to 375° F / 190° C. Prick the base of the tart with a fork, line with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Bake for 15 mins, remove the beans and the baking paper, and bake for another 15 mins until lightly golden.
- Reduce oven to 325° F / 160° C. Mush the garlic with a bit of salt to form a paste and slowly whisk in the cream and the eggs, season with salt and pepper. Mix the basil with the vegetables and spread ⅔ of them in the baked shell. Crumble ¾ of the goat’s cheese on top and pour over the cream mixture. Top with the rest of the vegetables and cheese. Bake for 45-50 mins until the quiche is just set with a slight wobble in the center. Serve warm or cold, topped with few basil leaves and toasted pine nuts.
