Also, the word caramelised has always put me off in the past. I've tried caramelising fennel, onions, and an assortment of other such root vegetables... they've all been one failure after another. I suppose this time I was just mentally prepared for all the wrong that could happen, so it worked! And ooh baby, the smell of that caramelised garlic wafting around your kitchen is hella good.
If you live in a tropical country and your body temperature just tends to run hot... you might wanna invest in a food processor with which you can create a perfect shortcrust pastry every single time. I used to suffer over these things with my hands, trying to keep them cool by always running them under water. But my crust always turned out way too hard. I got my Kenwood food processor for Christmas last year, and as a result I've been making various pastries I was always too afraid to try almost every other week!
Without further ado, here's the recipe for my Caramelised Garlic & Gruyere Quiche
Shortcrust Pastry
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 113g stick cold butter, cut into small cubes
- 4 - 5 tbsp ice cold water
- Preheat the oven to 200C and prepare your tart pan by greasing with a light layer of butter
- Combine the flour, salt and sugar in the food processor and blend for a moment to ensure everything has mixed
- Then cut the butter in bit by bit and pulse after each addition until the mixture resembles coarse pebbles
- Pour in 3 tbsp of the ice cold water and whizz until it begins to come together, pour in the remaining water gradually (I find that 4 tbsp is enough) until it looks like it does in the picture below
- Shake the batter out onto a piece of baking paper and pat down into an oval shape, then let it sit for 30 minutes
- When ready to bake, roll the batter out into a large circle and press into the tart pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes then remove from the oven to fill with quiche goodness
Cheese layer: I used a block of Swiss Gruyere, and a block of mature cheddar. Grated these both and then layered them into the baked crust, leaving roughly 3/4 cup of gruyere to top the quiche with later
- 2 heads garlic, cloves peeled individually
- Olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 220 ml water
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tbsp chopped rosemary leaves, plus extra sprigs to use later
- 1 tsp dried/fresh thyme
- In a small, non-stick saucepan, blanch the garlic cloves in water for up to 8 minutes (or until the water boils, then let it simmer for a bit) then drain the water and put the slightly softened garlic aside
- Return the saucepan to the heat and heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil. When it's hot, put the garlic cloves back in and fry for roughly 3 - 4 minutes
- Add the water and bring to a boil, then let it simmer and add the balsamic vinegar, caster sugar, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper
- Simmer for up to 10 minutes, or until the water has reduced to just cover the bottom of the pan (and not the garlic cloves). Remove from heat and scatter over the cheese layer
- 2 eggs
- 200ml cooking cream
- Salt
- Pepper
- Whisk all ingredients together and pour over the entire quiche mixture, then crack some extra pepper and scatter your rosemary leaves, and cover with the left over cheese. Pop into the oven, lower the temperature to 160C and bake for 45 minutes.
Caramelised garlic is the new white meat in my books, my friends, LOL. This beautifully sweet and complex flavour, with the smoky gruyere cheese and the almost floral taste of rosemary... all soaked in a giant omelette, it's just my version of a love song to my family.
I really hope some of you try this recipe, it takes roughly 30 minutes to prepare and you'll have it ready for a nice Sunday lunch! So so so so soooo beautiful, guys.
Have a good weekend, much love x
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