This vegetable swirl pie with carrot, zucchini and eggplant is guaranteed to impress, and with good reason, because cutting the veggies is not that easy. However, the satisfaction when the pie comes out of the oven will be even greater.

Baking a quiche may not sound that exciting or spectacular, but that definitely does not apply to this one. Although the base is the same, you will surely need some extra cooking skills. Dexterity to handle knives is key, because cutting the vegetables properly is no easy task. Our first attempt to cut the carrots with a mandolin was a vehement failure. Our fingertips did survive the experiment, but the carrots were not that lucky. 🙂 During our second attempt, we used much safer tactics. Steaming the vegetables until they are softer, and cut them with a sharp knife in thin pieces. Adriaan was in heaven as he could sharpen his beloved Global Knives and push them to their limits afterwards. And yes! We managed to prepare the thin vegetable strips. Now we can continue to work on the pie, the rest is easy peasy.

Another important point is the pie filling. In order to conserve the beautiful form of the vegetables, you should pay attention not to add too much filling, as the strips will be covered if you do. Cheese is not an option for the same reason.

We prepared this dish in a pan from the new Surface-collectie van Sergio Herman for Serax. Yeah, it might be a bit superficial, but in that packaging the quiche really looked amazing…

Quiche with carrots, zucchini and eggplant

Ingredients

• 2 thick, large carrots
• 1 zucchini
• 1 eggplant
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2,5 dl heavy cream
• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• Cress to finish
• Salt and pepper

How to prepare– Peel the carrots and cut off the ends.

• Cook the carrots in salted water for about 10 minutes and allow to cool.
• Cut the eggplant and zucchini into very thin slices with a sharp knife or a mandolin.
• Blanch the slices of eggplant and zucchini for about 2 minutes in salted water. Allow to drain thoroughly.
• Cut the carrots into thin strips, do the same for the eggplant and zucchini.
• Place the puff pastry in a mould or ceramic pan. Make sure that the dough sticks nicely against the edges, otherwise it could slide to the bottom. For the same reason, make sure to have a somewhat thicker rim.
• Bake the pastry for about 15 minutes and let it cool down again.
• Meanwhile, mix the eggs, cream and salt and pepper with a whisk.
• Spread the vegetable strips on the bottom of the quiche. Start from the outside against the edge with carrot, then add the zucchini and eggplant next to it. Continue with the same pattern until to the bottom is completely filled.
• Pour the mixture of cream and eggs over the vegetables. Make sure that the top of the vegetables remains visible.
• Bake for about 50 minutes at 175°C.
• Allow to cool off a bit, so that everything can solidify
• Garnish with cress and herbs of your choice.

More inspirtation for quiches? Click here.