Serves 4-6, from 41p each.
For the pastry:
125g plain flour, 6p (70p/1.5kg, Asda)
A pinch of salt, <1p (65p/750g, Asda)
25g soft spread, 5p (99p/500g, Asda)
25g lard, 5p (50p/250g, Asda)
2 tbsp cold water
For the filling:
125ml whole milk, 15p (£1.20/1l, Asda)
175g full-fat cream cheese, 73p (83p/200g at Tesco or £1.25/300g at Asda)
2 medium eggs, 35p (£2.10/12, Asda)
1 tsp mixed dried herbs, 3p (40p/18g, Asda)
A pinch of salt, <1p (65p/750g, Asda)
Plenty of black pepper, <1p (£1/100g, TRS)
100g cheddar cheese, 70p (£2.79/400g, Tesco or Asda)
120g frozen spinach, 21p (£1.50/850g, Asda)
75g frozen peas, 8p (£1.75/1.6kg, Tesco)
First, make your pastry. If you have a sieve, sieve the flour and salt together in a bowl, but if you don’t, don’t worry, just decant them straight in, it’ll be fine. Add the soft spread, and the lard, and rub the fats into the flour and salt until it comes together in a crumbly, breadcrumb-like texture. Add the cold water a drop at a time, and mix in with either a fork or spoon handle, or a flat-edged butter knife, to bring it together into a dough.
Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured or lightly oiled clean work surface and knead briefly, for a minute at most, for an even texture, then transfer it back into the bowl. Cover it with clingfilm, or transfer it into a food storage bag, and chill it in the fridge for about 45 minutes to firm up.
Pop the frozen peas and spinach in a microwave-safe bowl and ping for a minute on a high heat to defrost them. Stir together, and set to one side to cool while the pastry chills.
When the pastry has chilled, lightly flour your work surface and roll it out to form a circle that’s slightly bigger than your baking tin; it should be around half a centimetre thick and as even as possible.
Lightly oil your tin with the lightest of touches, and carefully place the pastry into it, taking care not to rip it. If any small tears are made – it can be a fiddly process if you’re not an experienced pastry cook, and I certainly am not one! – you can press them back together gently with your fingertips to reseal them. Cover and chill for a further 30 minutes to firm it up, then trim away any excess at the edges.
Heat your oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5, and line the pastry loosely with greaseproof paper, baking parchment or tinfoil. Scatter baking beans into it to weigh it down and prevent the edges from slinking into the base. If you don’t have any baking beans, you can use any hefty dried beans, like chickpeas, cannellini beans or butter beans, to pin the pastry to the tin. Make sure you get them into the corners and the edges to hold the pastry in place.
Blind bake the pastry case for 15 minutes in the centre of the oven.
While the pastry case is baking, make the filling. Measure the milk into a mixing bowl, and add the eggs, cream cheese, mixed herbs, salt and pepper. Beat well with a fork to combine evenly. Grate the cheese finely, and set to one side for now.
When the pastry is baked, turn the oven down to Gas Mark 3/165C.
Scatter half of the cheese into the base of the pastry case, then add the spinach and peas, carefully distributing them evenly across the base. Pour over the liquid mixture, and top with the remaining cheese. Finish with a pinch or two of pepper.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden and fairly firmly set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before carefully removing from the tin, and serve hot, warm, or cold.
It will keep in the fridge, covered, for up to three days.
Alternatives:
For vegetarians, replace the lard with more soft spread or butter.
If you’re dairy intolerant or allergic, use whole oat milk in place of the whole milk, and a vegan or dairy-free firm cheese alternative – there are plenty available in mainstream supermarkets these days, and most of them are pretty delicious and work very well. I like the Applewood smoked vegan cheese, and Violife mozzarella – both melt very well and have excellent structural integrity, as well as being delicious.
All text copyright Jack Monroe
The Big Help Out app is available at thebighelpout.org.uk.
Jack Monroe’s quiche recipe is also available on her website.
