Mediterranean Mini Quiches

I tell you, it doesn’t take me much to make me happy. One thing is to have a well stocked pantry and a few extra ‘luxury’ ingredients. I was scrounging for something a little bit nicer for lunch one day and I spotted the jar of olives and roasted capsicums I had in the fridge. I also had some feta cheese and ham and immediately thought of something mediterranean. I was reminded of Laney’s Pancetta crusted quiches she cooked for the Blogger cook off final a couple weeks ago and decided to line the quiches with ham I had in the fridge.

They were really easy to throw together and made all that much nicer with some of my favourite ingredients, olives and roasted capsicum. Using the ham as the ‘pastry’ case made it a little lighter than using pastry.

They don’t have to be Mediterranean. You could use leftover roast or grated vegetables, cheese, ham, tuna, corn, onion, herbs, mushrooms and the list goes on. Make smaller sized quiches for a bite sized canapé.

Serve with a side salad for a light, filling lunch. I’ve got some in the freezer too for a quick lunch.

Mediterranean Mini Quiches

• 6 slices ham, pancetta or bacon
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs water
• Kalamata olives, roasted capscium, feta cheese
• 1 tbs dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• salt & pepper
• oil spray

1. Spray inside 6 Texas sized muffin tray.
2. Line each with a slice of ham.
3. Beat eggs, add water and add other ingredients.
4. Pour into ham case.
5. Bake on 170 deg C (350 deg F) until set on top (approx 15 mins).
6. Serve with a salad or vegetables.

Serves 6.

Mini Spinach & Ricotta Quiches

We were invited to a Christening yesterday. I hadn’t been to one in ages. Now that my children are turning 8 and 6 this year, I don’t have too much to do with babies as most of my friends have children the same age, except this one who had a baby earlier this year, her fourth. What a trooper she is. A wonderful cake maker, mother, wife and friend. I thought I’d take something and using what I had on hand, I whipped up these mini spinach and ricotta quiches.

I love having frozen puff pastry on hand because you can whip up anything for a party with that and just about anything else you’ve got lurking in the fridge or pantry.

A couple of fridge and freezer staples and you’ve got the making of a quick party snack or a luscious lunch time treat or family dinner tart.

I love the way a quiche comes out of the oven all puffed up. I think I’ll be making these again. Low in calories but high in flavour and taste.

Mini Spinach

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& Ricotta Quiches

• 1 sheet frozen reduced fat puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs low fat ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 2 tbs chopped, cooked spinach (I used 1 small block of frozen spinach)
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• salt & pepper
• 2 tbs grated cheese
• oil spray for pan

1. Prepare pan by spraying well with oil spray.
2. Cut out pastry rounds from thawed pastry. (One sheet of pastry yielded 9 mini quiches.)
3. Beat egg and add, ricotta, skim milk, spinach, garlic and salt & pepper. Mix well.
4. Place tablespoons of mixture into prepared pastry cases and top with grated cheese.
5. Bake in a 180 deg C oven (approx 350 deg F) for approx 15 mins or until golden brown and pastry is cooked.

And if you’re in the Brisbane area and ever in need of that hard to find cake tin, my dear friend will most likely have it available to hire or she might even find the time to make it for you at a great price. She’s an excellent cake maker.

Brisbane Cake Tin Hire

Website:  Brisbane Cake Tin Hire
Email:  caketins@gmail.com