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Smoked Haddock and Leek Quiche

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Who does not love a Pie! But quiche is another level — basically a lidless Pie. Not a stone cold solid thick pastry base with a tasteless filling like you get in the supermarkets. Home made quiche is very special when done right!

picture this:

A freshly baked quiche still warm from the oven.

A delicate thin pastry base loaded with leeks, onion, double cream, eggs and seasoned to perfection! This is like the best cheese sauce in a PIE — loaded with leeks & Smoked Haddock!

Years ago I made this filling just with Smoked Haddock and a little onion and cheese — here I have tried to make it more affordable by adding soft, tender, juicy leeks that compliment the unmistakable flavour of the smokey fish. Those were the days — when a dish did not cost an arm and a leg... But, it's a challenge to make it even more tasty than it was originally.

I hope you give it a go and enjoy the results.

Click the Method tab below to see a step-by-step guide on how to make Smoked Haddock and Leek Quiche along with some pictures as a guide.

smoked haddock quiche

ingredients

Here's what you need :¬)

I use a 23cm flan dish to make this quiche, however, you can use a loose bottomed cake tin (which will make a deeper quiche) or, you could easily use a metal baking ring which are really cheap to buy on-line.

serves 8

Pastry Base

  • 320g Shop bought all butter pastry
  • 800g rice or flour to blind bake
  • 1 beaten egg to glaze the base

Filling

  • 3 whole eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 250ml double cream
  • 1 Tbsp Vegetable oil
  • 50g salted butter
  • 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp nigella seeds (onion seeds)
  • 200g finely diced onion
  • 300g washed & sliced leeks
  • 1 tsp black pepper corns crushed
  • 1 tsp sea salt crushed
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp english mustrad powder
  • 1 tsp Dyjon mustard
  • 160g Strong Cheddar cheese grated
  • 330g Frozen or fresh Smoked Haddock
  • 4 halved cherry or small vine tomatoes to garnish

Nutty's tips

I just thought I'd share a few tips and tricks on preparing the pastry base. If you've done this before though — jump straight to the method

Blind Bake the base

Nobody likes a soggy bottom! So! Our first job is to get our pastry base blind baked so that its light and crispy. I'll just run you through the steps with pictures to help you along the way.

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and greese your flan dish with a little butter.

Then we can line our dish with the pastry — tucking it in gently into the edge all the way round — then prick all over with a fork.

prick the pastry base
pastry base pricked

Leave it over-hanging at the edge — this prevents your pastry shrinking below the rim of the dish.

Be sure to keep a small amount of pastry aside just in case you have any holes during baking — you can then plug the hole with a little fresh pastry!

Next take a circle of greese proof paper larger than the flan dish and tuck it into the base.

line with baking paper
quiche base lined with paper

Fill with rice or flour and pop it into the pre-heated oven.

add rice or flour
baking rice in base

I use rice and store it away when done till the next PIE DAY arrives!

While it pre-bakes you will have time to slice and wash your leeks, finely dice your onions and prepare the seasonings.

Lastly we will crack our eggs, separate our yolks and whisk — then add cream and stir it through.

Method

Let's cook!

gather your ingredients
ingredients
  1. Bake the base @ 180c for 10 minutes then remove the rice and greese proof paper — then return to the oven for another 10 minutes.
remove rice after ten mins
blind baked base
  1. Egg wash the entire base and sides.
egg wash base & side
eggwashed base
  1. Heat a heavy based pan with 1 Tbsp Oil and 50g butter.
  2. Add in 1 tsp brown mustard seeds 1 tsp Nigella seeds & allow to sizzle.
add mustard & nigella seeds
mustard and nigella seeds
  1. Add in 200g finely diced onions and 300g finely diced leeks. Allow to soften without colour. Do not use a lid as we need them both to dry out as much as possibe.
add onions & leeks
leek and onion softening
stir to combine flavours
leek and onion softening

Stir occasionally so the onions and leeks soften and combine their flavours but don't start to colour.

  1. When they are soft, add in all your seasoning ingredients below and stir through
    • 1 tsp pepper
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1 tsp garlic powder
    • 1 tsp onion powder
    • 1 tsp english mustard
    • 1 tsp Dyjon mustard
add seasoning ingredients
add seasoning
stir to combine flavours
leek and onions softening
  1. Put the mixture into your flan dish spread evenly across the base.
add mixture to the base
leek and onions added
  1. I used 330g frozen fish which meant I had to poach it gently for 6 minutes in a little milk first and then remove the skin before topping the leek mixture with the fish.*

*If using fresh fish simply flake directly into the flan dish raw.

flake the fish onto the leek mixture
fish flakes added to leek mixture
  1. Top the fish with 160g strong cheddar cheese.
top with cheese
cheese added
  1. Decorate with halved cherry tomatoes — 1/2 per slice is a good rule of thumb ;-)
decorate with cherry tomato havles
tomatoes placed
  1. Crack 3 eggs and separate the yolks of another 2 and whisk together — then add cream and stir it through.
  2. Place the flan dish onto the oven rack and use a jug to pour your cream and egg mixture into the flan dish. Do this slowly as if it runs over you are going to have a big mess!
pour in the cream & egg mixture
pouring egg mixture
  1. Bake @ 180c for 30 to 35 minutes or until the filling is set and golden brown on top.
remove from oven & cool
smoked haddock quiche cooked
  1. Carefully trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife — use a downward cutting motion to avoid getting pastry on the quiche itself.
  2. Allow to cool for 30 minutes to nearly room temperature to enable slicing.
remove from oven & cool
smoked haddock quiche

Serving suggestion

Smoked Haddock and Leek Quiche

A simple dressed salad and a few chunky chips, or, a thick slice simply served hot with Baked Beans is just delicious ;-)

warm quiche with chips & refreshing salad
quiche salad and chips

NB: It is impossible to cut a warm/hot quiche so expect a bit of a mess when slicing it!

Don't worry though, it'll slice just fine once it's cooled completely:

quiche sliced when cool
slice of quiche

Nutty Tip - If you have any left overs, chill in the fridge and give a quick blast in the microwave to warm through.

Alternatively, remove from the fridge an hour before you wish to serve it — as fridge cold quiche tastes of nothing — a bit like those ones we discussed earlier!

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