Fennel, Shallot and Goats Cheese Quiche

I've just had a request for a quiche recipe for a midsummer's picnic. June and July are a great time for fennel, shallots and green beans. Fingers crossed these nudelicious vegetables are ripe-pickings in the shops in Montreal where my friend's now living.

This quiche is really jam-packed with flavour. It's best complimented by more fresh crunchy vegetables. I recommend chopping a quick green one at least, with lots of sweet tomatoes and a minimum of one spring onion. Better yet, step it up with a Green Bean and Walnut salad (see post).

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees

Pastry Case
See post on 'Oat Pastry' and consider using poppy seeds, in place of sesame seeds (they are a lighter, more fragrant seed). Half the pastry recipe is sufficient for this quantity of filling, but if you want it to be stress-free, make the full batch and use the remaining dough for another recipe.



Fennel and Shallots

Reduce these for 15 minutes:

• 2 heads of fennel (cut into rings)
• 300g shallots (peeled, and quartered)

Then add the following and cook for a further 5 minutes, then set aside:

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Egg mixture

Whisk the following, then set aside:

• 4 eggs
• 250g goats/soya yoghurt (equivalent 1 cup)
• any feathery tops of fennel left over (finely chopped)
• lots of fresh dill (finely chopped, the whole lot)
• lots of fresh thyme (finely chopped, leaves only)

Cut some soft or crumbly goats cheese into small rounds, and set aside. 50g should be plenty for flavour without decreasing the overall healthiness of this quiche.

Assembling and baking your quiche

Alternate the vegetable and egg mixtures, allowing the egg to seep down to the bottom. Top it off with the pieces of goats cheese.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes. It's ready when you can shoogle the pan and it doesn't ripple on top, and when you insert a knife and it doesn't come out eggy. Bon appetit.