Bechamel Quiche Recipe!
My Grandmother was great and lots of fun – I’ve many good things to say about my dad’s mother as we were great friends but I have to admit that a cook she was not. I don’t even know if she actually liked food because when catering for a family get together and her table would always be bought in beige food. At the centre of everything would be a shop bought quiche. Every. Single. Time. A straight out of the packet shop bought quiche at that, not even warmed through on many occasions – although I have to think which is worse anyway?! Warm, greasy pastry with a sloppy eggy filling that tastes too much of rubbery cheese and not at all like, well, you know, cheese or… The cold unheated variety?! I think they both draw and are equally as revolting yet Grandmother’s party would not have been complete without one. As a result of my Grandmother’s penchant for this type of quiche I readily have stated that I do not like the stuff. A broad sweeping statement that meant quiche, of any variety, was off my table! Until… A few years ago I tried a quiche made with a bechamel filling and it knocked my socks off! It was coupled with a puff pastry crust rather than short (which I do not like at all) and this was the quiche of dreams I tell you!
So… I have been looking for one similar every since to no avail until now… Until I finally decided to make my own and you know what?! It’s actually even better than the first bechamel quiche I tried, it’s positively YUM! I’ve just had a slice for my lunch and wanted to share the recipe with you – I am approximating my bechamel sauce weights as I actually do this by eye but it’s somewhere close if you don’t have your own recipe and my word it’s good. My Mum said it’s better than good, it’s actually delicious! I wouldn’t eat quiche any other way now and wonder what my Grandmother would think of this one – surely she would have to say it tasted better than her rubbery shop bought faves?!
INGREDIENTS:
One packet of ready roll puff pastry, two pints of bechamel sauce (I make mine using 50g of salted butter melted then adding 50g of plain flour to make a roux before slowly adding 2 pints of full fat milk and grating half a nutmeg into it at the end), one carrot and one courgette (both rubboned using a vegetable peeler), a packet of parma ham, 3 large eggs and a large handful of grated mature cheddar cheese.
METHOD:
Grease and line an 8 inch cake tin before placing the ready rolled pastry over the top and pushing down so that the whole tin is covered. Trim off the excess around the edges and use to make mini ones in a greased Yorkshire pudding tin.
Beat the eggs with the cheese and add to the cooled bechamel sauce mixture before pouring into the pastry case (excess into the mini versions) and add the ribbons of vegetables and ham in a circular pattern pushing into the mixture slightly.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 for an hour and then cool before cutting.
Enjoy!
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