Broccoli quiche

When I buy broccoli, I never let it camp in the fridge for more than 24 hours. I can't stand finding little yellow spots on the flowers. 

One spot and I'm not interested any more. You never know when they'll show up, even if your broccoli is looking fresh when you buy it.

I also have a sensitive eye to the way fresh broccoli looks. In the winter months, the flower looks tight. Like one that hasn't bloomed yet. Not nice. In the spring, I can take broccoli in my hand and it feels loose and ripe. Nice! 

My relationship with the green leafy vegetable has been long and complicated. During my flying years in New York, I could not get enough of it and baked Alaskan salmon. I mastered my recipe to the perfection. The salmon was never over-baked and broccoli was never over-cooked. And then, I took a long break from liking it. And then, I was eating it again. I either love it or hate it. 

I bought broccoli last week. Its day in the fridge was coming to an end so, I just cooked it and ate it. Not bad. So, I bought it again and this morning I was determined to come up with some recipe that included broccoli and...not just me. Quiche. I had cream, eggs, cheese and a proven recipe for short pastry. And four brand new, pretty, small baking forms that wanted to be photographed badly. 

The small quiches are lovely and delicious. The broccoli is creamy and tasty, almost blends with the filling. The pastry turned out fine. The little quiche came out of the form like a pro. I'm impressed!

Recipe by Gray Apron
time: 15 min preparation + 1 hr inactive + 35 min baking = 1hr 50 min

ingredients

• 1 broccoli (the head fit in my two hands)
• 200 ml (about 1 cup) whipping cream
• 3 eggs
• 100 g (3.5 oz) sweet Gorgonzola cheese, diced
• 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon (2 g) salt
• pinch of pepper
• pinch of nutmeg
• short pastry

instructions

1. Prepare short pastry. Pre-bake it.
2. Preheat oven to 205C/400F (fan forced function).
3. Prepare filling. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with whipping cream to combine. Add diced Gorgonzola, parsley, salt, pepper and nut meg. Mix it together. Set it aside.
4. Prepare broccoli. Bring to boil a medium/large pot of water with 2 Tablespoons of salt. Prepare a medium bowl with ice water. Cut off evenly sized (about 1-2 inch/2.5-5 cm) florets. If you want to use stems, you need to peel them and cook them 5 minutes longer. Add them to the boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes. Strain and transfer to the bowl with ice water for a minute. Strain again. 
5. Arrange cooked broccoli pieces on the pre-baked pastry shells. Pour filling on top. Place it in a hot oven for about 35 minutes, till browned on top.  Take it out of the oven. I like to wait, if I can, and eat mine about 1 hour later.