Roasted vegetable and goat cheese quiche

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C. Toss the courgette, pepper, onion, and tomatoes with the olive oil and salt, spread them on a baking sheet in one layer, and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges have browned and the tomatoes have collapsed. Crowding the sheet steams the vegetables instead of roasting them, so use two sheets rather than one crowded one.
2. Let the vegetables cool to room temperature. This step is not optional. Warm vegetables cook the custard on contact and give you a grainy filling.
3. Line the tin with the pastry, prick the base all over with a fork, and chill for 20 minutes.
4. Drop the oven to 190°C. Line the pastry with parchment, fill with baking beans, and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake another 8 to 10 minutes, until the base looks dry and pale gold.
5. Whisk the eggs, cream, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until smooth but not foamy. Beating air into the custard makes it puff and then sink.
6. Scatter the cooled vegetables over the blind-baked base, dot the goat cheese between them, and pour the custard around. Do not fill past about 5 mm below the rim.
7. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the edge is set and the centre still has a slight wobble. It carries on cooking as it cools.
8. Rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing. Scatter with thyme.

Notes

• Pat the roasted vegetables dry if they look wet. Water is the enemy of a set custard.
• The custard ratio here (3 eggs to 300 ml dairy) is the one the other quiches in this collection use, so once you know it you can build your own fillings on it.
• Good cold the next day, and it travels well, which makes it the right thing to bring to someone else’s table.
• Blind baking properly is the difference between a crisp base and a pale wet one. Do not skip the beans.