Vegetable Quiche/Frittata

Pricing estimates

$29.90 approx making it roughly $3.75 a slice with leftover ingredients for future cooking adventures. 

Introduction

I call this my quiche but tend to get scolded because it’s more like a frittata at this point. I use this recipe as an easy way to get some vegetables into my diet. Being a student and finding the time, and, let’s face it, fucks to cook more than instant noodles or pasta is challenging. I’ve gotten this quiche down to roughly an hour and forty minutes prep + cooking time (you can do a reading or watch Netflix while it cooks) with practice. But don’t be put off, the result is a hearty dinner and ample leftovers for lunches/dinners over the next few days. It also freezes well should you want to make it last longer.

Notes

All prices are taken from the Coles Online shopping website and are subject to Coles pricing changes. Prices are intended to be used as an estimated cost for planning purposes only.

The costing for this looks intimidating at $29.90, but as I cost all my recipes on buying ingredients in the standard portions they are packaged in, the actual costs of the recipes are actually far less. As I don’t know what people do and don’t have in their kitchens already I choose to work under the assumption someone is starting from scratch. The benefit of this is that cost quickly comes down if you have some of the basics in your fridge already. 

Also, you can get roughly 8 portions from the quiche depending on the size of your dish. That’s 8ish meals depending how many slices you eat in one go.

The pictures I’ve included show a pastry base. It isn’t essential to the recipe as the self-raising flour gives the quiche a body that doesn’t need the pastry base to support it. I, however, like a pastry base so I’ve included the recipe for that as well, but you don’t need to use it for the actual quiche. It’s a matter of preference and effort.

Equipment

• Mixing bowls x2
• Baking dish (roughly 9 inches in diameter, but work with what you’ve got.)
• Whisk
• Knife (with which to murder your vegetable victims.)
• Cutting board
• 1, 1/2, & 1/3 Cup measures (or a measuring jug that can do all three at once.)
• 1 tbsp measure
• 1 tsp measure
• Medium frypan
• Baking tray
• Baking paper (if you wish to save on washing up.)
• Kitchen scales (not essential you can guestimate how much butter and mushrooms you want to use. I usually do, but I do have some practice in mushroom to butter ratio. It makes a good breakfast on toast.)

Ingredients

• 200g button mushrooms, sliced into thirds
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 block of feta, cubed
• Half a butternut pumpkin, skinned and cubed
• 3 cups of baby spinach, roughly chopped
• 4 eggs
•  1 ½ cup of milk
• 1/3 cup of self-raising flour
• 50g butter
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 tsp of smoked paprika
• Pepper and salt to season.

Method

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 200 degrees.
2. Peel and cube the butternut pumpkin into roughly 2cm cubes. (Let’s be honest as long as it’s in the ballpark it’s fine. You just want the pieces to be small enough to scatter but big enough to taste).
3. In a bowl mix the pumpkin, olive oil and paprika until the pumpkin is evenly coated.
4. Spread onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (if you choose to but it helps with cleaning up) and place in the oven for 40min.
   1.  At 20min you can pull it out and flip the pumpkin if you so wish to help cook all sides evenly.
5. Melt the butter in a frypan over a medium heat.
   1.  I haven’t included it in the recipe, but you can add a crushed clove or two (to your taste) of garlic if you so wish. I keep a jar of it in the fridge as I’m lazy AF and look, I’m just trying to feed myself with things beyond Migoreng not be on MKR here.
6. Add your sliced mushrooms, and fry over a medium heat (roughly 3-5min).
7. When the mushrooms have absorbed the butter and taken on a darker colour with some light browning on the edges set aside to cool.
8. In a bowl combine your butter-fried mushrooms, roasted pumpkin, chopped spinach, finely chopped onion, cubed feta, and add the self-raising flour.
9. Toss lightly to mix and coat all the ingredients in the flour.
10. In another bowl combine the eggs and milk together, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
11. Whisk until combined thoroughly.
12. Butter a baking dish (grease it up to help avoid your food sticking).
13. Spread the vegetable components over the bottom of the dish evenly.
14. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the top.
15. Reduce the oven to 180 degrees and cook for 40min or until it looks puffed and golden and is cooked through to the centre.
16. Leave to cool for 10min.

Serving

Cut into equal portions (if your dish is circular just keep cutting in halves until you have 8 equal portions like a pizza) and serve warm. Pairs well with a garden salad or chips but it is equally enjoyable on its own. It can also be enjoyed cold straight from the fridge.

Pastry

Should you want to make your own pie crust.

Equipment

• Mixing bowl
• 1 tbsp measure
• 1/2 tsp measure
• 1 & 1/2 cup measures
• Rolling pin
• Knife
• Mixing spoon

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups of plain flour
• ½ tsp of salt
• ½ cup of butter (cold) (chopped into cubes)
• 4-5 tbsp of cold water

Method

1. Sift flour into a large mixing bowl.
2. Add salt and butter and cut together with your fingers or a knife until it resembles breadcrumbs (try not to overwork as you don’t want to melt the butter too much).
3. Add the cold water 1 tbsp at a time. Mixing in with a spoon.
4. Bring the dough together into a ball in the bowl. Don’t worry if it’s still crumbly it usually comes together when rolling it out. 
5. Spread a light scattering of flour onto a bench and roll the dough out. (I tend to do this between two sheets of baking paper rather than spreading flour, but it’s up to you how you want to handle the task).
   1. If the dough appears brittle don’t fret just keep folding it back on itself and rolling it until it reaches a smooth consistency.
6. Roll out the pastry dough into a disc of 4mm thickness.
7. Carefully lift the crust into a buttered pie dish and lightly press it into the sides and cut off an extra pastry off with a knife.
8. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork in a few places.