Watching old re-runs of River Cottage the other day I heard Hugh say he likes to cook a roast slightly bigger than his family can manage so that there are plenty of leftovers to play with. He’ll get no disagreement from me!
Turkeys, of course, are famous for their size – with many an anecdote of the Christmas bird not fitting in the oven, or taking 12 hours to cook, leaving hungry lunch guests ripping open the After Eights at 5pm, and raiding the decorative fruit basket in search of something to eat.
Regardless of what time Christmas lunch is served, you inevitably end up with a raggedly turkey carcass that takes much careful fridge manipulation, and frequently the removal of a shelf, to squeeze it between jars of mayonnaise, cold roast potatoes and all the other weird and wonderful things you panic bought at the supermarket on December 24th.
Of course once you’ve made this quiche another game of fridge tetris will probably be on the cards, but by this point the January sales are fast approaching, so why not just go out and buy a bigger fridge. Just saying!
Ingredients:
1 sheet shortcrust pastry
2 rashers bacon
100g turkey
1 leek
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp fresh chopped sage
4 eggs
3 tbsp cream
salt and pepper
olive oil
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees C.
Take one defrosted sheet of shortcrust pastry and press it into a 22cm round tart dish. Don’t worry too much about cutting the pastry edges away as they will shrink when you bake it.
TIP: I like to use a ceramic dish as I find the pastry doesn’t stick to the edges.
Blind bake the pastry, making sure you weight it down to prevent it rising. After about 10 minutes the pastry should be about half cooked – remove it from the oven, set aside, and turn the oven up to 200 degrees C.
Meanwhile, chop the bacon into thin strips and fry on a low heat for 3-4 minutes. By this point the bacon should have released enough fat to allow you to cook the leeks – if it hasn’t just add a touch of olive oil. Fry the chopped leeks and bacon until the leeks are soft and the bacon crispy (about 4 minutes). Finally, add in the turkey meat, sage and finely chopped garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes until the mixture becomes fragrant. Season and set aside to cool.
In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and pepper. You need to whisk the eggs vigorously until they become light and bubbly – don’t skimp on this as it will mean the difference between a light quiche or a flat dense one.
Next, place the turkey and bacon mixture into your blind baked pastry shell, followed by the whisked eggs. Place in the oven for 10 minutes or until the quiche has risen and is golden on top. You know it’s ready when it wobbles very slightly but is no longer liquid.
Serve hot or cold.
DELICIOUS ADDITIONS:
A little goats cheese or feta crumbled over the top.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
A light salad will easily turn this quiche into a meal, otherwise a decent spoonful of tomato relish will do nicely to stave off those peckish twangs.
LeftoversForTwo 