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Spring Vegetable Quiche

Peas, beans and asparagus star in this versatile quiche; other lightly cooked seasonal vegetables could be substituted with equal success.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and green beans share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 36 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 6
Prep1 hr
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Rub the butter into the flour with a pinch of sea salt until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add a splash of cold water and bring together into a dough. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

  2. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Roll out the pastry and line a 23cm (9in) flan tin. Prick the base with a fork and chill for 10 minutes.

  3. Bake the pastry case for 15 minutes until pale golden. Press down any puffed areas with a spoon. Reduce the oven to 180°C (350°F).

  4. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Blanch the peas, broad beans, asparagus and green beans for 2 minutes, then drain and refresh in cold water. Slip the broad beans from their skins and cut the asparagus and green beans into short lengths.

  5. Halve the baby plum tomatoes. Roughly chop the parsley and watercress. Grate the mature Cheddar.

  6. Whisk the eggs, double cream, whole milk and a little salt and pepper. Scatter the blanched vegetables, parsley, watercress and most of the Cheddar over the pastry case.

  7. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables. Arrange the tomato halves on top and sprinkle with the remaining Cheddar.

  8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until just set with a slight wobble in the centre. The filling must reach 160°F (71°C). Cover the edges with foil if they brown too quickly. Cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Beans + green beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together36 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Peas + green beanstop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together54 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Peas + asparagustop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beans + asparagustop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together292 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Peas + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together949 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the green beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, peas, beans, asparagus, egg, cream):

  1. Green beansthe original
  2. Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Leekabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Spinachabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, peas, beans, asparagus, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).