Tomato and Feta Quiche

I cannot believe I will be without my kitchen for a whole week. What am I to do? I am hoping to take lots of notes and pictures of Polish food and come up with some interesting ideas and a reminder of home for D. Seriously, no cooking for a week, I am feeling sad.

Surprise surprise, in my fridge I still have a load of tomatoes! I really do have a problem when it comes to shopping. I will forever just automatically pick up tomatoes, cucumber, cheeses and herbs when in the shops. So in an effort to use up what I have, I am making a roasted tomato and feta quiche. I had pastry in the freezer …I know I know, I should make my own but on days when I finish work late and have too much to do, shop bought will do just fine!

When I made D quiche for the first time, he just loved it and the best thing is (he is a huge meat lover) he asked what meat was in it and I replied that it was vegetarian. I only really ever make quiche when I want to use up anything in the fridge. It works with really any combination of ingredients as long as you have the fundamentals of pastry, eggs, cream and cheese. I get such satisfaction in making these, although time consuming they are tasty and filling.

Anyhow tonights dinner is :

TOMATO AND FETA QUICHE

320g shortcrust pastry ( I cheated and used 1 frozen sheet of pastry)
350g tomatoes (cherry and regular plum)
1tsp coarse sea salt
2tsp fresh Oregano or 1tsp dried
3 garlic cloves, quartered
1tsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
100ml cream
2 medium eggs
1tsp Dijon mustard
100g feta cheese
freshly ground black pepper

THE HOW:

Preheat oven to 160 °c (fan oven) or gas mark 3. Place the tomatoes, salt, oregano, garlic and olive oil into a bowl and mix. Place on an oven sheet and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes just to soften.

Meanwhile line a quiche tin or larger flat tart tin with the pastry. Prick the base with a fork and layer with a sheet of baking paper and then fill with ceramic baking beans . Once the tomatoes are softened take them out of the oven and set aside. Turn the oven up to 180 °c or gas mark 4. Now in the oven place the quiche tin to bake blind. For anyone who doesn’t have a clue what this means, it is to partially bake the case before adding the filling so as not to have a soggy pastry case. If you don’t have ceramic baking beans you can use dried beans or rice instead. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and take the beans away. Pop back into the oven for 5 minutes (to ensure the base is also slightly cooked).

In a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil, soften the onion (3-5 mins), remove from the heat, add the tomatoes and crumble in the feta, mix just before putting into the pastry case.