Family Dinner

Onion quiche

We never thought a pop star would ask for a quiche, but this is what we heard Carly Rae Jepsen wanted. In fact, we’d got our wires crossed – it was that she made a mean quiche herself. So God bless a PR mix-up for Mum creating the most creamy and delicious quiche to ever touch our lips.

Serves 8

‘God bless a PR mixup for Mum creating the most creamy and delicious quiche’

Ingredients

25g butter

500g onions, halved and finely sliced

Plain flour, for dusting

500g shortcrust pastry

3 large eggs, beaten

300ml double cream

140g mature Cheddar, grated

100g Gruyère, grated

Salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Melt the butter in a large pan, add the onions and gently cook for about 20 minutes until soft and turning golden. When they are nice and soft, turn off the heat.

While the onions are cooking, blind bake the pastry case. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick. Use it to line a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin (about 3.5cm deep), leaving a little pastry hanging over the edge to allow for shrinkage. Prick the base all over with a fork, then line with a large circle of baking parchment (scrunch it up first, then open it out, so it’s easier to mould into the case).

Fill with baking beans or rice, then blind bake the pastry case for 20 minutes.

Carefully remove the parchment and beans, then bake for another 5–10 minutes until the pastry is cooked through and lightly golden. L

eave the pastry to cool for a few minutes before using a serrated knife to carefully cut off the excess pastry that is hanging over the edges.

Mix the onions with the eggs, cream and Cheddar and season to taste. Tip into the pastry case, then sprinkle over the Gruyère. Bake for about 25–30 minutes until golden brown on top.

Eat at room temperature with a nice salad.

Lamb with pistachio herb crust

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 racks of lamb, French trimmed (fat removed and bones cleaned – ask your butcher to do this)

1 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled

150g shelled pistachios

30g fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves only

30g fresh mint, leaves only,

Grated zest of 1 lemon

75g crustless bread, a day or two old

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Season the lamb. Heat a heavybased frying pan over a medium–high heat, add the olive oil and brown the lamb for 2–3 minutes on all sides.

Whizz the garlic, pistachios, herbs, lemon zest and bread in a food processor until finely chopped.

Spread a tablespoon of mustard over each rack of lamb and coat in the herb mixture, pressing gently so that it sticks.

Roast for 15–20 minutes: 15 minutes will be very pink. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 minutes before carving and serving.

“Triple Threat” chocolate brownies

People have requested this recipe the most after hearing about it in the Ed Sheeran episode. Get creative! Add whatever you like to your brownie batter. Generous chunks of white, milk or dark chocolate will all work well, as will roughly broken-up Oreos or any other chocolate confectionery. I generally add three things to mine, hence the triple threat. Experiment. Ultimately, whatever you choose will be delicious. These brownies are best if slightly undercooked, so they still retain their gooeyness. What you want is a brownie that gets stuck to your teeth when eating it.

Makes 9–18 (depending on levels of greediness)

‘Add whatever you want to your brownie batter’

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, cubed

200g dark chocolate, chopped

3 large eggs

275g caster sugar

90g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

250–300g ingredients of your choice to add to the mix (eg white, dark or milk chocolate, chocolate biscuits, your favourite chocolate bar), chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a 23cm square baking tin with baking parchment.

Put the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and leave until they start to melt. Stir regularly, taking care not to burn the chocolate. Once completely melted, remove from the heat and leave to cool a little.

In a large bowl, using an electric whisk on high power, beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and almost doubled in volume. Add the cooled chocolate and butter mix and gently combine, using a figure-of-eight motion to fold the 2 mixtures into one another.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together and then fold into the chocolate and egg mixture. Again, fold gently using a figure-of-eight motion until all is combined. It will appear dusty at first, but be patient and it will come together. Take care not to overdo the mixing: as soon as you cannot see any dusty flour mix, you are there.

Now add your extra ingredients and gently fold in, reserving a few to scatter over the top if you like. Transfer the mixture to the lined baking tin, levelling it out and pressing any reserved ingredients into the top of the mixture. Bake for around 35 minutes. The top should be just firm, but the middle should be slightly undercooked and gooey: it will continue to cook in the tin once removed from the oven. Leave the tin on a wire rack to cool before cutting into squares.