Roast Pumpkin, Caramelized Onion and Feta Quiche

Ingredients:

Pastry:

3 cups of plain flour

100g of frozen butter, grated

100g of cold butter, cubed

Filling:

Half a butternut pumpkin, cubed

1 red onion, cut into thin slices

2 garlic cloves, crushed

100g Danish Feta

Thyme

6 eggs

½ cup of thickened cream

¼ teaspoon of paprika

Oh, the wonderful world of quiches. Flaky, buttery, melt in your mouth pastry topped with a delicious savoury filling turns out to be absolute heaven. Who knew? This quiche makes a lovely summer’s lunch or hits the spot if you’re having a casual dinner with friends.

For the pastry you’ll want to combine the flour, frozen and cold butter and a good pinch of salt. Now, the reason why we have both frozen and cold butter in this recipe is because the frozen butter will cook more slowly, which will give the pastry that flaky texture you’re after. Next you’ll want to rub the flour and butter together with the very tips of your fingers, until the mixture becomes coarse like breadcrumbs. Once done, pour 125ml of cold water into the flour and butter mixture, and stir until just combined. Carefully shape the pastry into a round ball, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge.

Now that the pastry is done and resting, we can move on to our filling. First of all, place your cubed pumpkin onto a baking tray. Cover with a good splash of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in an oven preheated to 220 degrees Celsius, and cook for 15 min, or until soft. Next you’ll want to heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a fry pan on a medium heat. Sweat the onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, or until slightly golden and translucent. Remove off the heat and place in a bowl. Once the pumpkin has cooked, add to the bowl as well.

Grab the tart dish that you’re planning on using, and butter the inside. This stops the tart from sticking once cooked. Now, it's time to get the pastry back out of the fridge, and onto your bench. Sprinkle your workstation with flour, and make sure to flour your rolling pin as well. Roll the pastry out until it can comfortably cover your tart dish. Now, your pastry will probably be quite crumbly, but do not let that faze you! It rolls out beautifully, and the only tricky bit is getting it from the bench into your tart dish. I find using a meat cleaver helps, as it makes a good supportive base. Press the pastry firmly into all the nooks and crannies of your dish, and make sure to remove any excess pastry hanging off the top. Once done, poke the pastry all over with a fork, put a sheet of baking paper over it as well, and cover with dried beans or rice. Blind bake for 10 minutes. Once done, remove the beans/rice and place back in the oven, uncovered, for a further 15 min at 180 degrees Celsius.

To finish our filling, you’ll want to gently mix the onion, garlic, pumpkin and 100g of crumbled Danish feta together in the bowl. I also added a good handful of thyme, stalks taken out, and a ¼ teaspoon of paprika. By this point, the pastry in the oven should be done, which then leaves you free to fill up the tart with your mixture. Whisk together the 6 eggs and ½ a cup of cream, salt and pepper to taste, and pour over the onion and pumpkin mixture.

Place in the oven at 220 degrees Celsius and cook for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out cleanly.