All for One

Torta Salata con Zucchine, Feta, Peperoni, Pancetta e Menta
Savory Quiche with Zucchini, Feta Cheese, Bell Peppers, Bacon and Mint

Sometimes it's the little things that make us happiest of all. Please people- no rude comments! This is a serious blog and I am writing about a seriously tasty little dish I came up with this evening. Armed only with puff-pastry and a few basic ingredients, I did battle with my hunger- and won! So if you are ready- take a peek and I will tell you how I did it...

I used a rather unusual method to prepare the base for my quiche...

I laid my circle of puff-pastry, over an inverted metal bowl and then baked it in a hot oven for around 10 minutes, until it began to brown,  then flipped it back over and removed the bowl. This left the pastry in a slightly concave shape... not sturdy enough to stand up as a bowl, but still "deep" enough for us to fill it with some great ingredients and then pour beaten eggs on top... which is basically all that I did here. Like I said- these little things and the simple one are the ones that are often best! So first things first: whilst the pastry is baking, let us cut a little bacon into slices and start frying it in a dry Teflon pan... there is loads of fat in bacon! We don't need to add any more!

Remove the bacon as soon as it is crispy and brown and dry on a paper towel... and in the meantime, finely slice some zucchini and some peppers and fry them in the fat and juices that the bacon gave off. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and set to one side to cool a little. Whilst the vegetables are cooling, beat together a couple of eggs, add a shot of milk, salt, pepper and Tabasco. And you are almost ready to go!



I started out with the peppers at the bottom, then crumbled the Feta cheese on top. I then layered the zucchini on top of that and carefully poured on some of the egg mixture. I did this slowly and made sure that the egg "royale" flowed into and filled all the little spaces between all of the other ingredients. I then crumbled on a little more cheese, and poured over the remaining egg mix and my little individual quiche was all ready to be baked!

Baking took all of 10 minutes, so I chopped some Mint leaves as finely as I could, all ready to be sprinkled over our quiche in just a few minutes time...

Serve with a few cherry tomatoes, a little fresh parsley and the finely shredded mint leaves. And be astounded by how delicious this little devil is!