Goats Cheese, Asparagus and Pancetta Quiche Recipe

I love quiche, especially this one. I have been making it for the last few years as a sort of celebration of Asparagus coming into season.

Goats cheese, pancetta and asparagus go together so well and all compliment each other in this wonderfully light quiche. It goes perfect with a nice salad or as part of a picnic with a nice cold glass of Cidre Bouche!

Ingredients:

250g Shortcrust Pastry (if your feeling lazy you could use a ready made case)
250g Creme Fraiche
85g Goats Cheese Chevre Style as apposed to soft.
3 x Eggs (2 yolks and 1 whole, save the yolks for some yummy meringues)
1 tablespoon Snipped Chives
140g Pancetta or Thick Sliced Bacon
250g Bunch of Asparagus

Method:

1. Heat oven to 200c. Roll out the pastry until it is the thickness of a £1 coin. Use to line a fluted pastry tin. If you have a rectangular tin this is best but if not a round is fine. Press the pastry into the corners and trim off the extra pastry. Lightly prick the base all over with a fork and chill for about 15 mins.

 
Line with parchment and add some baking beans (if you don't have any you can use uncooked rice) and bake for 8 minutes, take out of the oven and remove the beans/parchment and put back in the oven for 5 minutes or until the pastry turns golden and crisp.

2. To prepare the filling, first cook the asparagus for two minutes, either in a steamer or in a pan of boiling water. Cook the pancetta over a medium heat in a dry frying pan until crisp, drain off the fat or place on a piece of kitchen towel.

3. Mix the remaining ingredients together and then add the pancetta.

Add the egg to a bowl

Add the creme fraiche

Crumble in the goats cheese

Add the chives

Add the pancetta

4. Pour into the pastry case and then place the asparagus on the top.

Place the asparagus on top

5. Bake for 20 minutes until set around the edges and then turn off the oven and allow to cool in the oven for an hour. If you are short of time then turn the oven down to 150c and cook for a further 20-25 minutes until the quiche is set with just a slight wobble in the middle.

Serve with a salad and a cold glass of cider.

Happy 30th Birthday...

To me, ah bet you thought I was going to say Prince William didn't you.

Well yes Happy Birthday William but it is also mine on Saturday and I too am reaching the milestone that is 30!

But to be honest I am not interested in celebrating it, to me I am just getting another year older. I don't really need a party to feel good about getting older.

I shall be having a quiet night in with some lovely food, champers and my beautiful family.

I leave you with a picture of my first ever teddy, I have pictures of the day I came home of me with this teddy.

Toddler Activities - Easy Butterfly Jam Tarts

With some left over shortcrust pastry I decided to make some little butterfly jam tarts with my son.

They are really easy to do and with the addition of a little butterfly these are perfect for kids, we even added a couple of initials to the mix but you could include anything you can shape in pastry really.

You will need, some shortcrust pastry, jam and pastry cutters.

Roll out pastry (about the thickness of £1 coin) and cut into circles, using a pastry cutter or glass

Place into cupcake tins and add a teaspoon of jam

Place a small pastry butterfly on top and bake for 15 mins on 160c

Remove from tin and leave to cool!

That's it for now, enjoy :)

Silent Sunday

Life and Death

This morning I could hear some birds getting upset in the garden. Next doors cat was in the garden hiding in a tree so I went out to shoo it away.

I then saw this little fella sat next to the gate down the side of the house.

It was very poorly, some of it's intestines hanging out and it was too young to fly home.

It's mum was calling out to it, I picked him up and moved it so maybe mum could see it.

But he was slowly dieing and I felt helpless.

My son asked about it as we went out to move it so the cats couldn't get it.

He understands about death, although he thinks you come back!

I cried, because in that small bundle of feathers existed life and death.

It died shortly afterwards :(

One is not amused!

We went to see the Queen visit a local park today where she was unveiling a plaque and all I have to say on the matter is well done to Nottingham City Council and friends, well done on a really poorly planned event!

First of all, there was no PA system...no one apart from those standing at the very front could hear either Her Majesty or Prince William speaking.

We then waited to see the Duke and Duchess and were pushed and spoken to very rudely by some head of police (not uniformed police officers) asking us to get back! People with pushchairs being pushed around with literally no where to go.

I don't normally have a problem with the police doing their job but this one women was a bully, rude and totally didn't have a handle on the situation.

If we had been pushing over a fence or something I could have understood, but instead an after thought of a piece of rope had been laid on the floor and some policemen standing in front of it! That ended and there was then no boundary. Small children were being jostled around by people trying to get pictures, it was a truly awful event, one I don't wish to experience again (sorry ma'am).

Finally and to top off an awful event they wouldn't let us out! We went to the exit to be told we couldn't leave that way and would need to find another way out, we walked to the other end of the park (marked Exit B) to be told the same thing and then finally found another exit on yet the other side of the park!

I think my son enjoyed it but maybe we should have just stayed at home and watched it on the telly!

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Favourite Recipe Friday - Lemonade

My gran bless her always gives me random bits of fruit, mostly because she's bought them on offer and can't use them.

Usually lemons, so I tend to make them into lemonade or use them in lemon drizzle cake.

Today is about lemonade a perfect addition to the jubilee celebrations.

Ingredients:

2 Medium/Large Lemons (juiced roughly 120ml and one long strip of zest, no pith)
75g Caster Sugar
510ml Cold Sparkling Water

Method:

Place the sugar in a pan with three tablespoons of water and the lemon zest.

Heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and it is bubbling slightly, let simmer for a minute for the lemon to infuse the syrup.

Add the lemon juice and bring to the boil, let it simmer for two minutes.

Pour into your desired serving jug and leave to cool, cover with a tea towel (stops any flies).

Once cooled add the sparkling water to the lemon mix.

Serve over ice and enjoy.

Perfect for picnics too, or if you just need to use up some lemons!