Quiche with Rice Crust

In the pan, the quiche puffs up beautifully

Quiche with Rice Crust

It turned out that Ms C didn't like the quiche mix mixed with pasta as suggested in the previous quiche recipe.  So,  I'm hoping this might be the solution,  a rice crust!  I decided on using Arborio rice for its starchiness and I cooked it using the absorption method, with the lid off the saucepan, until all the water had been soaked up and there was nothing left to bubble.  I decided to make this into small individual quiches and used a muffin tray.

Ingredients:

• Oil for saute and greasing
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• About 2 cups water
• 1/2 leek, finely chopped
• a few small pieces of Butternut Pumpkin*, finely sliced and then chopped to small pieces
• 4 eggs
• 2 good scoops of Natural Yogurt
• about 1/2 cup of cream
• Milk, enough to make the egg mix up to 2 cups
• 1 tsp Salt
• Parmesan / Grana Padano cheese**, grated
• 1 Spring Onion, finely sliced

Method:

• Preheat oven 180 degC
• Oil muffin cups
• Cook rice as described above
• Allow to cool to handle and then divide between oiled muffin cups - about 2 desserts spoons each
• Press rice gently into muffin cups with back of dessert spoon,  making a bowl shape.
• Cook in oven for about 5-8 minutes
• Saute leek and pumpkin pieces together and allow to cool
• In a measuring jug of at least 2 cups, Combine eggs, yogurt and cream and add enough milk to make mixture up to 2 cups
• Add salt and mix well
• Remove rice cups from oven and divide leek and pumpkin mix evenly between cups
• Sprinkle over with Parmesan cheese, about 1 tsp per cup, and the Spring Onion
• Pour egg mix into each rice cup, filling them to the top
• Cook for about 20-30 minutes, until a little golden brown and cooked through inside
• Hopefully, remove each cup whole and serve with steamed veg.

* Moderate Salicylates
** Very High Amines

Verdict:  The quiche portion was delicious,  as always.  The rice cup worked quite well,  but all agree that pastry works better.  Let's face it,  buttery pastry could make anything taste great.  Ms C ate the rice and not the quiche, Mr JR ate the quiche and no rice, Ms D ate it all and Mr JA wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.  He just ate his vegies before starting to throw the rest on the floor... as pre-verbal babies do!

Tweeks:  I think we need to stick to pastry with quiche and just not have it when Ms C is around??  The rest of us loved it.  If I make it again with the rice, I might try blind baking the rice cups for a little longer to make it crisp up a little.  Dry out a bit. It wasn't so much a crust as a layer. Any suggestions?