The season of enchantment is finally here, creating a vibrant green palette of seasonal veg – and there’s no better way to celebrate good produce than by framing it with crisp golden pastry
Trout, spring onion and wild garlic quiche
Serves 4-6 Hands-on time 30 min, plus chilling and cooling Oven time 1 hour 15 min Specialist kit 20cm round deep cake tin
EASY SWAPS
If you can’t find any wild garlic, you can use another soft herb such as chives or dill.
• 300g plain flour, plus extra to dust
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 160g salted butter, chilled and chopped
• 1 medium free-range egg, beaten
• 60ml ice-cold water
For the filling
• 240g trout fillets, any small bones removed
• 150ml double cream
• 20g wild garlic (see Easy Swaps)
• 5 medium free-range eggs
• 150g crème fraîche
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
1First make the pastry: mix the flour and fennel seeds in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs (or pulse everything in a food processor). Make a well in the centre and add half the beaten egg (save the rest for the filling), plus a little of the cold water. Mix with a butter knife, adding the rest of the cold water a little at a time until it comes together as a dough (you might not need all the water). Tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly to bring it together into a disc. Wrap and chill for 1 hour.
2Heat the oven to 200°C fan/gas 7. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to about 5mm thick, then transfer to the cake tin. The pastry should come quite a way up the sides but not to the top – trim it if needed to give a neat edge. Line with a sheet of scrunched-up baking paper and fill with baking beans (or uncooked rice/lentils). Put the tin on a baking tray and blind bake the pastry for 20 minutes. Remove the beans (or rice/lentils) and paper and bake for another 5 minutes until dry and sandy to the touch. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C fan/gas 6.
3While the pastry bakes, prepare the filling. Season the trout with salt and put in a small pan. Add the cream, then remove the stalks from the wild garlic and add them to the pan (reserving the leaves). Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, then cover and remove from the heat. Set aside for 10 minutes to cook through. Put the wild garlic
