Sausage and Spinach Quiche

We have been needing a new fridge/freezer for a while now.  The one we had was in the flat when we moved in 2.5 years ago and it was not in the best shape.  Water always collected in the bottom of the fridge and sometimes it would freeze there.  Not so great for the vegetables.  Water would always be on the back wall too and if anything was too far back on the shelves it would get wet.  Kinda gross, no?  Then there was the freezer.  It frosted up so badly and didn't seem to be properly sealed.  Things were either too frozen or not frozen enough.  We would have replaced it ages ago if we'd been able to afford it.  Now, with a combination of wedding gifts and a decent salary we have finally been able to do it!  You have no idea how excited we were.  The Hubby and I can get a bit like that whenever we get anything big and new for our home.  We'll be so giddy when we can actually afford to put a deposit down on a house.

Anyway, the point of that little bit of exposition is that we had to clear out the old fridge/freezer the day before the new one came so it could be taken away.  To avoid having too much food to pack into a cool bag to go into the Hubby's Grandma's chest freezer, I thought I would use some of the things we had to make something.  And that something was a quiche.

What's this?  I hardly ever go savoury.  We all know I have a ridiculous sweet tooth (the number of fillings I have can testify to it).  And pastry?  I have a dislike of pastry.  Not when it comes to quiche though.  I'm actually rather fond of quiche, pastry and all, so I thought now was as good a time as any to try making one.  It would make for a nice lunch if it turned out well.  

My choice of filling was obviously influenced by what was in my freezer.  However, I decided regular old pork sausage was a little dull so opted to make them into Italian sausage.  This was something I had done a few weeks previously when making meatballs (and trying out my slow cooker for the first time).  The recipe I had been using then called for Italian sausage but I was unable to get a hold of it.  Luckily, in the vast pool of knowledge that is the internet, I stumbled across a DIY recipe for it over on Back to her Roots.  So easy to do and very delicious.  So I knew I wanted that in my quiche.  Also I love frozen spinach.  I am very picky about my veggies, disliking pretty much all of them.  Yet I know I need to eat them because they are good for me so I try to 'hide' them in my food like you would with a small child.  Chopped frozen spinach is great for this.  I can see it obviously, but there is no noticeable taste.  I mix it in to quite a few of my dinners to get some greens in me.  There are shallots in this quiche too, for a little extra veggie goodness.  I am very fond of shallots, especially as they are a good size and I can use just a couple to add some extra yummy flavour to a meal when a whole onion would be far too much.  Another note I will add is that there is no cream in this quiche.  Mainly because I forgot to buy any and didn't feel like going out to get some.  So it's just milk.  It worked perfectly well as a substitute.  

This quiche is delicious.  I was so pleased with how it turned out, given it was my first try and I was making bits of it up, and how yummy I found it to be.  I thoroughly enjoyed having it for my lunch.  Unfortunately it was too much for me to finish by myself (the Hubby is vegetarian) and some of it went to waste.  Next time I'll be sure to freeze some portions.  That was just a bit hard to do when we were waiting on a new freezer to be delivered this time!

Recipe - inspired by James Martin via BBC Food

Pastry:

• 170g/60z plain flour
• 75g/2.75oz butter, plus extra for greasing
• Cold water

Filling:

• 300g/10.5oz pork sausage (about 6 sausages)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp Knorr All Purpose Savoury seasoning (optional)
• 1 clove garlic
• 85g/3oz chopped shallots
• 115g/4oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
• 100g/3.5oz cheddar cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 200ml/7fl.oz milk
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Parmesan for sprinkling

1. Start by making the pastry.  Sift the flour into a bowl.
2. Add the butter in pieces to the flour and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add enough cold water to the crumbs to bring them together into a firm dough.  Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Grease an 23cm/9inch loose-bottomed tart tin with butter.
5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use it to line the prepared tin.  Do not trim off the edges and place in the fridge to chill again (about 20 minutes).  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
6. To make the filling, start by removing the sausage meat from its lining and putting it into a large bowl. 
7. Add the fennel seeds, basil, oregano, garlic powder, rosemary, pepper and savoury seasoning (if using) and mix well to combine.
8. Cook the meat in a frying pan with a little oil over a medium heat until it has just started to brown.
9. Add the shallots and spinach and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.
10. Line the pastry base with greaseproof paper and fill with ceramic baking beads.  Bake the pastry case blind for 20 minutes.
11. Remove the beads and paper and bake for a further 5 minutes.
12. Grate the cheese and sprinkle over the base of the pastry.
13. Cover the cheese with the sausage filling, making sure to spread it evenly.
14. In a jug, combine the milk and eggs, season with a little salt and pepper and mix.
15. Pour into the pastry case until it is full. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.
16. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until set.  Once removed from the oven, leave in the tin to allow it to cool and set further.
17. Once cool, remove from tin and serve.  Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.  Can also be frozen.

