Pigs in Blankets

Mini Quiches

These mini quiches are ideal as an appetizer. You can use your imagination when deciding the quiches' fillings. The possibilities are endless! I chose (from left to right) dried tomatoes with goat cheese, crispy bacon with emmental cheese and green asparagus with serrano ham. Keep reading for the recipes.

Crust

125 g (4.4 oz) butter
250 g (8.8 0z) flour
80 g (2.8 oz) water
5 g (0.2 oz) salt

Instructions

Mix flour and butter (it must be cold and diced) with an electric mixer or a dough cutter until they form dough lumps. Make sure the lumps are dough and not just butter that hasn't been blended well. Once you obtain a parmesan-like texture, stop mixing and add half the water. Mix and add the remaining water progressively, mixing just until the dough holds together. Do not overwork the dough! Cover and reserve.

Sauce

125 g (4.4 oz) cream
125 g (4.4 oz) milk
2 eggs

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients together. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste and reserve.

Filling

Dried tomatoes with goat cheese
Crispy bacon with emmental cheese (Quiche Lorraine)
Green asparagus with serrano ham

Instructions

For the Dried Tomatoes, make a cross on the bottom of the tomatoes. Boil for thirty seconds and transfer to a container with ice cold water. Peel the tomatoes, cut into quarters and remove the seeds. Place tomato quarters on an oven tray previously covered with parchment paper. Drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil and season with salt, sugar and rosemary.Place in the oven  at 100 ºC (212 F) for about two hours.  It is important that there is no humidity inside the oven, because the tomatoes will not dry otherwise. If your oven doesn't have a humidity reduction function, you can bake the tomatoes with the door slightly cracked open (I use a wooden spoon to keep it open). If your oven doesn't work unless the door is closed, you can open it every ten minutes or so, to let the water vapour escape. Some people dry the tomatoes completely, but I like to leave them a bit moist. When they are ready, let them cool and mix with the Goat Cheese, slightly crumbled.

Cut Bacon into small strips and fry it in a pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil until golden and crispy. Let cool and mix with grated Emmental Cheese.

Cut the Asparagus, removing the whitish stem and keeping the part with the tip. Peel the green part of the stem with a vegetable peeler. Boil for about half a minute in water with a pinch of salt and baking soda and transfer to a container with ice cold water. Cut asparagus into bite-sized chunks and mix with Serrano Ham cut into small strips.

Assembly

Spread the crust with a rolling pin and place it on your pan (I used 6 cm (2.4 in) diameter  and 2 cm (0.8 in) high botomless rings) pierce bottom and sides slightly with a fork(if you aren't careful, the filling may seep through the holes)  and place on a greased oven tray. If you are using regular pans, you don't have to be as careful with the fork and you will need to grease it, instead of the tray. Place the filling of your choice and cover with sauce, being careful not to reach the top of the pan, as the quiche will rise when cooked. Place in the oven at 180 ºC (356 F) for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. When using bottomless rings, the crust doesn't need to be precooked, and you can save time by cooking it together with the filling and sauce. When using traditional pans, you may have to precook the crust at 180 ºC (356 F) without the filling with some weight to prevent it from forming bubbles (I like to use chickpeas directly on top of the crust). Once the crust is ready, add the filling and sauce and cook at 180 ºC (356 F) for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.