April is Here!
Time just keeps flying by, and we’re somehow already into the fourth month of 2024. How was your Easter? I (Emma) was actually in Denmark over the weekend, and it really felt like spring was in the air. While it wasn’t particularly warm or green yet, the birds were chirping and flowers and trees were slowly starting to come to life again. It’s the same now that I’m back in the UK, and it just makes me so excited for the next few weeks when spring truly starts, bringing with it plenty of rain (of course) but also a bit of sunshine. It’s no surprise that we base a lot of our recipes on what fresh produce is in season and the food that we like to eat during certain seasons, so we’re also looking forward to sharing plenty of spring recipes – starting now!
Today’s Recipe
Today’s recipe is for a spring quiche, one that’s full of fresh and vibrant color and delicious flavor. There’s no two colors better for spring than green and yellow, so you can clearly see why we’d call this a spring quiche. The peas are the star of the show here and add a lot of freshness and sweetness, but we’ve also added bacon and gruyere cheese for a saltier and meatier punch of flavor. Green onions and parsley add some subtle herbiness, rounding out the dish. The eggs (like with most quiches) are mostly there for holding the rest of the ingredients together, but they do make the texture lovely and creamy and irresistable. Finally, the best part – the crust – is simple to make yet turns out so buttery and flaky that you’ll certainly go back for a second slice.
Quiche: A Simple but Impressive Dinner Option
Why quiche? Well, while I know it might get a bad rep from being served at weddings or events where it’s a bit cold and limp, a homemade quiche can be one of the tastiest dishes to churn out with relative ease. Of course, making homemade crust does take a bit of effort, but otherwise, it’s reasonably simple to make. And if you serve it warm after it has a chance to set up fully out of the oven, it’s so yummy. Best of all, it’s super customizable to what you have at home, so you don’t necessarily have to make a trip to the store for ingredients unless you want to follow the recipe exactly. So ultimately, it’s a stunning and impressive dish that looks like it would take hours to make, so why wouldn’t you want to try it out?
Fresh and Green Spring Flavors
We landed on this delicious combination of flavors because we wanted something to represent the fresh flavors and colors of springtime. For us, that meant a lot of green. Peas are generally in season starting in the spring, so we thought what better time to incorporate them into one of our recipes? Then, we wanted some onion flavor but not as harsh as yellow onion, so we settled on using green onion. When it came to which herb we should use, we went with parsley, as that’s the classic choice for any Danish or Scandinavian dish. While quiche may not be Scandinavian in origin, we see this as a Scandinavian fresh and seasonal spring quiche that incorporates typical Danish flavors like bacon and parsley.
Ingredients
For the crust, you’ll need all-purpose or plain flour, butter, salt, and ice water. You can replace the butter with margarine or another plant-based alternative, but note that it may have a slightly different taste and texture. For the filling, you’ll need bacon, green onion, peas, fresh parsley, eggs, heavy cream, milk, gruyere cheese, and salt and pepper. Feel free to make substitutions, but we would recommend switching ingredients out for something similar in flavor. For example, instead of bacon, you could use ham, or use chives instead of green onion. If you don’t like parsley, you can omit it or use a different herb, and the same goes for the cheese. We like gruyere because it’s salty and adds some flavor, but you can use cheddar or mozzarella. Finally, we use frozen peas, but definitely use fresh if that’s what you can get ahold of!
Instructions
For the crust, combine the flour and salt in a food processor or a bowl. Then, add the butter, and crumble (either with the food processor or your hands) until the mixture resembles sand. Add ice water – a little bit at a time! – until the dough comes together into a ball. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate while you work on the filling. Cook the bacon in a pan until crispy, add the green onions, then the peas and cook until heated through. Stir in the parsley and salt and pepper and set aside to cool. Roll out the dough, transfer to a pie dish, and blind bake for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, add the eggs, heavy cream, and cheese to the filling mixture. When the crust comes out, lower the oven temperature, pour in the filling, and bake again. Enjoy!
Forårstærte (Spring Quiche with Bacon, Peas, and Green Onion)
Ingredients
CRUST
- 150 grams all purpose flour
- 85 grams unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3-5 tbsp ice water *this amount will vary depending on whether you combine the dough in a food processor or by hand! Always start with the lowest amount and add as you need it!
FILLING
- 200 grams bacon
- 120 grams green/spring onion
- 350 grams peas *we use frozen
- 30 grams chopped fresh parsley
- 6 large eggs
- 60 ml heavy cream
- 60 ml milk
- 130 grams grated gruyere cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Make the dough for the crust by combining flour and salt in a bowl or in a food processor.
- Add in butter: if mixing by hand, crumble together until the butter is broken up into smaller than pea sized pieces. If using the food processor, run the processor until the mixture resembles sand.
- Add ice water, starting with three tablespoons. If mixing by hand, you may need to add more to get the dough to come together; knead/press the dough together until it holds together in a ball. In the food processor, add the ice water and pulse about 10 times, then check if you can press the dough together so it holds its shape. It's okay if it seems very crumbly at this point!
- Once the dough holds together, turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and press it together into a round disk shape. Wrap up and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, begin preparing the filling by cutting the bacon slices into small pieces/cubes, slicing up the green onions, and chopping the parsley.
- Add the bacon to a pan on the stove on medium low heat.
- Once the fat has rendered out and the bacon is crispy (about 10-15 minutes) add in your green onions until the have just softened.
- Add the peas to the pan until they have heated through.
- Stir in parsley, salt and pepper to the filling mixture. Set aside to cool slightly while you prepare the crust for baking.
- Preheat your oven to 400F (204C).
- Prepare a 9.5" (24cm) or 9" (23cm) round pie dish by buttering the bottom and the sides.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and on a floured work surface, begin rolling it out. We roll ours out until it is between 1/4" and 1/8" thick (about 0.5cm), and then check to make sure it will fit over the edges of your baking dish. You may need to roll it thinner if using a slightly different sized dish.
- Transfer the dough to the pie dish by rolling the dough onto the rolling pin, then unrolling it over the dish.
- Press the dough into the bottom of the dish and patch any holes. Instead of trimming off too much of the excess dough, fold the edge of the dough underneath itself to make a thicker edge.
- Crimp the edge, or press down with a fork to make a pattern all the way around. Poke the bottom of the crust with a fork.
- Place the crust in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, just to help it chill again after working with it. This will help stop it from shrinking!
- Bake the empty crust for 10 minutes. You can use pie weights if you want, but we find it works just fine to bake it alone.
- While the crust is baking, crack eggs into a medium mixing bowl.
- Add in cream and milk and whisk together very well, so there are no streaks of egg white or egg yolk. Season with a bit of salt and pepper at this stage too.
- Add in the bacon, pea, and green onion filling mixture.
- Grate the gruyere cheese and add that in as well, mixing everything together thoroughly.
- After the crust has baked for ten minutes, remove from the oven.
- Lower the oven temperature to 350F (176C).
- Pour the filling mixture into the crust.
- Place back in the oven and bake for another 30-40 minutes. If the quiche is still wobbly when you check it, it could likely use another 5 minutes. Continue checking on it and when the eggs are set, it's ready to come out.
- Enjoy for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
