Light Bites Baking Lunch

Mouthwatering Salmon & Watercress Quiche

This rather fabulous salmon quiche recipe will go down a treat at a sunny picnic. It contains instructions to make lovely, buttery pastry from scratch, but if you're pushed for time you can always buy it ready made!

20 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling prep, 1 hour cook

Serves 6

Ingredients

Special Equipment

1 loose-bottomed fluted rectangular tart tin, 30cm x 20cm

For the shortcrust pastry (makes 350g)

200g plain flour

A generous pinch of salt

100g butter, well chilled and cut into small cubes

30g Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

1 medium egg yolk, beaten

About 3 tbsp ice-cold water

For the filling

3 salmon fillets (approx. 350g)

Juice of ½ a lemon

A good knob of unsalted butter

1 medium onion, finely sliced

200g new potatoes, ideally Jersey Royals, cut into 1.5cm chunks and parboiled

50g watercress (leaves picked and any tough stalks discarded), finely chopped

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill leaves

3 medium eggs, whisked

300ml double cream

½ tsp pink peppercorns, lightly crushed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter cubes and use your fingertips and thumbs to lightly rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the Parmesan (if using) and rub again until the cheese is mixed in evenly. Now add the beaten egg yolk and water, and use a round-bladed knife to combine the wet ingredients with the dry until the pastry comes together. Gather it up with your hands and knead very briefly into a ball on a lightly floured surface. Try not to handle it too much at this stage, or the fat will get warm and the pastry will become tricky to use and may turn out tough and chewy. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes before use.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick and line your tart tin with it, making sure the edge of the pastry stands just a little proud above the rim. Trim the edges, then prick the base with a fork and return it to the fridge for 30 minutes. Don’t be tempted to skip this step – it helps stop the pastry shrinking in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C/gas mark 6 and put a baking sheet in to heat up. Tear off a sheet of foil big enough to enclose all your salmon fillets and lay it on a work surface. Put the salmon in the middle, add the lemon juice and some salt and pepper, and scrunch to seal tightly. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool.

Take the pastry case out of the fridge, line with crumpled non-stick baking paper and fill with baking beans. Place in the oven on the hot baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the paper and beans and return the case to the oven for a further 5 minutes. This will allow the pastry base to dry out before you pile in the filling.

Reduce the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and let it soften for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then spoon into the pastry case. Thickly flake the salmon (discarding the skin) and scatter it over the onions with the parboiled potatoes and most of the chopped watercress and dill.

Whisk together the eggs and cream, season well with salt and pour into the pastry case. Scatter with the remaining watercress and dill and the peppercorns. Place on the hot baking sheet in the oven and bake for30 minutes or until the filling has just set and the top is turning golden.