Welcome!!! + a recipe for a leek quiche

Hello and welcome to StudyEatSew!

My intention with this blog is to keep track of my adventures in sewing and cooking. I won't mention university much, as I am not sure this will interest people.

I originally intended to post this recipe in December, but got caught up studying over Christmas. Exams are nearly over, so you may hopefully see a few more posts from me soon :)

Future posts:

Cooking:

A recipe for sourdough rye-bread, baked in a bread machine.

Sewing: 

Details of some of my previous sewing, knitting and weaving projects. 

Microwaved leek quiche:

About 1 hour, including preparation and cooking.

 

Ingredients:

 

For the pastry:

140 g flour
140 g wholemeal flour
70 g butter, cut into cubes
70 g skyr, or yoghurt ( I find all-butter crusts to heavy, but you can choose to omit this and use 140 g butter in total)
about 6 tbsp water
salt (optional)

 

For the filling:

2 leeks

Oil or butter for cooking in

125 g ricotta cheese
50 ml milk

100 g Emmental cheese
2 eggs
a few sprigs of chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tbsp dried.
1 tbsp dried Tarragon (or less, it can be a bit overpowering)
salt and pepper to taste

 

 

How to:

 

Making and baking the pastry

Mix together both flours and salt (if using) in a bowl. Rub in butter, until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. This can be done by hand, but I prefer to use a pastry blender. When butter gets stuck on the blender, simply scrape off and add to bowl.

Add the skyr or yoghurt and mix until distributed, this can be done by hand, but I prefer to use a spoon or knife.

"Bread crumbs" with skyr

Gradually add the water until the dough holds together, but don't add so much that it becomes sticky!

You may want to leave the dough in the fridge whilst preparing the filling, especially if is too soft, or you have overworked it. Otherwise roll the dough out and line the base and sides of a 25 cm (10 inch) pie dish. My microwave came with a special "Crisp Plate", and a Crisp function, which I use.

I transfer pastry by rolling it onto my rolling pin, lifting it, and unrolling again.

Poke small holes (using non-metal utensil such as a cocktail skewer or fingers) in the pastry, and cook for 5 minutes. This timing will probably work for other microwave ovens too, but check on it to make sure it doesn't burn!

 

Preparing the filling

Top, tail and rinse the leeks. I prefer to slice through the middle to rinse out any earth hiding in there. Heat some oil and/or butter in a frying pan and cook on a low/medium heat for 10 minutes until softened. A trick is to use a low heat, and cover the frying pan with a lid.  

Mix together the ricotta, cheese, egg, milk(you might want to add more, if the space in your dish allows it), tarragon, parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the leeks.

Take out the pastry case and add the filling. Try to ensure that the leeks are covered by filling, to stop them browning prematurely.

Cook for 8 minutes, until filling is set and lightly coloured. Leave to stand for a few minutes.

Enjoy!!!

Conventional cooking:

To cook in a conventional oven follow the following BBC GoodFood's directions, which is to pre-heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6, blind-bake pastry for 20 minutes, brown pastry 5 min, and bake with filling 20-25 minutes.
I just hardly ever have the patience to wait for the conventional oven, especially when I am only cooking for myself.

Please do tell me your thoughts, if you try my recipe!