Shortcrust pastry is a good one to get the kids involved! I have to admit I’m guilty of buying in ready made pastry occasionally but it really is very easy to make it yourself- you just need to plan your time well as it needs to cool before you bake it etc.

This went down a storm with the whole family and the kids couldn’t get enough of it! A real winner in our house.

Ingredients-

200g plain flour

100g butter

2-3 tablespoons of water

1 medium onion

4-5 large handfuls of baby spinach

200g smoked salmon

3 handfuls of frozen peas

300ml double cream

100ml milk

3 eggs

Pepper

60g cheddar

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl

Cut the butter into small cubes- make sure you use cold butter

Put the butter into the flour and use your fingers to rub the two together (a great job for little helpers!)

Keep rubbing until you get a breadcrumb consistency

Add a tablespoon of water at a time until there’s enough to bind everything into a dough

Like this!

Flour your work surface and roll the dough out larger than your quiche dish

You don’t want the pastry too thick so aim for a thin spread- try not to overwork it as that will effect how it turns out.

Pick the rolled out pastry up using your rolling pin and lay into a greased fluted dish

Cut a little of the excess pastry off, ball it up and use it to press the pastry into the corners of the dish

Trim the edges but leave a little extra in case it shrinks. Pop it into the fridge for 30mins.

Prick the base all over with a fork then cover with baking paper and pour in a layer of baking beans. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 10mins

Remove the paper and beans then put it back into the oven for 10mins. Take it out of the oven and leave it to cool on a wire rack.

Slice the onion

Melt a nob of butter in a frying pan on a medium-low heat

Add the onions and cook on a low heat for 10-15mins to caramelise them

Roughly chop the spinach 

Slice the smoked salmon

In a small mixing bowl put the cream, eggs and milk

Season with plenty of pepper and whisk together

Grate the cheddar and add half of it to the bowl

Add the peas

And the caramelised onions. Stir everything together

Lay the spinach into the pastry base then layer the smoked salmon on top

Pour the cream mixture over the top- spreading out the onions etc as you do.

Sprinkle over the remaining cheese 

You can also trim the edges down now the pastry is partly cooked to get a neater edge.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees and put the dish in the oven for 25-30mins

Remove from the oven once it’s browned on top but still has a good ‘jiggle’ to it! Eat warm (my favourite way to serve it!) or leave it to cool and eat it later!