Mini Quiche with Bacon & Tomatoes

As long as local tomatoes are in season, go get them! They now have this deliciously sweet late-summer taste and intense, fragrant flavour, which the ones sold during the winter months are sadly lacking.
So make some more meals with tomatoes before the season is over, or, even better, make your own tomato sauces, which can be kept in the fridge or freezer.
I've used the last of the yummy tomatoes I had to make an amazing little quiche. These are ideal when you have guests over or have to contribute to the buffet at parties.

Tomaten sind wahrhaftige Allrounder. Ob frisch oder verarbeitet, warm oder kalt, flüssig oder fest – sie schmecken immer. Außerdem kann man sie abwechslungsreich einsetzen: im Salat, als Beilage, in Saucen, Eintöpfen und Suppen.

Auch gesundheitlich gesehen sind sie Alleskönner. Sie enthalten nämlich sage und schreibe sieben verschiedene Mineralstoffe, zehn Spurenelemente und dreizehn Vitamine. Vor allen Dingen enthalten sie viel vom wichtigen Vitamin C, Betakarotin und Vitamine der B-Gruppe sowie drei Fruchtsäuren. Somit reichen schon zwei Stück Tomaten aus, um den Tagesbedarf einiger wichtiger Mineralstoffe zu decken.

Am wichtigsten ist der Inhaltsstoff Lycopin in den Tomaten. Dieser Pflanzenabwehrstoff schenkt den Früchten die schöne rote Farbe. Er ist sogar das effektivste Antioxidans, das die Natur zu bieten hat. Antioxidantien fangen sogenannte freie Radikale ab, welche Zellen schädigen sowie Krebs und Herz-Kreislauf-Krankheiten fördern.

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Mini Quiche with Bacon and Cherry Tomatoes

4 People

Ingredients:

Ingredients for 4 people/8 mini quiches:

For the dough:

  • 300g flour, (use fine cake flour) plus a little extra for the surface
  • 150g cold, chopped butter
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 TBSP cold water
  • a little butter for the springform

For the batter:

  • 70g baby spinach
  • 1 TBSP butter
  • salt and pepper
  • 200g cherry tomatoes
  • 35g pine nuts
  • 70g diced bacon or pancetta
  • 4 eggs
  • 2-3 TBSP milk

Preparation:

In a bowl, add flour, butter and salt and work together until you have a crumbly batter (best to use a food processor for this). Separate the eggs and add the yolks plus the cold water to the batter. Quickly knead into a smooth dough.
Shape the dough into a ball, cover with aluminium foil or clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for an hour.
In the meantime, wash and shake dry the spinach. Heat the butter in a pan and stir in the spinach until it wilts. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If there is too much liquid in the pan, drain it.
Halve the cherry tomatoes.
In a dry pan, roast the pine nuts until they are golden. In the same pan, fry the bacon.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and milk and season with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (upper/lower) or 180°C (fan). Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a floured surface, then lightly press it into the quiche pan, firmer at the edges. Poke some holes into the dough with a fork.
Spread the spinach, bacon and tomatoes out evenly, cover with the egg mixture and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Keep checking the quiche regularly.
Finally, remove it from the oven and subsequently the pan, sprinkle with pine nuts and serve.

A crunchy, leafy salad with lettuce from the garden would make a happy partner.