MAISON DE KENNEDY

Ham & Cheese Quiche

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ (5/5) Tested by Cass — 2 hrs · Serves 6–8

A proper quiche isn't a "savoury custard tart" — it's an engineered savoury custard tart. Crisp golden shortcrust that never goes soggy, dry-cooked fillings that don't weep into the custard, and a rich egg-and-cream set that slices clean but wobbles gently. This one leans Kiwi diner: leg ham, sharp cheddar, softened onion, dry-fried mushrooms and a light scatter of green capsicum. Eats hot for dinner, cold from the lunchbox, or reheated at 3pm on the couch.

Ingredients

Shortcrust Pastry

• 200 g Plain Flour
• ½ tsp Fine Salt
• 120 g Cold Unsalted Butter — cubed
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 3–4 tbsp Ice Water

Filling

• 200 g Leg Ham — diced ~1 cm
• 200 g Extra-Sharp Cheddar — grated
• 1 medium Brown Onion — finely diced
• 200 g White or Brown Mushrooms — sliced
• ½ Green Capsicum — small dice, ~½ cup, go light
• 1 tbsp Butter + 1 tsp Olive Oil — for the veg
• 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard — for painting the base
• Salt, Pepper, Pinch Nutmeg

Custard

• 4 large Eggs
• 200 ml Heavy Cream
• 100 ml Whole Milk
• ½ tsp Salt
• ¼ tsp White Pepper — or black
• Pinch Fresh Grated Nutmeg
• 1 tbsp Chopped Chives or Parsley — optional

Method

1. Make the pastry: Pulse flour, salt and cold cubed butter in a processor until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs with some pea-sized butter still visible. Or rub in by hand.
2. Bring together: Add the yolk and 3 tbsp ice water. Pulse just until it starts to clump — do not let it form a ball in the processor. Fourth tablespoon only if needed. It should hold when squeezed but still look shaggy.
3. Chill 30 minutes: Press into a disc, wrap, fridge. Up to 2 days is fine.
4. Line the tin: Roll to a 3 mm circle, ~30 cm across. Drape into a 23 cm loose-bottomed tart tin, press gently into the corners without stretching. Trim overhang to ~1 cm and fold under to double-thicken the rim. Prick the base all over.
5. Chill again, 20 minutes in the fridge or 10 in the freezer. Cold pastry doesn't shrink.
6. Blind bake: Oven to 190°C / 375°F, rack lower-middle. Line the shell with scrunched parchment and fill to the brim with beans or rice. Bake 18 minutes, then lift out parchment and weights.
7. Dry the base: Back in for 6–8 minutes until fully dry and lightly golden — this is the barrier that stops sogginess. If it puffs, press gently down with the back of a spoon.
8. Paint with Dijon: Brush the still-hot base with a very thin even layer. Adds flavour and seals the pastry against the wet custard. Cool while you prep the filling.
9. Onion and capsicum: Butter and oil in a wide pan over medium-high. Cook 4–5 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent and the capsicum still has bite. Season lightly, tip into a bowl.
10. Dry-fry the mushrooms: Same pan on high, single layer, don't crowd — two batches if needed. Undisturbed 2 minutes to catch colour, then toss and cook 3–4 minutes more until they've released their water and it has all evaporated. Season and add to the bowl.
11. Cool the veg 5 minutes. Hot veg into raw custard makes scrambled eggs.
12. Mix the custard: Drop the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Whisk eggs, cream, milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg and herbs until combined — don't foam it.
13. Layer: Half the cheese over the mustard base (another soggy-proof layer), then the ham, then the cooked veg, then the remaining cheese.
14. Fill: Tin on a baking tray. Pull the oven rack out slightly and slowly pour the custard over, up to just below the pastry rim — you may not need every drop. Push down any fillings that float.
15. Bake 32–40 minutes until set around the edges but the centre still has a gentle jiggle when nudged — set jelly, not liquid. Top golden and slightly puffed.
16. Rest 15–20 minutes before slicing. The centre finishes setting as it cools; cut too soon and it slumps.

Notes

• Dry fillings are the whole game. The number one cause of a weepy, watery quiche is wet fillings. Mushrooms are 90% water and must be cooked until dry. Same with onion and capsicum — never raw. Do it properly and the custard sets clean; skip it and you'll pour off a puddle every time you slice.
• The custard ratio: roughly 50 ml liquid per egg gives a set that slices clean but still wobbles. Too much cream is greasy and slow to set; too much milk is watery and rubbery. 2:1 cream to milk is the sweet spot.
• Prevent shrinkage. Two things make a shell slump down the sides: warm butter and stretched dough. Chill twice, don't stretch when lining, leave the rim slightly proud of the tin.
• Store-bought pastry is fine. A good frozen shortcrust sheet works here — quiche pastry is not where the ego lives. Thaw, line, chill, blind bake the same.
• Fridge life 3–4 days covered. Flavour is better on day 2.
• Reheat properly — 12 minutes at 160°C in the oven or air fryer keeps the base crisp. Microwave is fine for lunchbox convenience but the base goes soft.
• Freeze slices wrapped individually, up to 1 month. Reheat from frozen, 20 minutes at 170°C.
• Split the timeline: make the pastry the night before. Next day it's blind bake 30, fillings 10, assemble 5, bake 35, rest 20 — dinner within 1½ hours, with cold slices ready for lunchboxes.

Variations

• Bacon swap — 200 g diced bacon cooked until just crisp instead of the ham. Saltier, so drop the custard salt to ¼ tsp.
• Leek instead of onion — 1 large leek, white and pale green only, sweated in butter 8 minutes until silky. Classic French move.
• Spinach — 100 g baby spinach wilted after the mushrooms, then squeezed hard to remove the water.
• Crustless — skip the pastry, grease a pie dish, layer everything in, bake at 175°C for 30–35 minutes. Faster and gluten-free.
• Mini quiches — line a muffin tin with pastry rounds, divide between 12 cups, bake at 180°C for 20 minutes. Perfect single-serve.
• Cheese swap — Gruyère or Swiss makes it more French; cheddar and parmesan at 3:1 makes it nuttier.

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