quiche novice - please advise

[sharond101]

I have never made quiche before but am keen to try this week. I don't like cheese much and don't want to use cream. I have some shop bought shortcrust pastry to use up (I would normally make my own ). I have some cooked chicken, raw peppers, leeks and sweetcorn to use up. I also have bacon in the freezer. My dish is round and 20cm. Will this work.....
Blind baking the pastry for 10mins. Gently cooking the leeks and red peppers until softened then mixing up 4 eggs and adding milk then the chicken and vegetables and a little salt to season. The baking in the pastry shell. Will these be too bland? Do I need to add some cheese? Is there anything else I could add for flavour instead? I have some lovely red pesto but I can't think of how to incorporate that without it being in lumps.

You could always whisk a little of the pesto in with the milk and eggs, then it wouldn't be in lumps.

Have you any onions? I'd fry a little onion until softened with some chopped bacon and that will give a little more flavour.

Ohh thanks does 4 eggs sound right for a 20cm round tin? How much milk? How do you get it out of the tin?

Flavourings:
nutmeg
Mixed herbs
Tarragon or thyme
garlic
Grainy mustard

Pastry is self-greasing, so it should be OK, but if your tin is not loose based it would be worth greasing it and then putting a disc of baking parchment or bake-o-glide in the bottom. Then, if it does stick, you can slide a knife down the sides and the bottom will free itself.

I gave this a go today. I went to blind bake the pasty and after a few minutes cooking the sides collapsed. What did I do wrong?? Was the pastry too thin or should I have pressed it into the sides of the tin? I managed to reconstruct it by adding on more pastry and the result looks great albeit pretty obvious there has been a few problems. I used red peppers, leeks, red pesto and a tiny bit of cheese. Can't wait to eat it tomorrow.

How did you make the sides? When I put the pastry into the flan dish, I put it in as one piece, saggy at the bottom, release it from all around the top to stop it from breaking. Then lift the edges and use that to push/lever the pastry flat on tge bottom and right into the edge/corner. Then I press it into the sides or yes, it would collapse (sometimes it still does). Cut around outside edge of top and make pattern with thumb. Then I prick it all over with a fork, add greaseproof paper and beans (the beans can help prop up the edge.)