Smoked Ham and Cheddar Quiche

November is known as one of the Monsoon months here in Singapore. It rains almost everyday, sometimes with thunderstorms. I hope it won't rain today as we have Family Day at Sentosa later in the afternoon,  an event organized by my company to promote family bonding.

This is the 2nd time we participated Family Day after I joined this company. The last time was in 2009, when we just returned from U.S after one year assignment in Utah.  Kids have grown up from preschoolers then to preteens now.  The years are flying by!  Whenever I look back, I do share the feeling that the days are long, but the years are short.  So, let's get the most of life and enjoy every moment with our family.

Right now, I enjoy myself very much in cooking and baking for my family, especially with friends from I Heart Cooking Clubs. This week, we are baking tarts and pies, which are a fantastic way to celebrate any occasion.

I used to bake egg tarts, which is a sweet treat we can find everywhere in Singapore.  French quiche is not commonly seen here.  It's a savoury pastry crust filled with cheese, cream, bacon and eggs, perfect for light lunch or dinner. I chose to bake smoked ham and cheddar quiche from Donna Hay's recipes.  I have all the ingredients in my pantry, which saved the trouble shopping around.

As I plan to serve the quiche on Saturday, I baked shortcrust pastry the night before. Everything went well except that the pastry shell started puffing up during the last 5 minutes of baking. I quickly put back the uncooked rice, which was removed earlier.  Seems it's better to keep pastry weights throughout the baking instead of removing it half way.

The recipe is for an 11 inch tart tin. I made a 10 inch pastry shell and two small tart shells. The pastry crust is crispy, buttery,  suitable for savoury fillings since no sugar is added.

 

 

The quiche is  rich and creamy, very tasty. I served it as today's brunch. We are ready to set for Family Day now.

 

 

SMOKED HAM AND CHEDDAR QUICHE
(Donna Hay's recipe)

 
Ingredients
Shortcrust Pastry

• 2 cups  plain flour       
• 150g butter       
• 2–3 tablespoons iced water

Filling

• 200g smoked ham
• 1/2 cup grated aged cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 3 eggs
• 200ml cooking cream
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to 3mm (1/8 in) thick and line a 10 inch round tart tin. Blind bake the pastry shell (see recipe) and set aside to cool.
2. Sprinkle the tart shell with the ham, cheese and parsley. Whisk together the eggs, cream, mustard, salt and pepper. Pour over the filling in the tart shell.
3. Bake at 180°C  for 40 minutes or until set. Serve warm or cold in wedges.

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