Dear readers of this blog, let me present to you a lovely quiche made with zucchini, feta and mint leaves. It is basically a concentrate of various goodnesses that came up rummaging through my fridge. Zucchini, because I always have zucchini. Feta, I always have feta because it has a long shelf life and you never know when you may need it. Mozzarella, because I’m Italian and I must have mozzarella in my fridge. Mint leaves, because I had bought some for mojito and had leftovers. Eggs – well those were not in the fridge but you kinda need eggs in a quiche, so eggs it is. Store-bought pre-made puff pastry. Wait, whaaaat?
I cheated, I cheated so badly. When I cook for the blog I always try to have everything made from scratch. That is my mission. Making things from scratch can be easy and often it is actually cheaper. And I never miss a chance to preach that to my friends when they feel too lazy to cook. Want to save money? Make your food from scratch. Want to know what you’re putting into your body? Make your food from scratch. It’s that simple.
But I know that sometimes we’re too busy. Sometimes I’m too busy, too. While I just prefer to make my own pizza dough because it’s so much better, if I’m grocery shopping and pre-made dough is on outrageous discount I’ll buy it. No shame. The ongoing debate about our controversial contemporary civilization is all here: on the internet we promote stuff that does not reflect the reality. So here I am, Miss All-From-Scratch, admitting to buying – and eating – store-bought pizza dough. Like, this is what I eat while I’m writing sexy pizza posts like this one.
#guilty
(The use of hashtags to add depth to your statements is another despicable sign of the fact that our controversial contemporary society has issues, but I’m not going to digress.)
So what am I guilty of? Of not making enough effort when I’m just too busy. I eat savoury pies pretty often. While I almost always make my own shortcrust, there are days when I just unwrap a pre-made one. And there is no shame in that. I just thought I’d never feature a cheat ingredient on the blog. But then I thought: why not? Okay, the crust is store-bought, so what? This quiche is still delicious. Of course I’d be a prouder cook if I knew the puff pastry was my own.
But let’s face it – we don’t always have the time to make everything from scratch.
Related: zucchini cheddar risotto.
Zucchini, feta and mint quiche
Ingredients
- 1 zucchini
- 3 eggs
- 150 g feta
- 125 g mozzarella
- 10 leaves fresh mint
- 1 puff pastry sheet
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Press the puff pastry sheet onto a tart pan.
- Wash the zucchini and grate it, or cut it in a fine julienne on the mandoline. Put the zucchini over a strainer and sprinkle some salt over it. The salt will help to take out some moisture, so leave the grated zucchini on the strainer for a few minutes.
- Finely dice the mozzarella and crumble the feta. Set 1/4 of the crumbled feta aside as that will be used on the top.
- Crack the eggs in a bowl and add a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Remember that you have already salted the zucchini and the feta is quite salty itself, so it is not necessary to add more than a sprinkle to the eggs. Whisk for a couple of minutes by hand.
- Squeeze away any excess water from the zucchini and add them to the eggs. Add the mozzarella and feta. Mince the mint leaves and add them to the bowl - you can as well finely cut the leaves directly over the bowl with a pair of herb scissors. Stir to combine.
- Pour mixture over puff pastry crust. Sprinkle the remaining feta all over the top.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 200°C for 35 minutes.
I have made this quiche both with grated and julienned zucchini. In the version photographed for this post I cut the zucchini in a medium julienne on the mandoline. Made this way, the zucchini will stay fairly crunchy. When grated I noticed that it is easier to squeeze the water away, and the texture of the quiche will be overall softer. Your choice.
