Mediterranean vegetable and herb quiche - gluten free

I have been secretly working in the background perfecting a tasty gluten free pastry that is suitable for using as a quiche base. If you make pastry with just standard gluten free flour its rather tasteless and very crumby and grainy, I have made gluten free pastry using cheese to help bind it and create flour but was looking for something a little less cheesy (pardon the pun) so I thought I would experiment with mixing buckwheat flour with normal GF flour and voila it works, creating a more wholemeal style pastry which is tasty when used as a quiche base.

I decided to make a filling using the ubiquitus courgette, pimped by the addition of a little chopped sun dried tomato and some garden fresh herbs

Excellent hot or cold this quiche it makes a great family meal, also would be ideal in a lunch box with some salad.

What you need

• 100g plain gluten free flour
• 100g buckwheat flour (ensure gluten free - not all is)
• 125g salted butter - cold
• Few sprigs of fresh thyme - chopped finely
• 4 - 6 tbsp cold water
• Egg - beaten 
• A loose bottomed quiche tin - about 24cm across - Lightly brushed with oil

For the filling

• 3 small courgettes - topped and tailed and chopped into thin slices
• 2-3 shallots - peeled and finely chopped
• Chopped sun dried tomatoes
• Thyme, oregano and rosemary - chopped
• Olive oil
• 300ml creme fraiche
• 3 eggs
• Freshly ground Pepper
• 100g cheddar cheese - coarsely grated

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 190c
• To make the pastry its easiest by food processor, add the flours, thyme and cold butter, blitz until its a rough breadcrumb texture.
• Add the cold water little by little with the processor running until the pstry just starts to ball
• Tip onto a lightly floured surface and form a ball
• Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes before rolling to  fit your quiche tin.
• Chill again for about 10 minutes or so before baking the case blind for about 15 minutes, remove your baking beads (rice works well)
• Brush with a little beaten egg and then bake again for 10 minutes, remove from oven.
• Now we will make the filling , fry off the shallots and courgettes until softened, add the chopped sun dried tomatoes and herbs to the pan, allow to cool slightly.
• Add the vegetables to the quiche base, place on a baking tray ready to fill with the egg mixture
• Mix the eggs and creme fraiche together and pour over the vegetables, top off the quiche with the grated cheese.
• Bake for 35 minutes or so until golden and just a little wobbly in the middle.
• Serve slightly cooled or cold

I'm linking up to Cooking with Herbs - the theme this month being mediterrean food, this post contains thyme, oregano and rosemary. Hosted this month over at Lavender and Lovage.

And also to Tea Time Treats which is sharing the same theme as Cooking with Herbs, hosted this month by The Hedgecombers.

Lastly to Simple and in Season hosted this month by Franglais Kitchen.

Fresh handmade tagliatelle and tomato sauce with sun dried tomatoes and creme fraiche

We are so happy to be invited to take part in a one off return of #BoothsCheers for the launch of Booths family of won label Italian wines. The selection includes a Chanti, Gavi Gavi, Pinot Grigio and a Prosecco all carefully sourced for the finest Italian vineyards by Booths.

We have devised this quick supper dish to perfectly complement the Pinot Grigio which is delicious chilled, the slight acidity of the wine perfectly cutting the creamy edge to the tomato sauce. The pasta of course is homemade using our homelaid eggs.

Pasta Ingredients ( per portion)

• 100g pasta flour
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• splash of water 

Pasta Method

• Sieve your flour and salt onto your work surface making a volcano crater like hole in the middle for your egg(s)
• Drop your egg(s) in to the hole

• Mix with your fingers until you have combined all the egg and have a soft sticky dough
• Knead this for about 5-7 minutes
• Leave to rest for approx 15 - 20 minutes , wrapped loosely in cling or a plastic bag, divide the dough by half to ease rolling out.
• If you don't have a pasta machine then you are now going to roll the pasta out manually, roll up your sleeve and flour your work surface well, Roll out until very thin and you can see a tea towel through the rolled out dough. 
• If using a pasta machine then put the dough through the machine on each setting approximately 5 /6 times, until the dough is smooth and very thin.

• Now leave the dough to dry for 10 minutes or so, on a clean  tea towel

• Cut the pasta into your desired shapes, I used my machine to make tagliatelle

• Toss in flour or polenta until ready to cook

• Cook by adding to boiling salted water , the pasta is cooked when it rises to the top of the water
• Drain and do as the italian's do and tosh the pasta with the sauce in the pan
• Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Sauce Ingredients

• 1 clove of garlic - crushed
• 1 tin of tomatoes - crushed
• 1tbsp tomato puree
• 3 tbsp creme friache
• 1 tbsp sun dried tomatoes - chopped
• Flat leaf parsley - chopped
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive oil or oil off sun dried tomatoes
• Splash balsamic vinegar

Sauce Method

• Heat a little oil in a saucepan and gently fry the garlic until lightly golden
• Add the tin of tomatoes and the tomato puree to the pan, cook on a gentle simmer for 5 minutes
• Next add the sun dried tomatoes and the splash of balsamic
• Cook for a couple of minutes longer, remove from heat and stir in the creme fraiche and parsley
• Bring back to hot , but don't boil as your creme fraiche may split.
• Taste for seasoning and dress the pasta.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan and a glass of #BoothsCheers Pinot Grigio