Recipe: Forest mushroom, leek and gruyere quiches with brik pastry

Recipe: Forest mushroom, leek and gruyere quiches with brik pastry

30m prep | 30m cook

Last updated

It takes only a little bit of sunshine for us to grab our picnic blankets and cooler bags, heading out to a park with a few friends, a drink or two and some delicious food. 

The perfect picnic food needs to be easily transportable, needs to taste great cold and, most importantly, needs to be shareable. But with so many options, it definitely shouldn't be boring.

Keep things simple by serving something tasty straight from a jar, like our French duck rillettes with Espelette pepper, served on crisp lavosh with black garlic onion paste and cornichons, or a selection of tinned Portuguese seafood.  

Give your sandwiches a boost by whipping up some vadouvan-spiked mayo (perfect with prawns and iceberg lettuce), adding some chopped mustard fruits to your ham sandwich, or fancying up your porchetta roll with a smear of truffle salsa.

For the ultimate picnic treat, whip up a batch of these forest mushroom, leek and gruyere mini quiches, their delicious umami richness courtesy of the flavour-packed dried mushrooms that hide inside.

Wherever you lay your picnic blanket, visit your nearest The Essential Ingredient store for all your al fresco dining supplies. Don’t live near a store? Buy online for delivery to anywhere in Australia.

Ingredients (Serves - makes 12 mini quiches)

  • 8 sheets brik pastry
  • 45g dried garniture forestiere or porcini mushrooms
  • 2/3 cup finely chopped leek - white part only
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 300mL pure cream
  • 1 cup grated gruyere cheese
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped chives (plus extra to serve)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

     Rehydrate the mushrooms by steeping them in a bowl of boiling water for at least 30 minutes. Remove from water carefully, ensuring any silt stays behind in the bottom the bowl, and squeeze any extra moisture from them. Chop finely.

    Preheat your oven to 175C.

    Prepare the pastry shells by using a bowl as a guide to cut the brik into circles large enough to fit neatly into a 12-cupcake pan. Layer two circles on top of one another and press into each cavity in the pan, topping with a small square of baking paper and some pastry weights or uncooked rice. 

    Bake for 10 minutes, then remove weights and paper and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until shells are golden brown in colour and crisp.  Heat oil in a pan over a low-medium heat and add the leek. Saute for 7-8 minutes, or until soft and translucent, then add the mushrooms and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to cool. 

    Combine the eggs, cream, gruyere, chives, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl, then add the cooled leek and mushroom mix and stir well. 

    Working quickly, spoon the quiche mix into the pastry shells in the cupcake pan (the pastry will begin to absorb the liquid if you work too slowly), then bake for 12-15 minutes or until the centre of the quiches are just set and the tops are beginning to brown. 

    Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes, then serve with a sprinkling of chopped chives. 

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