Mediterranean vegetable and herb quiche - gluten free

I have been secretly working in the background perfecting a tasty gluten free pastry that is suitable for using as a quiche base. If you make pastry with just standard gluten free flour its rather tasteless and very crumby and grainy, I have made gluten free pastry using cheese to help bind it and create flour but was looking for something a little less cheesy (pardon the pun) so I thought I would experiment with mixing buckwheat flour with normal GF flour and voila it works, creating a more wholemeal style pastry which is tasty when used as a quiche base.

I decided to make a filling using the ubiquitus courgette, pimped by the addition of a little chopped sun dried tomato and some garden fresh herbs

Excellent hot or cold this quiche it makes a great family meal, also would be ideal in a lunch box with some salad.

What you need

• 100g plain gluten free flour
• 100g buckwheat flour (ensure gluten free - not all is)
• 125g salted butter - cold
• Few sprigs of fresh thyme - chopped finely
• 4 - 6 tbsp cold water
• Egg - beaten 
• A loose bottomed quiche tin - about 24cm across - Lightly brushed with oil

For the filling

• 3 small courgettes - topped and tailed and chopped into thin slices
• 2-3 shallots - peeled and finely chopped
• Chopped sun dried tomatoes
• Thyme, oregano and rosemary - chopped
• Olive oil
• 300ml creme fraiche
• 3 eggs
• Freshly ground Pepper
• 100g cheddar cheese - coarsely grated

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 190c
• To make the pastry its easiest by food processor, add the flours, thyme and cold butter, blitz until its a rough breadcrumb texture.
• Add the cold water little by little with the processor running until the pstry just starts to ball
• Tip onto a lightly floured surface and form a ball
• Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes before rolling to  fit your quiche tin.
• Chill again for about 10 minutes or so before baking the case blind for about 15 minutes, remove your baking beads (rice works well)
• Brush with a little beaten egg and then bake again for 10 minutes, remove from oven.
• Now we will make the filling , fry off the shallots and courgettes until softened, add the chopped sun dried tomatoes and herbs to the pan, allow to cool slightly.
• Add the vegetables to the quiche base, place on a baking tray ready to fill with the egg mixture
• Mix the eggs and creme fraiche together and pour over the vegetables, top off the quiche with the grated cheese.
• Bake for 35 minutes or so until golden and just a little wobbly in the middle.
• Serve slightly cooled or cold

I'm linking up to Cooking with Herbs - the theme this month being mediterrean food, this post contains thyme, oregano and rosemary. Hosted this month over at Lavender and Lovage.

And also to Tea Time Treats which is sharing the same theme as Cooking with Herbs, hosted this month by The Hedgecombers.

Lastly to Simple and in Season hosted this month by Franglais Kitchen.