Lemon and Balsamic Roasted Carrots, Goats Cheese and Thyme Quiche

This recipe is a modified version of this one I found on the brilliant Cook Vegetarian website. If you haven't ever seen the Cook Veg website I'd strongly recommend it as it has lots of interesting and unusual recipes. You can create an account and favourite recipes you like the look of for later use; I've been revisiting my 'plan to cook' saved recipe from the site recently, so expect a few appearing on this blog in the near future. This quiche was lovely and quite unusual, and it was also great cold. The goats cheese flavour is very strong in this recipe, so if you'd rather tone it down a bit, you could substitute half for cheddar or other flavoured cheese.

Most of the changes I made to this recipe were quantity based as they were all wrong (in my opinion) on the original website. I also added balsamic vinegar on a whim, and used double cream. I've put instructions for making the pastry from scratch, but if you don't have the time/inclination, just buy ready made shortcrust pastry.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:
220g flour
110g butter
cold water

For the quiche filling:
3-4 carrots (approx)
Juice and zest of half a lemon
Dash of balsamic vinegar
125g goats cheese
3 eggs
150 ml milk
150 ml double cream (or replace with an additional 150ml milk for a lower fat option)
Dried thyme
Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C / 400 degrees F / gas mark 6

To make the pastry:
1. Rub the butter and flour together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add small amounts of water gradually, mixing after each addition until the mixture holds together into a ball.

2. Wrap the pastry in cling film and put in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

To make the quiche:

1. For this recipe I used 3 medium sized carrots, but you may need more/less depending on the size. Wash and peel carrots, and, one at a time, cut and arrange in an empty 9 inch pie dish until you have filled it as much as you wish; for example as I did, shown in the picture below:

2. Parboil the carrots, drain and add to a baking dish. Drizzle with oil, balsamic vinegar, and the juice and zest of half a lemon. Roast in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes until cooked through. Set to one side.

3. Meanwhile, grease the pie dish, remove the pastry from the fridge, roll out into a shape larger than the dish and line with the pastry. Prick with a fork and bake blind for 20 - 25 minutes.

4. Remove the pastry from the oven and line with the baked carrots. Crumble the goats cheese over the top, along with thyme and some salt and pepper.

5. In a measuring jug, measure out the 300ml milk/cream mixture. Add the eggs and beat thoroughly, before pouring over the pie case.

6. Bake in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes until the crust and quiche filling are cooked. Serve warm or cold.