Gardening leave from a game of cricket one Saturday gave me some thinking time. It made me realise that one of the things the game has lost as a result of the Covid Pandemic is the Cricket Tea. Cricket teas have advanced in my time involved in the game from being a simple affair of a glass of squash, some custard creams and a bag of corner shop crisps, to more exotic fare of Hummus and well-crafted sandwiches.
While I had time on my hands I decided to make a quiche that included homegrown and locally sourced ingredients and would stand fit to make it onto a spread for a cricket tea.
The ingredients for this quiche are as follows:
Shortcrust Pastry made from 200 grams of Plain Flour, 100 grams of cubed, unsalted butter with around a tablespoon of Almond Milk to thicken the pastry.
240 grams of Tinned Tuna.
2 Duck Eggs, beaten.
1 Chicken Egg beaten.
A quarter of a pint of Skimmed Milk.
50 grams of Fresh Dill- I used some that I'd grown from seed in the conservatory.
25 grams of Fresh Parsley- I used some that I'd grown in my garden.
100 grams of strong cheese. For this recipe I used Isle of Arran Cheddar however plain Cheddar, Red Leicester or, for the Pro Europeans amongst us, Gruyere will do.
On the player was a classic band, who I only knew from a few listens during the dying days of my A-Levels, called Santana. The album on the player was their recent offering Santana IV which saw some of the original members return and successfully rekindle the Latino swing- rock that made them so famous in the first place.
Now to the method of this quiche. I first prepared the pastry by rubbing together the Flour and the Butter in a bowl until they formed something with the consistency of breadcrumbs. Then I added the Almond Milk and kneaded the mixture with some forceful punches until I had a pliable dough.
Next I rolled the pastry out and used it to line a circular cake tin that I had previously greased to avoid the pastry sticking.
I distributed the Tuna, Dill and most of the Parsley evenly throughout the cake tin. I cut the Arran Cheddar into pieces and spread them as well.
Then I beat the eggs together in a measuring jug before adding the Skimmed Milk and whisking thoroughly to create a golden paste in the measuring jug. I poured this into the cake tin and watched it distribute widely to cover and flood the Tuna, Cheese and Herbs. After that I added the final piece of Parsley in the centre of the Quiche to provide some decoration.
The Quiche was then cooked in the oven on Gas Mark 3, or 160 degrees for an electric oven, for 45 minutes.
After it was cooked, some of the Tuna atop the quiche had a smoked feel to it and the fish itself contained plenty of protein. As did the Eggs, especially the Duck Eggs which tend to be larger and richer than the eggs of chickens. The Dill and Parsley meanwhile gave this one a real freshness and bite that would help fill anybody's stomach between innings in a game of cricket.
