Summer Purslane & Asparagus Quiche

• Cuisine d'Eli

This might just be the creamiest, tastiest quiche I’ve ever made or eaten. More about that soon, but first a little ramble about plants.

For my  birthday, last month, Pim gave me a whole family of succulents, in different colours, shapes and sizes. Having plants around purportedly makes people happier, healthier and less stressed. I haven’t taken the time to monitor my blood pressure or cholesterol levels before and after getting them, so I can’t officially confirm any physical health claims, but I definitely do feel a little jolt of happiness every time I glance over at my window sill. I sometimes dream of having a slightly bigger apartment, which I could then fill entirely with plants. Would that make me a crazy plant lady? Considering I have named all my current plants, it probably would. At the same time, I also dream of having several cats, so it could also just mean I’m secretly drawn to chaos.

While they’re definitely not, some of my succulents look positively edible. Reason enough to feature them in some of my photos, alongside summer purslane, which is in fact an edible succulent that can be eaten raw in salads or cooked like spinach. The leaves are juicy and a little sour, while the stems have a more neutral (and in some cases even very earthy) aroma. In this recipe, I pair summer purslane leaves with juicy green asparagus and green peas in a creamy mustard and parmesan filling, encased in a crispy whole wheat crust.

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Ingredients:

for the crust

200 g whole wheat flour

100 g cold butter, in small cubes

100 ml cold water

1 tsp salt

for the quiche filling

2 eggs

250 ml crème fraîche

4 tsp dijon mustard

30 g finely grated parmesan

a large handful of green peas, frozen

a large handful of summer purslane leaves

1 tbsp black mustard seeds

a few leaves of fresh basil, chopped

5- 6  green asparagus, halved lengthwise and chopped into 5cm pieces

black pepper

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  • Heat the oven to 180 (fan).
  • Make the dough, let it rest in the fridge for 30-60 minutes, then roll it out and shape it into a buttered quiche tin or other pie tin and blind bake for about 20 minutes. You can find a more detailed description of how to make this crust here. In this instance, I had some dough left over, which I just rolled out into three long oval shapes, baked for 20 minutes and ate for lunch as crackers.
  • Heat a wok or another frying pan on medium heat until hot.
  • Add a little bit of sunflower or olive oil and the mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to pop, add the asparagus.
  • Fry the asparagus pieces until they’re tender enough to pierce with a fork.

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  • Arrange half the asparagus pieces on the bottom of the quiche.
  • In a bowl, combine the eggs, crème fraîche, dijon mustard, black pepper, parmesan, basil and any remaining black mustard seeds.
  • Pour the mixture over the asparagus pieces.
  • Add the purslane and the peas.
  • Top off with the rest of the asparagus and a final sprinkling of black pepper.
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes. The mixture should be set, but still very creamy and soft.
  • Leave to cool to room temperature before slicing and eating.

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23 thoughts on “Summer Purslane & Asparagus Quiche”

  1. Pingback: Colourful Courgette Tart with Basil Oil – La Cuisine d'Eli

    1. Thanks, Sitara! 😀 That’s lovely to hear. And it also reminds me that I should really start blogging again soon (I had a loooong Summer break, haha). So thanks for that too 😉

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    1. Haha, glad you like the post. I really enjoyed this quiche and the purslane is not very dominant (next to the asparagus and parmesan), but when I finished the rest of the purslane later, I found it had an almost unpleasantly earthy taste to it. It’s not a vegetable I’m very familiar with, so I’m not sure it’s supposed to taste that way, but if you use it more often I’m very open to new ideas on how to eat it. 🙂

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    1. Thanks, Angela! Even my boyfriend – who doesn’t normally like quiche – loved this one. Don’t worry if you can’t find the purslane btw, it’s not absolutely essential. (the rest definitely is though 😉 !)

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    1. Thanks! I love quiche too, there are so many possible variations :D! And green asparagus are just so delicious. Here in the Netherlands, people mainly eat white asparagus, but I’m actually more fond of the green ones.

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