Romanesco and mascarpone quiche
(1)
1 hour 10 min
Romanesco, sometimes also known as romanesco cauliflower or romanesco broccoli is a beautiful vegetable, bright green in colour with a striking pattern. It has also a delicate and nutty taste that you can truly appreciate in this Italian quiche.
ViolaBuitoni
6 people made this
Ingredients
Serves: 6
- 1 sheet puff pastry or savoury shortcrust pastry for base of quiche
- 2 tablespoons grated Pecorino cheese, divided
- 100g your favourite soft cheese (Brie, Chevre, etc)
- 1 head of romanesco cauliflower
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
- 250g mascarpone cheese
- 100ml milk
- 3 eggs
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 pinch sweet dried chilli pepper (optional)
Method
Prep:20min ›
Cook:50min ›
Ready in:1hr10min
- Preheat the oven to 190 C / Gas 5. Grease and flour a round quiche tin.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