Great British Bake Along: Paprika Thins

It's the weekend so we know what that means!  It is time for:

We're now two weeks into the Great British Bake Off and round 2 was biscuits.  It came up much sooner than the past couple of years but I was rather thankful it fell on this week as biscuits take less time than most things and I had a second bake planned since it is the Hubby's birthday this weekend (post to come later this week).  But before we get into the bake, let's talk bakers!

Once again, we had three interesting challenges.  The signature bake was to produce 36 savoury biscuits.  Admittedly I don't feel I can comment much on this one as I am not an eater of such things.  I am not a crackers and cheese girl, despite my love of cheese.  So I couldn't say if what they were doing was anything special.  Admittedly, I thought Martha was mad to make sandwich biscuits because then she was making 72 not 36 but good for her for pulling it off.  I didn't think Diana's really counted as biscuits given they were made with pastry, though again she was also mad because she made her own puff pastry and they only had two hours?!  I remember thinking Norman's were a bit boring and simple as well.  In fact, most of the things Norman did this episode were too simple.  It was a bit disappointing.

The technical challenge was florentines.  Now, I've made florentines before but don't make them very often because they always cause me bother.  Every time I have made them they have adhered to the paper they were cooked on and I've had to painstakingly remove it after baking.  It is so frustrating so I was watching intently to see if any of the bakers had the same problem.  Apparently not!  I want to know what paper they were using!

Then there was the showstopper.  Oh, I would be quite frustrated with this one because it is so fiddly!  A scene constructed entirely of biscuits is not an easy task, but this is the showstopper so it wouldn't be.  I wouldn't even know where to begin.  Some of the designs though!  Just...wow.  Luis's was ridiculously good.  Especially since he chose fiery flavours for the dragon.  That was clever.  Richard's was also amazing.  That interlocking sea monster was just a work of genius.  It's not really a surprise he won this week.  These two are definitely ones to watch.  I'm also keeping an eye on Chetna and Jordan because I really like them!  And I think Martha is due a win (even though I'm still horribly envious).  She doesn't seem to have done anything wrong so far and yet has been beaten out of Star Baker each week.

As for who left this week, I admit I did not think it would be Enwezor.  I really thought it would be Norman, though the Hubby pointed out that Norman had received compliments in the first round.  Enwezor had not had much in the way of praise.  It was sad.  I liked his rocket!  And props to him for baking with children attached to his legs when he is at home.  I don't think I would have the patience for that!

Next week is bread.  I'm thinking Norman may do rather well on this one.  He strikes me as a bread man.  Guess we shall find out on Wednesday!

Right, so onto this week's bake.  Like last week I decided I would take on the signature challenge.  I rarely make anything savoury so this would make a nice change.  Luckily, my lovely yellow biscuit book has a section on savoury biscuits so I ran options by the Hubby and his mum and sister, since they would be the ones eating them, and these paprika biscuits won.

A biscuit dough often is, this wasn't too tricky to put together.  I had it made in 15 minutes.  In fact, the whole process was actually pretty quick.  Even though I could only fit 12 biscuits in my oven at one time, I was still finished all 36 well before the 2 hour limit was up.  I even ended up redoing the first 12 after I'd initially cut them out because I realised I had split the dough wrong (and I'm supposed to be good at maths!).  So this is a fairly quick bake.  And very simple.  I always appreciate something quick and simple, especially when I am pressed for time because there are other things to be making.

They turned out rather well though I don't think I would be complimented on my presentation.  Whilst the bake seemed to be fairly even, they do vary in thickness ever so slightly.  The thickest ones could have done with a couple more minutes baking, but it was hard to tell since they are still soft when they come out the oven and firm up as they cool.  Some also went a little wonky when baking.  Other than that though they were okay.  The paprika was not as strong as I thought it would be but I discovered my paprika was out of date...and as we learnt on GBBO this week, that weakens the flavour.  Should have opened my new packet.  They were still enjoyable though and go very well with cheese.  I'll be making them again with in date paprika and they should be even better!  

Recipe - adapted from Home Baking Biscuits and Cookies

Makes 36

• 345g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 170g/6oz oatmeal
• 3 tsp paprika
• 3 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 170g/6oz butter
• 6 tbsp soured cream or yoghurt

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line 3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the flour, oatmeal, paprika, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix together.
3. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Gradually add the soured cream (or yoghurt) and bring the mixture together to form a smooth but firm dough.
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5cm/0.25inches thick.
6. Use a round 7.5cm/3inch diameter cutter to cut out the biscuits and place onto the prepared trays. 
7. Prick each biscuit with a fork.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a light golden brown.
9. Allow to rest on the trays for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.