Romanesco and mascarpone quiche

Method
Prep:20min  ›  Cook:50min  ›  Ready in:1hr10min 

1. Preheat the oven to 190 C / Gas 5. Grease and flour a round quiche tin.
2. Line bottom and side of the tin with pastry and prick with a fork. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of grated Pecorino cheese over the pastry and dot with pieces of soft cheese. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
3. Break the romanesco into florets; reserve the best 6 or 7 florets and roughly chop the rest. Place in a food processor with garlic, mascarpone, milk, eggs and remaining grated Pecorino cheese. Process the mixture until grainy. Season with salt, pepper and chilli pepper. Pour the mixture into the prepared quiche pastry base.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until set in the centre. After 25 minutes, add the reserved romanesco florets evenly on top of the quiche, pushing them into place if necessary.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving warm or at room temperature.

Ideas

Replace romanesco with regular cauliflower or with broccoli. You can also use a mixture of Greek yogurt with a splash of cream instead of mascarpone.

Parmesan cheese

Parmesan cheese is not truly vegetarian, as it contains animal rennet. To make this dish 100% vegetarian, omit the cheese or find a suitable vegetarian substitute made without animal rennet. In supermarkets look for the 'parmesan style hard cheeses' which are suitable for vegetarians.