Wednesday 9 May 2018

Dairy-free Pastry-free Quiche - Easy Picture Recipe

One of the problems I have is pastry. I like it, it doesn't like me! Pastry tends to give me heartburn and acid reflux, so the hunt has been on for a substitute for pastry in some of our favourites dishes, quiche being one of them.

Whilst in Tesco recently I spotted a sign for a recipe for Elena's Cheeky Tortilla Quiche and thought it was worth a try... however, her recipe uses cheese and milk, both of which are no-no's for the dairy intolerant son of the family, so I went to experiment in the kitchen, and after three attempts, this was the result:

Dairy-free Pastry-free Quiche


INGREDIENTS:

1 plain tortilla wrap
4 medium eggs
sweetened soya milk - see below for quantity needed (we use Tesco sweetened soya milk)
2 large mushrooms sliced
1/2 small onion sliced into rings
4 sliced rings from a small green bell pepper 
100g sliced chorizo sausage (we use Aldi Spanish Spicy Chorizo Ring)
pinch ground nutmeg
1 green OXO cube

Equipment needed:

Quiche tray or flan dish 21.5cm / 8.5" diameter and 2.5cm / 1" deep internally
Frying pan or skillet
Measuring jug (at least 1/2 litre capacity)
Baking parchment


We used a ceramic quiche tray for baking, we tried the earlier version with a glass quiche tray and it didn't work as well as the ceramic one did, due to the way ceramic absorbs and holds the heat we think.  We have not tried this with a metal quiche tray.

Step 1...
Brush the base of the quiche tray with a very small amount of oil to help prevent the lining paper from moving once ingredients go into it.  Cut a circle of baking parchment as a tray liner making sure it stands a good inch above the rim of the tray to prevent accidental leakage into your oven.

Step 2..
Place the tortilla flat inside the tray, curving it to fit the tray as below (the yellow marks are the oil showing through the parchment).


Step 3..
Arrange the onion rings on the tortilla.


Step 4...
Arrange the mushroom slices on the onion rings.


Step 5...
Add the pepper rings even round the tray on top of the mushrooms and onion.


Step 6...
Put the chorizo slices into a dry frying pan or skillet (no oil needed) and heat it until the oil in the sausage leaks into the pan and the sausage is slightly browned underneath, turn over each slice and let it brown on the other side. It only takes 2-3 mins each side to do this.  


Step 7...
Whilst the chorizo is browning, crack the eggs into the measuring jug and mix gently with a fork to break up the yolk.  Add the crumbled OXO cube and a small pinch of nutmeg, then top up the egg mixture with the soya milk to around 450ml, mix soya milk into egg with fork and leave to stand for a few minutes.

Step 8...
Remove browned chorizo in frying pan / skillet from heat. It should look like this:


Step 9...
Arrange chorizo slices around the quiche tray between the pepper slices.


Step 10...
Carefully pour egg / soya milk mixture into the tortilla case making sure not to disturb the layout of your filling.


Step 11...
Bake on top shelf of oven for 50-60 minutes on Gas mark 6 / 200 °C / 400°F.  Test with a skewer or knife point to make sure filling is cooked (tip: if it comes out wet it needs longer!)


Step 12...
Slice and eat!  We found it is really nice hot from the oven but if you leave it to cool and eat cold later it is just as good, the texture is nice and dense without being chewy. 

Notes:
The original Tesco recipes calls for 4 tortillas which in our quiche tray would have left no room for the filling! The single tortilla works very well and the parchment provides the leakage protection that the original recipe uses the other tortillas for. 

If you use a different size quiche tray you will need to adjust the quantities slightly to make sure your tray is filled properly. 

Wednesday 4 April 2018

Alex's Tuna Pasta Bake (dairy free)

Al's has been experimenting in the kitchen. That's a good sign! His dairy intolerance hasn't gone yet, so he's been trying out a dairy free tuna pasta bake recipe he devised. I have to say it looked and smelled delicious!  It disappeared too quickly for me to have more than a test forkful... next time he makes it I'll stand there with my bowl held out before me like Oliver Twist!



Here's his recipe...

Dairy-Free Tuna Pasta Bake

Ingredients

150g dried spiral pasta
125g mixed vegetables (can be frozen)
100g mushrooms, finely chopped
4 sun-dried tomato halves
1 tin of tuna (112g drained weight), flaked
1 tin of anchovies (30g drained weight), finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
One box of Panko breadcrumbs (70g weight)
80g of dairy-free spread
1/4 cup of plain / all-purpose flour
2 cups of soya milk
Olive oil for frying (about two tablespoons)
Pinch of salt

Method

1: Pre-heat oven to 200C / Gas Mark 6 and grease a 4-cup capacity baking dish that is about 6 cm (2 to 3 inches) deep.

2: Find yourself a large bowl to put everything into as it's done, adding the tuna initially.

3: Put the pasta and the pinch of salt into a saucepan, add boiling water and cook until tender. You don't want it fully cooked, just about half-way there. If using fresh vegetables then add them towards the end to heat through, if frozen then go ahead and add them at the start. Drain the whole lot once it is cooked and put it into the big bowl you found in step 2.

4: While the pasta is cooking, heat some of the oil in a frying pan and fry off the mushrooms and dried tomatoes for four or five minutes until the mushrooms are softened. Once done, scoop the mushrooms and tomatoes into the bowl from step 2.

5: Put the garlic and anchovies into the frying pan, adding more oil if needed, and fry them for about a minute to get the flavours going then take the pan off the heat and add the breadcrumbs to the pan, mixing well.

6: Into a saucepan (the empty one you did the pasta in if your really organised!) put the spread and melt it over a medium heat before adding the flour to make a roux. Cook it for a minute or so and then gradually add the soya milk, stirring or whisking as you go. Once it's all mixed together, bring the pan up to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the sauce for about five minutes or until it thickens up. You will want to keep stirring gently here to avoid it developing a skin.

7: Once the sauce is ready, pour it into that bowl from step 2 which contains the pasta, vegetables and tuna and mix the whole lot together. Once well mixed, spoon or pour the mixture into the greased baking dish from step 1 and top it off with the breadcrumb mix from step 5.

8: Put the filled baking dish into the pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes or until the breadcrumbs go golden. Can be eaten right away or later on! Should serve 2 to 3 depending on appetite, more if you have a side dish with it.




Thursday 4 January 2018

Books worth reading: The Taste of Summer by Kate Lord Brown

The Taste of SummerThe Taste of Summer by Kate Lord Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to the audio version of this book whilst cooking and baking in the run up to Christmas, it was the perfect accompaniment to my culinary efforts! It's a lovely story, well told with interesting characters. Who could fail to fall in love with the lovely chef Connor with his Irish brogue? And as for that baggage Bea, I wanted to beat her round the ears with a rolling pin for all the horrible things she did! The recipes that are peppered (see what I did there?!) throughout the book are great too. I'll have to buy a Kindle or printed version now to be able to try them out!

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