Goat’s Cheese and Asparagus Crustless Quiche

To me, May is the most beautiful month; the garden is full of colour and life, summer is still waiting to happen. The new season’s asparagus is an added bonus. You can add it to soups and salads, or simply eat on it’s own with a little butter and black pepper, or a poached egg.

Asparagus is a great source of dietary fibre and also sulphur, an important mineral for joints, skin, hair and nails, as well as for antioxidant status and liver function.

This year I decided to try cooking it in a different way. I’ve always loved the insides of quiches more than the pastry so I was really pleased when this crustless experiment turned out so well. I treated myself to a silicon pie mould because I’m not sure it would cut very well in a traditional quiche dish, and using a springform cake tin would probably result in egg mixture all over the floor.

I used quite a high cream to egg ratio and the result was curdy and creamy. You could increase the number of eggs or reduce the amount of cream if you wanted a firmer texture. You can also vary the amount or variety of cheese as you wish: blue cheese might work well, and Gruyere would also be delicious.

Ingredients

• 12 asparagus stems
• 80g hard goat’s cheese, grated (I used the Goat’s Cheese Gouda from Waitrose)
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 300ml single cream
• twist of salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180’C
2. Steam the asparagus for 5 minutes until still firm and bright green. Refresh with cold water.
3. Whisk the eggs and cream together – I use a Nutribullet for this.
4. Arrange the stems in the silicon pie mould as prettily as you want to. I tend to cut the stems in half, arranging the florets in a circle and then fitting the stems in between.
5. Sprinkle the asparagus with the grated cheese, add a little salt and pepper, then pour the egg mixture on top.
6. Bake in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes until the middle is still slightly soft but the sides are starting to brown.
7. Serve with a beetroot, orange and watercress salad for a really delicious and nutritious meal.