I more often make a quiche with this crust than with pastry nowadays. It has no flour in it so is gluten free. Please don’t let that put you off making it as it is a really nice alternative to a pastry crust.

I do several different fillings, depending what we have. I’ll add them when I make them. But generally any filling will be good.

Ingredients to fill a 25cm deep tart tin

• 100 grams uncooked quinoa
• 200ml water
• 1 veg or chicken stock pot
• 75 grams ground almonds
• 40 grams grated parmesan
• 20 grams sesame seeds
• 1 large egg
• a pinch or two of salt

Method

• Thoroughly rinse the quinoa in cold water this removes any bitterness.
• Place the quinoa, water and stock pot into a saucepan which has a lid and bring to the boil.
• Once boiling let it simmer for 20 minutes
• Turn off the heat and let it absorb any moisture for another 10 minutes. You can cook this in advance, it doesn’t need to be warm, in fact it’s better if it is cold.
• Heat the oven to Gas 4, 180C, 160C fan.
• Thoroughly grease your tart tin and line the base. If there is any chance of anything sticking in your tin grease it even more thoroughly! Given half the chance this crust will stick.
• In a bowl mix together the ground almonds, parmesan, sesame seeds, salt, cooked quinoa and egg.
• Then spoon it into your tart tin and push it up the edges, making an even covering with no holes.
• Cook in the oven for 20 minutes until the edges are starting to go golden. I tend to turn the oven off and let it cool down with the oven door open, this dries the base out a touch more.
• You now have a crust that is ready to fill.

Chicken, Bacon and Feta

Ingredients

• 3 rashers of bacon cut into half inch pieces
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 leek sliced (optional)
• Left over roast chicken diced into bite sized chunks
• 2-4 mushrooms sliced
• Half a block of feta cheese, diced into half inch chunks
• 5 eggs
• 125ml cream, I use soya to reduce the amount of fat by a fraction
• A grating of cheddar cheese

Method

• Heat the oven to Gas 4, 180C, 160C fan
• Cook through the bacon in a frying pan. Lift out and put to one side.
• Now sweat the onion and leek with the garlic in what is left of the bacon fat. If there is not much fat add a nob of butter.
• Spread these and the bacon evenly in the quiche crust.
• Add the chicken, mushroom and feta.
• Mix together the eggs and cream adding some salt and pepper. Then pour this over the contents of the quiche evenly. Depending on how much filling I have I start off with three or four eggs, but it quite often needs a bit more. The filling wants to just sit proud of the egg custard.
• Grate some cheddar over the top.
• Bake for 40 minutes, checking to see if it needs turning round after 20 minutes and again after 30 to see if it has set in the middle.
• Once set and golden bring out of the oven and let it set for a few minutes before taking the outer ring away, this may need a touch of encouragement.

Enjoy!