Anne Morgan The Delia Smith leek quiche recipe is her Leek and Goats’ Cheese Tart, which serves 4 as a main course or 6 as a starter. You cook 350g of trimmed leeks gently in butter, press them dry, then bake them with goats’ cheese, spring onions, eggs and crème fraîche. The tart bakes at 190°C until its centre is just firm, and you need about 1 hour 50 minutes in all.
A wobbly tart is Delia’s own name for it, because the centre stays creamy and soft. The recipe is in Book One of How to Cook, and goats’ cheese goes into the pastry as well as the filling.
For a quiche with a plain pastry and Gruyère, see her courgette quiche recipe.
Delia Smith’s Leek Quiche
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium4-6
servings40
minutes1
hour10
minutes510
kcalGently cooked leeks, crumbled goats’ cheese and spring onions set in a soft egg custard, inside a goats’ cheese pastry case.
Ingredients
- For the pastry:
110g (4oz) plain flour, plus a little for dusting
a pinch of salt
25g (1oz) softened lard, or vegetable fat
25g (1oz) softened butter
25g (1oz) firm goats’ cheese, rindless
a little cold water
- For the filling:
625g (1lb 6oz) leeks, 350g (12oz) when trimmed
10g (½oz) butter
175g (6oz) firm goats’ cheese, rindless
3 large eggs, beaten
200ml (7fl oz) crème fraîche or double cream
4 spring onions, finely sliced, green parts too
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Directions
- Pastry: Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the lard and butter with your fingertips. Grate in the 25g of goats’ cheese, then add about 1 tablespoon of cold water and bring it to a smooth dough. Rest it in a polythene bag in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Oven: Heat the oven to 190°C, fan 170°C, gas mark 5, with a small baking sheet on the centre shelf. Butter a 19cm fluted quiche tin, 3cm deep, very lightly.
- Leeks: Cut off the tough green ends, split each leek halfway down and wash it under the cold tap. Halve the leeks lengthways and chop them into 1cm slices.
- Cook: Melt the butter in a frying pan over a gentle heat and add the leeks with some salt. Cook them without a lid for 10 to 15 minutes, until the juice runs. Then tip them into a sieve over a bowl and press them with a weighted saucer.
- Case: Roll the pastry out thinly and line the tin without stretching it, pressing it 5mm above the rim. Prick the base and paint the base and sides with some of the beaten egg. Then bake it on the baking sheet for 20 to 25 minutes, until crisp.
- Fill: Crumble the goats’ cheese and mix it gently with the leeks. Spread them over the pastry base and scatter the spring onions on top.
- Custard: Mix the rest of the eggs with the crème fraîche in a jug, with a little salt and plenty of pepper. Pour half into the tart, set it on the oven shelf, then pour in the rest.
- Bake: Bake the tart for 30 to 35 minutes, until it is firm in the centre and browned on top. Let it settle for 10 minutes before you cut it.
Notes
- Delia's website version uses vegetable fat in the pastry in place of the lard.
- Look at the pastry case halfway through its baking. If the centre is rising, prick it again and press it down.
- To lift the tart out, stand the tin on an upturned jar and ease the sides down.
FAQs
Do you cook leeks before putting them in a quiche?
Yes, and then you dry them. Delia softens the chopped leeks in butter over a low heat until their juice comes out.
The pressing matters as much as the cooking. A saucer with a weight on top squeezes out the last drops before the leeks meet the cheese.
What pairs well with leeks in a quiche?
Goats’ cheese is Delia’s answer. She calls the two a wonderful combination, and she puts the cheese in the pastry too.
Spring onions go on top, green parts and all. Her other leek tarts use Cheddar or Roquefort, and both are below.
Which goats’ cheese is best for this tart?
A firm one, with the rind cut off. Delia’s list asks for it in both the pastry and the filling.
Her website’s food editor adds a tip for the rind. Chill the cheese well, then trim it thinly with a sharp knife dipped in hot water.
How do I make a cheese and leek quiche with Cheddar?
Use Delia’s Leek and Soured Cream Flan, from her Complete Cookery Course. It is a bigger tart for a 25cm tin, like her spinach quiche, with 1.3kg of leeks, enough for 4 to 6 people.
The pastry is 75g each of self-raising and wholewheat flour, 40g each of lard and butter, 50g of Cheddar and ¾ teaspoon of mustard powder. Bake the case for 15 minutes at 180°C, brush it with egg and give it 5 minutes more.
Cook the sliced leeks, covered, in 50g of butter with a crushed garlic clove for up to 15 minutes, then drain them. Stir in 150ml of soured cream, 2 tablespoons of double cream and 1 beaten egg. Top with 50g of grated Cheddar and bake for 40 minutes at 190°C.
Can I make a leek and Stilton quiche?
You can, with her blue cheese tart as the base. Delia’s Roquefort and Leek Tart is in How to Cheat at Cooking. It names Roquefort, Shropshire Blue or Cashel Blue, so Stilton is my swap from the same family.
Cook 225g of thinly sliced leeks and 4 chopped spring onions in 1 tablespoon of butter for 5 to 6 minutes. Put them in a 230g ready-made pastry case and crumble 100g of the cheese on top.
Whisk 225ml of double cream with 2 eggs, season it and pour it in, then sprinkle on 1 tablespoon of Parmesan. The oven starts at 200°C, gas mark 6, and goes down to 180°C for the 35 to 40 minutes of baking.
Why should a leek tart rest before I cut it?
It needs time to settle. Delia calls that short wait important, because the tart is then much easier to cut into portions.
