Beetroots are a favourite in our garden and in the kitchen. We love their sweet flavour and love that their leafy tops can also be used like spinach. This hearty vegetable is always found in our garden between autumn and early summer. This quiche heroes the whole of the beetroot using the root and the leaves.
Serves 4 - 6
What you will need
25cm x 3.5cm loose base quiche tin
Baking paper
Rice or pie crust weights for blind baking
Flaky Pastry
Ingredients
150g butter, chilled and cubed
250g plain flour
Pinch salt
1-2 Tbsp ice-cold water
Filling
Ingredients
5 medium beetroots with leafy tops (4 beetroots cut in 8ths and the smallest beetroot cut into thin rounds)
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp ghee or butter
½ cup spring onion finely chopped
4 sprigs thyme
3 eggs
1 cup milk
Danish fetta
Flaky Pastry
Preheat oven to 190 degrees.
Combine butter, flour and salt in food processor until a fine bread crumb texture forms.
Add just enough water to make a pliable dough
Refrigerate (if the weather is warm) and rest for 30 minutes before rolling out
Roll pastry between two sheets of baking paper until it is 0.5cm thick
Gently place and mould pastry into a greased loose base quiche tin.
Prick the bottom of the pastry shell with a fork. Line the base and sides with baking paper and fill with rice (this stops the pastry from rising)
Blind bake pastry for 15 minutes. Put back in oven for a further 5 minutes or until golden.
Quiche Filling
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Separate the leaves from the beetroot and set aside. Place beetroot 8ths on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Roast for 40 minutes or until just tender.
Roughly chop beetroot leaves and thinly slice spring onion. Sauté in a pan with ghee, thyme, salt and pepper until soft. Add roasted beetroot and combine.
Add filling to the cooked pastry shell. Whisk eggs and milk together and gently pour over filling. Decorate with reserved rounds of beetroot and sprinkle with fetta and a good crack of pepper.
Cook for 40 minutes at 180 degrees or until the top is golden and the egg mixture has set
Enjoy warm from the oven for dinner or as a delicious lunch the next day!
