Summer quiche and pie crust

I know that summer is not the usual time when people want to get into the kitchen and bake, but all of the summer bounty of vegetables and fruit incite in me a desire to try new things no matter the temperature. Though it has been warm and sunny in London this summer, enough that it actually feels like a summer, I know it is nowhere near the usual summers in the southern US. Still, a girl can dream and go along with season appropriate food, like quiche. Quiche can be eaten hot or cold and can incorporate all sorts of summer flavours which means it is the perfect, easy food for lunch or dinner.

Another great thing about quiche is I have the chance to make pie crust, one of my most favorite things to make. I know that many people have trouble with shortcrust dough as it is persnickety and often fickle in temperament. It can get that way sometimes for me too. Pie dough was one of the first things that my grandmother taught me to make and to me it is calming to mix, roll and shape the dough into a pie pan. Plus, when you get it right there is a sense of accomplishment when something so simple comes together to make a pretty dish.

Quiche was surprisingly easy to make, or at least the pared down version of the recipe I actually used. I used the pie crust recipe from grandma, which is 1/2 cup butter, 1 1/4 cups flour, dash of salt and 2-3 Tablespoons of cold water. When the dough forms a ball, sprinkle flour on a counter top or board and on the dough ball as well to begin rolling the pie crust.

Roll in many directions until you have a vaguely roundish shape larger than your dish.

Transferring the rolled crust to the pie dish should not break the crust if the dough is right. If you fold the rolled crust in half and move it to the dish, it should unfold nicely without any tears or dropped bits.

Then I pressed the dough into the pie dish and ran a knife around the top to cut off the excess dough, (Save this for another tasty treat below!) then pinched the top to give it a finished edge. This also helps keep things in the dish.

After parbaking the pie crust for about 8 minutes, I lined it with sliced courgettes and tomatoes and I was trying to make this quiche presentable. You can probably just throw some veggies into the crust and it will taste just as good, but sometimes you want the food to look just as good as it tastes.

I combined three eggs, maybe 1/4 cup single cream, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil and poured it on top of the veggies in the pie crust.

A sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top and into the over for 30 or so minutes on 375 F/180 C.

And it comes out looking so pretty!

Now what about that extra dough I hear you say?

When Grandma taught me to make pie dough, we would always have some left over from the crusts we were making. With the extra dough Grandma would make something she called a sugar packet, which I think she picked up from her mother. Basically, you roll out a tiny crust and fill the inside with sugar and cinnamon, then fold it over like a turnover and bake. The best part is to eat the sugar packet warm so the cinnamon-sugar mixture is still warm and gooey.

Dinner and dessert all in one pie crust!

A very English summer

I have figured out a few things in the past couple of days:

1) The official start of seasons always seemed off to me, living in the southern US, but this year it all makes perfect sense. As if on cue, the weather has changed in the UK to accommodate the official calendar start of seasons. It doesn't always happen this way, but this year we are experiencing all four (!) seasons in London. Right now, we are on summer and actually have the heat and sunshine to prove it! I'm not a huge fan of hot weather, though I appreciate actually having the seasonal weather to match the time of year.

2) I like tennis. We went to the Wimbledon tournament this past weekend and saw some great athletes. Though the day was long, I really got into the tennis. Previously, Wimbledon would be something I would flick past on a Saturday afternoon and watch for a little while if it was an exciting game, nothing more. Now, I might pay more attention to the sport, or at least during Wimbledon.

3) We indulged in two of the the three things that are the epitome of an English summer: Pimm's and lemonade and strawberries and cream. (The other is barbecues.) Ok, the strawberries and cream might be specific to Wimbledon, though strawberries have been flooding the grocery stores for the past month and continue to do so throughout summer.

As there have been so many strawberries around, I have wanted to do something with them. But they never seem to last long around me. I (almost) literally wolf them down with a drenching of cream, or dip them in powdered sugar.

I sincerely love strawberries and eating them with cream just seems to make me think of the carefree days of summer during childhood, a light summer breeze and dappled sunshine, tea parties and sun dresses. Maybe it is that strawberries and cream is so pure and good without needing anything else save a splash of sugar that throws me back to a playful and younger state, days when the sunshine meant playtime.

This is most definitely my dessert of choice for the English summer.