Salmon and Spinach Quiche
Flaked salmon, fresh spinach and dill are combined in this tasty Salmon and Spinach Quiche recipe wrapped in a wholemeal spelt pastry crust.
Servings: 8 slices
Calories:
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Alter quantities (metric only) 8 slices
Here's what you'll need...
- Food processor optional
- Baking beans
- Egg whisk or fork
Ingredients you'll need...
Wholemeal Spelt Pastry Case
- 240 g Spelt wholemeal flour (1 Cup and 11 tablespoons)
- ¼ teaspoon Fine salt
- 120 g Unsalted butter straight from the fridge and cubed - plus extra for greasing the tin (½ Cup or 1 stick and 1 tablespoon)
- 6-8 tablespoon Ice cold water
Salmon and Spinach Quiche Filling
- Knob butter or a tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 Small brown onion finely chopped
- 1 Large garlic clove minced
- 250 g Cooked salmon 2 standard pack of salmon fillets cooked
- 100 g Fresh spinach (2 handfuls)
- 4 Large eggs
- 260 ml Double (heavy) cream
- 1 teaspoon Fresh dill finely chopped
- 100 g Gruyere cheese grated (1 level Cup)
- Sea salt flakes and pepper
Here's what we do...
Spelt Wholegrain Pastry Case
- Heat your oven to 180°C /160°C fan/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Grease your loose-bottomed tart tin, making sure you get into the fluted edges.
- Cut a large square of greaseproof (parchment) paper big enough to cover the base and sides of your tart tin once crumpled up.
- Add your flour and salt to your food processor (fitted with the blade attachment) and whizz for a few seconds until combined. Or mix by hand in a large bowl if not using a processor.
- Blob your cubed cold butter over the surface of the flour and pulse until the mixture resembles sand (my processor takes about 20 pulses to achieve this). If not using a processor, rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips.
- Add 4 level tablespoons of ice-cold water and pulse again. If the mixture does not easily form large clumps and some flour remains, add another 1-2 tablespoons (I usually need to add 6 to get to the right consistency). If doing this by hand, add the water and mix it in with a fork.
- Lightly flour your work surface and tip your pastry mixture out onto it.
- Bring the pastry together into a ball but do not knead it. Flatten it out into a circle then roll it out to a diameter of 30-32 cm.
- Drape your pastry over your rolling pin and then lay it across your greased tin.
- Hold the edge of your pastry vertically with one hand and with the other gently press it into the base of the tin. Once the base is covered gently press into the fluted sides. This video demonstrates a useful method.
- The pastry needs to come up about 1cm above the edge of the side of the tin to allow it the capacity to shrink down a little whilst baking.
- If your dough tears a little just use some spare dough to patch it up, use a little water if you need to in order to stick the patch on. Keep the spare dough in the fridge just in case you need to patch it up once baked.
- Prick your pastry all over the base with a fork and then refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.
- Crumple your large piece of greaseproof paper and then place it into the tin so that it covers both the base and sides and then fill with baking beans.
- Bake in the centre of your oven for 20 minutes and then carefully tip out your baking beans and remove the paper.
- Place the pastry case back into your oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until the pastry is golden all over.
Salmon and Spinach Quiche Filling
- Fry your finely chopped onion in your knob of butter or olive oil over a medium-high heat. Keep moving it about until the edges just start to brown.
- Add your minced garlic and fry for another 1-2 minutes.
- Scatter evenly over the base of your baked pie case.
- Flake your cooked salmon into chunks of about an inch and scatter over the onion in the pie case.
- Wash your spinach and remove the stalks, pour over about 200ml of just boiled water to blanch it and then spread the spinach out onto a piece of kitchen paper to dry off, pat the top dry.
- Scatter the spinach over the cooked salmon.
- Beat your eggs together lightly and then add to your double (heavy) cream along with your chopped dill and briefly beat together to combine. season with about half a teaspoon of sea salt flakes and about 4 grinds of pepper.
- Sprinkle roughly two-thirds of your grated cheese over the spinach and then pour over your egg and mixture.
- Sprinkle over the rest of your grated cheese.
- Bake in the centre of your oven for 35-40 minutes or until your quiche is golden on top and no longer liquidy in the middle but it still has a slight wobble in the centre.
- Leave to cool and set for 20 minutes and then serve along with a fresh salad and some boiled new potatoes doused in butter and sprinkled with some chopped flat-leaf parsley.
Supporting Notes
TOP TIPS
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- Use butter straight from the fridge, because it produces a flaky pastry and because it doesn't soak into the flour.
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- Use ice-cold water and only add as much as it takes for the pastry to clump together.
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- If your dough is overwet simply add some more flour.
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- Do not over-mix stop as soon as the pastry starts to form large clumps and never knead it as this develops gluten in the flour and the baked pastry will be tough and hard.
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- Always prick the case of the pastry case, this allows steam to escape whilst baking and prevents a soggy bottom!
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- Chill your pastry once you've lined your tart tin this stabilises the pastry, resets the fat, ensures a flaky pastry and, most importantly, stops it from shrinking in the tin whilst baking.
- Fry your garlic for just a couple of minutes with your onion as overcooked garlic turns bitter.
- Pre-cook your salmon, this recipe explains how, I tend to roast mine uncovered for 15-20 minutes, leave it to cool and set for 10-15 minutes and then it will easily flake into large chunks.
- Pre-beat your eggs before beating them into your cream otherwise, your cream will over-thicken.
- Test the centre of the quiche by peeling back a little of the skin that has formed on the top in order to check if it is ready, if it is watery and runny pop it back into the oven for a few more minutes. It should look somewhere between runny and not 100% set and have a little wobble to it when ready. The quiche should be left for 20 minutes to fully set when it comes out of the oven (cook it too long and the egg becomes a bit rubbery).
- If there is a risk that your filling may overspill bake it on a baking sheet.