RED HOT QUICHE

You know when you wake up sometimes and just go "oooh I really fancy that for tea tonight". Well
that's the feeling I got this morning and my craving was for a good homemade quiche. Sitting in my fridge was some cooking chorizo, roasted red peppers, red chili and cherry tomatoes. All beautifully glowing ruby ingredients that I thought would work amazingly together hence the birth of my "Red Hot Quiche". A spicy, smoky and sweet dish that was exactly what I wanted!

Now this recipe much like my butternut squash quiche can be made from scratch which will produce the best version overall. However if you are stuck for time or simply cant be bothered you can roll out some shop bought pastry instead of making form scratch. The same can be said for the onion chutney too! Leave it out or replace it with a layer of tomato salsa or puree which will work well with the flavours of the chili and chorizo.

If you do have plenty of time though I really suggest you try the recipe in full below, it is really the best version.

Red Hot Quiche

For The Pastry

250g Plain Flour

125g Cold Cubed Butter

1 Tbsp Dried Thyme

2 Egg Yolks

Pinch Of Salt

For The Chutney

2 Chopped Red Onions

1 Grated Clove Of Garlic

1 Knob Of Butter

1 Tbsp Demerara Sugar

2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tbsp Red Wine

For The Filling

100g Finely Chopped Chorizo

2 Large Chopped Roasted Red Peppers

2 Finely Chopped Red Chili's

2 Eggs

150ml Whole Milk

4 Tbsp Creme Fraiche

10 Halved Cherry Tomatoes

100g Grated Cheese

Plenty Of Salt and Pepper To Season

1. Begin with the pastry. Weigh out your flour in a bowl and then add the cubed butter With cold hands, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add in the thyme and mix it through the crumbs.
2. Add in the egg yolks and bring the dough together with your hand. If the dough is not coming together properly add in a tbsp of cold water at a time until it does.
3. Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in cling film. Place in the fridge to firm up.
4. Into a saucepan on a medium heat, add the 2 chopped onions, garlic and butter and cook for around 20 minutes, stirring regularly until the onions are soft. If the onions begin to stick to the pan, turn down the heat and add a smidge bit more butter to loosen them up.
5. After the 20 minutes, add the sugar, red wine vinegar and red wine and on a low heat, simmer for around 15-20 minutes until all the liquid has reduced away and you are left with
   
   some beautiful sticky onions. Take off the heat and leave to one side.
6. Take the pastry out your fridge and roll out nice and thinly to fill the base and sides of a deep 20cm tart tin, ideally loose bottomed. Make sure there are no holes in the pastry as you don't want the quiche filling to seep through later.
7. Trim all over hanging edges with a knife and then place back in the fridge. Start to pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees (160
   
   fan) whilst you for the pastry to firm in the fridge.
8. Now take your pastry from the fridge and prick the base a couple of times with a fork before covering with baking paper and tipping in a tub of baking beans. Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes before removing the beans and baking for a further 5 minutes.
9. Whilst the pastry bakes take the chorizo, chili and peppers and flash fry on a high heat for 5 minutes to remove any excess moisture and the chorizo is just starting to crisp. Remove  from the heat and leave to one side to cool.
10. Next take the eggs, creme fraiche and milk and whisk together in a bowl before seasoning well with salt and pepper. Leave to one side.
11. Once the pastry is blind baked remove from the oven and then wait until everything has cooled. If you put the warm fillings in now you are in danger of the dreaded soggy bottom.
12. Once everything has cooled, Spread the onion chutney evenly across the base of the chutney making sure you spread right up to the edges.
13. Next, arrange the half cherry tomatoes even on top of the chutney followed by the chili chorizo mix. Make sure all the ingredients are spread out evenly so every slice had a bit of all the action.
14. Cover everything with the cheese and then Pour over the milk mixture until it just reaches the top of the pastry. Its OK if you don't use all the milk or if it doesn't cover all the veg. The veg that sticks out the top gives it delicious appearance which will make it look absolutely scrummy.
15. Put the quiche back in the oven for around 30 minutes until the filling looks set with the faintest bit of a wobble in middle if you give it a little jiggle.
16. Remove from the oven and allow to cool inside the tin before removing from the tin and transfer to a wire rack. Leave on the base though, this will make it easier to slice your quiche up later.

Served warm or cold each slice will be pack with smoky chili heat which really components the cooling effects of the onion chutney. Serve with a fresh salad or even some of my spicy potato wedges of you are really in the mood for a spicy supper.

What's even better is if left overnight the flavours really meld together and to resist a nice cold slice straight from the fridge the next day is nigh on impossible.

Red hot by name and red hot by taste too!