Mini Goat Cheese & Roast Pepper Quiches

With Christmas not too far away and many of us in the middle of planning the dishes we are going to prepare, appetisers, main courses, desserts, drinks and the list goes on.   During this time of year, I endeavour to make my life as easy as possible and without too much stress.  After all it is the season to be jolly!  I would like to share a recipe which I prepared for my daughter’s 21st birthday almost two years ago.  These bite size quiches are great when entertaining a large group of family and friends.  If your guests arrive starving you will be prepared with these little beauties ready to go. This starter compliments a beer, wine, champagne, as well as non alcoholic drinks. Roast Peppers and Goat Cheese mini quiches will make a good start to the Christmas cheer.

Ingredients
200 grams Goat Cheese (small cubes) or (100 grams of goat cheese for the mini tartlets) 
1 Yellow Capsicum (char grilled)
1 Red Capsicum (char grilled)
3 egg yolks
1 egg
300ml thickened cream
3 sheets of Shortcrust Pastry or (1 pastry sheet for the large tart)
2 small spring onions (finely sliced)
20 grams butter (melted for greasing the tin)
couple of pinches ground nutmeg
salt & freshly ground pepper

Preparation Time:      30 minutes (approximately)
Cooking Time:      10-15 minutes (approximately)
Makes:     48 Mini Quiches

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180° C for 15 minutes.
2. Grease 2 x 24 mini muffin tins.
3. To char grill the capsicum, wash and pat dry the peppers and place them under the grill on high heat.  Turn regularly once the skin has started to blacken and blister.
4. Remove from the grill and immediately place in a plastic bag twisting the top around a few times to seal in the heat.
5. Allow to cool down.  When cooled, peel the skin, remove the ends, seeds and place aside.  Cut into into small pieces for the mini quiches.
6. Cut the goat cheese into small cubes.  Finely slice the spring onions.
7. Cut the pastry with a 6 cm cookie cutter.
8. Once cut, they fit perfectly into the mini muffin tin to create bite size cases.
9. Place the pastry cases into the muffin tins.
10. In a large bowl place the egg yolks, egg, thickened cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Beat well to combine with whisk and place aside.
11. Place the cubes of goat cheese into all the cases, add the small pieces of peppers, a little spring onion and with a tea spoon ladle the egg mixture into the cases.  When you have finished filling all the cases, place in the oven to bake.
12. Keep and eye on the quiches while they are baking and turn the tin if necessary to ensure even browning.
13. They will rise a little however, once cooled they will form a flat surface.

Cook’s Tips

• For this recipe I used frozen Shortcrust pastry.
• The quiches are bite size, do not over crowd them or over fill them with the goat cheese, peppers, spring onion and egg mixture.  They will ooze out whilst baking.  Small pieces are the way to go and when using the tea spoon gradually pour the egg mixture into the cases.

Enjoy!