Smoked Haddock and Saffron Quiche - Lab Lunch

Our new cooking club at work: Every Monday one of us (out of three at the moment - let's see how popular it becomes) gets to bring in lunch. I was up first, so after all my talk about food, leaving science to do food, and showing off cakes, I had to think of something impressive.

As ever, Good Food to the rescue (November issue). I needed something that could be eaten cold (due to the lack of kitchen facilities at work), and was light enough for lunch, so I went with a smoked haddock and saffron quiche, with fennel and rocket salad. The recipe was for mussels, but I wasn't going to risk that!

I've never made a quiche before. I've never even made pastry before! So, as it was a rather risky first attempt for sharing lunch, so I made mini ones as well, just to check!

First, to make the pastry, put 250 g plain flour, 140 g butter and some salt in a mixer and process into breadcrumb-like mixture. Add a large egg and 1 tbsp cold milk and pulse until the dough comes together, then shape it into a disk, wrap in cling film and stick it in the fridge for an hour.

Roll the pastry out on a floured surface, until it's about £1 coin-thick, and line your tins with it. Put some greaseproof paper on the pastry, some ceramic baking beans (been watching GBBO!) and chill.

Next, bake the pastry cases for about 15 minutes at gas 7, then remove the paper and beans, and brush the pastry with beaten egg yolk and milk. Lower the gas to gas 3.

To make the filling, lightly beat together two eggs and 200 ml double cream. Then once you have pre-baked the pastry, scatter in whatever you like for the filling - I added chopped spring onions, smoked haddock chunks, a few saffron strands, and some grated cheddar cheese. Pour over the egg/cream mix, and bake for about 20 minutes. You can serve warm, or at room temperature (which is handy when you take it to work!)

We also had a rocket and chopped fennel salad, with some lemon and olive oil dressing.

Smoked Haddock and Saffron Quiche

And just to check my cake skills are still in working order, there was a little bit of Rachel Allen's chocolate mousse cake for afters.

Chocolate mousse cake

I think I got away with it this time...