Rosemary and Courgette Quiche

Since I did these curd tarts a few days ago, I'm feeling a bit doughy. Already before in my life I had such phases. I need to feel the flour and eggs and butter and whatever between my fingers. So I have to do something with a dough. There was not the call for sweet things nor was it for pizza ( I luv it, though). Somehow the willingness to what for a relative long time to get my food evaded me. 

There were some courgettes loosely lying around and I wanted to use them. Lately I read on some other luvly blogs about some recipes, like courgette chips or fritters, but somehow I wasn't in the mood for that either. However, from that you already see, that there are a lot of options on what to do with courgettes.

A little note on the side. You can really spoil a lot for your kids, when you prepare certain vegetables in a wrong and tasteless way. In the past at home we used to get some kind of mashed over-cooked courgette something with potatoes and minced meat. My brother didn't survive that. No, he just doesn't like courgette anymore. That is the point. I think you are getting a hint of what I am trying to say. 

Whatsoever, this has nothing to do with the now following: Rosemary and Courgette Quiche.

That was, what my mind was on ... somehow. Now I would like to tell you, that I went into the kitchen getting my gear ready ... hat, leather jacket and bullwhip ...

... but I didn't! No, that was not how things turned out, although I went about with the recipe again in this Indy kind of manner - making this up as I go (you might remember a certain cake). Nevertheless, see what happens ...

Ingredients:

250 g flour

125 g butter

One egg yolk

A pinch of salt

About 5 tablespoons of cold water

250 g of creme fraiche or double cream

A few sprigs of rosemary

3 eggs

One medium sized courgette

50 - 100 g of cheddar cheese (or different - according to your liking)

Salt and pepper

Method (kind of):

First the doughy part: sift the flour into a bowl and then use your finger tips to knead in the butter until you have a nice crumble. You could use a machine as well, but hey ... it's more fun using your hands, feeling the flour and eggs and ... well, you know. After all are our hands the best tools we have got. So, go and appreciate it!

Add a pinch of salt, the egg yolk and the water, just enough to make it really doughy. Wrap it  in cling film and put it in the fridge for about the time you need to prepare the rest.

Get yourself a decent quiche tin form or something like that, coating it with some oil.

Then take your lazy courgette and have a good look at it. Is it lovely? Do you like it? Whatsoever, it has to die. That is the way of the courgette anyway. Cut part of the courgette into slices. We want to put it on top of the quiche. So make careful calculations as to how many slice you might need. I did, but there was an error somehow. Three slices didn't fit on in the way I wanted it.

The remaining part of the courgette you grate into a bowl and mix it together with the cream, the three eggs, enough salt and pepper, and the finely chopped leaves of rosemary.

Now back to the dough. This lump of dough somehow has to be fitted into your tin form. You could try rolling it out and then ... or you might find another way. I did a mix of it. Judge for yourselves whether the result is satisfying.

As long as you have enough dough going up the sides of your form, things will be alright.

By now you should have your oven going at 200°C so that you can pre-bake your dough for 15 minutes.

Remove your pre-baked quiche from the oven and pour in the cream and courgette mixture and place those slices of courgette on top of it. Finally grate over your cheese and get your quiche back to the oven for 25-30 minutes until the cheese gets colour.

Afterwards there is one challenge that remains. Removing the quiche from your form and get it on a plate in one piece. Then you can use your machete to cut the quiche into individual pieces and enjoy it with a simple salad on the side.

For a brief moment I was tempted to add some chili to the quiche filling. Sadly I didn't do it. Or maybe not sadly, but sure this would have given the whole thing an extra punch. Without the chili I was not 100% convinced. On the other hand some extra grated cheese in the cream mixture would have done the job as well. Yet, there might as well be the slight chance, that I did have too much chili in the past. Who knows!?
A good thing is, that courgettes are in season at the moment, although I did never succeed in having some in my own garden. Somehow, they don't like me, but I like them.
Therefore this post is also a fitting entry for the blog challenge Simple and in Season from Ren Behan.

I don't know, why I haven't thought about that before. Thanks for the reminder. It's always good to know, what is in season locally ...