Baby Friendly Finger Food Recipe - 1. Quiche

Delicious home made quiche

I love home made food. I find most ready made food too peppery. I think too much seasoning is added to hide the lack of taste of the ingredients. The problem is I don't really enjoy cooking. I rarely cook. So why write a post about cooking?

Well, Bear needed to be fattened up. He was a small baby and although he gained weight quickly he grew quicker! I wanted good quality food that he would like and would help to put on some ounces. I also needed "finger food", something different that could be prepared in advance and frozen in small batches.

I hadn't made my own pastry for about 30 years! Why bother when shop bought is so good and easy to use? We were trying to keep Bears salt intake to less than a gram a day and I didn't want any added salt in the pastry so decided to make my own. I wasn't sure what it would be like without salt as cooking is a science, remove one ingredient and the whole lot fails.

As you can see from the picture they turned out OK.

These freeze really well too and are ready when inspiration or time is short. They can be taken out of the freezer and defrosted overnight in the fridge or when needed just popped into a hot oven, whilst still frozen, and cooked for a few minutes. Because they have cheese in them they can hold the heat so ensure they have cooled before giving to your little one.

Bear absolutely loves them. This is how they were made.

Home Made Quiche

I used two 4" (10 cm) flan tins with removable bases.
Preheat the oven to 180°C 

Pastry

150g plain flour

75g unsalted butter 

Cold water

Filling

1 egg (yolk only if avoiding white)

Whole milk just a small amount
Dash of cream

Cheese grated, something that will melt like Cheddar
Onion finely chopped and fried until soft
Cod raw just cut into cubes

Vegetables your little one likes, I used;

Red Pepper chopped and fried until soft
Brocolli cooked until just soft
Peas defrosted, not cooked

I haven't given amounts of each vegetable as these are small quiches. You just need a little of each.  

A small mixture of veg and cod

Method

Pastry needs to be kept cold so work quickly and with your finger tips rub the flour and butter together until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add small amounts of water until the pastry forms a ball, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

Whilst the pastry is in the fridge preheat the oven to 180°C adjust the temperature if using a fan oven. 

Prepare the vegetables. Fry the onion and red pepper in a small amount of olive oil or unsalted butter until soft, about 5-10 mins.

Steam the broccoli for a few minutes just to soften.
Take the peas out of the freezer and allow to thaw.

Beat the egg, add the dash of cream and a little whole milk.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured surface.

Lightly grease your flan tins and put the pastry into them. You do not need to cut off the edges that hang over. Put a small piece of baking paper on the bottom and fill with baking beans. (I couldn't find mine so did it without, they turned out OK)

Bake the cases for 12 minutes at 180°C, remove the paper and baking beans if used, prick the bottoms if they have risen. Return to the oven for another 8-10 minutes. Take out when lightly browned.

Divide the fried onions and peppers, the other vegetables and fish equally between the 2 cases.

Grate some cheese on top and pour in the eggy mixture. If there isn't enough then add a little more whole milk to each quiche.

The one on the right is a little dry, it needed more milk.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until golden brown.

Allow to cool so you can remove the tins and check to see if you have a soggy bottom!

When completely cold cut into quarters and freeze.

Serve as a snack or part of a meal.

What's your favourite filling?