Salmon Quiche with Spinach and Cheddar

Onion and Shortcrust Pastry

1. Get the ingredients for the pastry, filling and custard ready.

   

2. Before you start making the red fish pie, pickle a little onion. Slice the onion thinly, separate it into strips and add 0.5 tsp sumac, an Eastern spice used for pickling, including in Turkish white bean salad. Pour 1 tbsp lemon juice over the onion and toss.

   Take a small white sweet onion, the kind usually used for salads. Purple sweet onion tends to stain the filling strongly. If the onion is large, you can cut off half.

   The onion pickles very quickly: it will literally be ready at the same time as the dough.

   

3. Make the shortcrust pastry: sift the wheat flour, add a pinch of salt and mix. Separate the egg yolk from the white. Add the yolk and 100 g of chopped butter softened at room temperature to the flour.

   The shortcrust pastry for this pie is no different from the one we made for ricotta quiche.

   

   Knead the dough thoroughly without adding water. Work the dough with your hands, squeezing and compacting it. The dough is quite loose and crumbly, and that’s normal.

   Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. Let it rest while you prepare the filling and the egg custard, about 30 mins.

   

Filling and Custard

4. Prepare the fish. Rinse the fresh salmon or Atlantic salmon steak and pat it dry with a paper towel. Carefully separate the skin from the flesh with a sharp knife.

   You can do it in one motion: press the skin against the cutting board and, keeping the knife against the skin, cut the flesh away. This is how we fillet freshwater fish when we make perch or zander fillets.

   Separate the flesh from the backbone and ribs. Pick out as many of the small bones visible to the naked eye as you can. Cut the flesh into cubes of about 2-2.5 cm.

   

5. Braise the spinach. Wash the spinach and shake off the drops. Remove the tough stems and cut the leaves into strips.

   You can use plenty of spinach for the filling. Greens lose volume when cooked, so don’t worry about having too much. The more spinach, the tastier the fish pie.

   Melt 30 g of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Fry the spinach in the butter, stirring, until the greens have wilted. Reduce the heat to the minimum and braise the spinach in the butter, covered, for 5 mins. Let the greens cool a little.

   

6. Make the custard. In a small bowl, mix half a cup of cold milk (100 ml) with two eggs. Season lightly with black and red pepper, sweet or hot, as you like. Add a pinch of oregano. Finely grate a piece of cheddar cheese.

   Cheddar is a very popular cheese from England, often used in cooking, for example when making four cheese pizza. Cheddar’s distinctive feature is its pleasant tangy, sharp flavor with nutty notes.

   Add the cheese to the milk and eggs and mix the egg and cheese custard.

   

Assembling and Baking

7. Get out a round tin with a fluted edge, 22-24 cm in diameter: the quantities listed are calculated for it.

   These tins are a hallmark of quiche that makes it easy to recognize. A tin with a removable bottom is very convenient: the bake comes out easily without the risk of damage.

   Take the shortcrust pastry out of the fridge and press it over the bottom and sides of the tin with your fingers. Any tears and gaps are easily filled with bits of dough. Spread the dough up the fluted edge to a height of about 2.5-3 cm.

   

8. Preheat the oven to 190-200°C and add the filling. Spread the cooled braised spinach over the shortcrust pastry. An ordinary spoon spreads it easily. There’s no need to cover the dough on the sides. Spread the onion pickled in sumac and lemon over the spinach. If there’s liquid in the onion, better squeeze it out. Arrange the salmon cubes.

   

9. Just before pouring, whisk the egg and cheese custard with a fork. Pour it over the filling with a spoon, first right up to the edge of the dough, then filling the gaps between the pieces of salmon.

   The mixture should come level with the top of the dough edge, with islands of salmon showing over the whole surface. Most likely there will be more egg mixture than you need; it’s made with a little extra.

   

10. Put the tin with the pie into the preheated oven. Bake the salmon quiche for about 45 mins, turning the tin from time to time for even browning.

    Baking time can vary and take up to 1 hour. After 30 mins, keep an eye on the pie and go by the firmness of the custard: it sets as the egg white coagulates. If the top browns too quickly, cover the tin with foil. When the custard and shortcrust are nicely browned, the red fish pie is done.

    

Serving

11. Carefully take the tin with the pie out of the oven. Be careful, it’s very hot. Let the pie cool for 15 mins and only then remove it from the tin. By the way, a tin with a removable bottom lets you do this without the risk of breaking the pastry.

    Place the quiche on a large flat plate, wider than the bake itself. With a very sharp knife, using small movements of the tip, cut the red fish quiche into 6-8 pieces, much like a fish pizza.

    

12. Serve the quiche warm or cold, already sliced on a platter or served onto plates.

    It goes exceptionally well with homemade ukha fish soup. Eat the pie while it’s warm. If it has cooled, you can reheat it, but only once.