These quantities are enough to make 2 quiches. If you only want one, halve everything, but it’s no more work to make two. If you want to freeze one, it freezes really well in slices in ziplocks.
To make the pastry: sift 8 ounces of plain (tout usage) flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Add 2 ounces of marge and 2 ounces of Crisco (solid vegetable oil), blend with magic pastry fork. When it is like breadcrumbs, add enough cold water to mix. Chill and roll if you have time and are neat, squidge directly into quiche dishes otherwise. This is standard shortcrust pastry, by the way, you can use it for all sorts of things.
Pre-heat oven to 180C while you’re neatly rolling (or more likely messily squidging) the pasrty.
Put the dishes, lined with pastry, into the oven.
Put a slosh of olive oil in a frying pan, on a low heat.
Take 6 big onions. Cut one in half length-ways, so you have half the top and half the tail on each half. Remove the skin from one half. Put it on a chopping board and remove the head bit, the end without roots. Make parallel cuts in the onion, from the head towards the tail, not going all the way into the tail. For quiche you want them close together so you can have long thin strips. Then cut once across the tail, freeing all the strips. Repeat with the other half of the onion and then all the other onions. This takes me about 5 minutes for 6 onions. It will take longer until you get used to it. The reason for all this faff is to prevent onion-tears. This is just the best way to cut onions. If you want little pieces, for other things, you can do the parallel cuts in both directions. It’s really easy.
Saute the onions in the frying pan. stirring from time to time. When partly cooked, add a sprinkle of salt, a sprinkle of black pepper, a sprinkle of sugar to encourage the onions to caramelize a bit, and more tarragon than you can believe. No, more than that. You want a big handful of tarragon. A really big handful.
When the onions are cooked, take the quiche bases out of the oven. They’ll only be a little bit cooked, and that’s fine.
Sprinkle a handful of grated cheese on the bottom of each one.
Divide the onions evenly between the dishes.
If you want to make them different, this is the time to do it. You can add ham to one, and goat cheese to the other. Or not.
Add another handful of cheese on top of the onions.
Put half a pint of milk and 4 eggs into a jug, beat with a fork until the eggs are all beaten in.
Divide this milky-egg glop evenly between the two dishes.
Remember that the dishes have been in the oven and are hot. Be really careful picking them up to put back in!
Bake for 40 minutes until golden brown on top and done looking.
This isn’t half as hard as it sounds, and it makes a really good vegetarian option for dinner or picnics. Good hot or cold.
