Bell pepper and onion are perfect for quiche! Here generously garnished with those vegetables previously sautéed in a pan with garlic, herbes de Provence, and olive oil.
A gourmet tart for a perfect quick and easy lunch with all the flavors of South France Provence.
The ideal French home-cooking meal to enjoy with a green salad. Here served with a fine Côtes de Provence AOP red wine, which I’ll tell you about below.
Quiches are the ideal meal for me
I confess, I very, very often bake quiches, and prepare them with all kinds of fillings. Either specially prepared for the quiche as in this recipe or even with all kinds of leftovers I have in the refrigerator, may it be vegetables, ham, fish, cheese…
It’s the kind of dish that can be prepared in a few minutes, and it’s infinitely versatile, perfect for a last-minute meal on a weekday evening when you’re back home from work, for example.
I like to serve quiche with a green salad and vinaigrette.
A few tips to bake quiche to perfection
Should the tart base be pre-cooked?
If you’re using a glass, pottery, or ceramic pie dish, I do recommend that you pre-bake the pastry. On the other hand, if like me you choose a metal mold as I do, no need.
What’s the perfect temperature to bake a quiche?
For oven temperature, 180°C/350°F is ideal. Don’t go over this temperature, the eggs won’t like it very much. I’ve noticed that at high temperatures, the quiche mixture can change in texture and give a liquid that might drown your tart dough and prevent it from cooking properly.
It’s one of those kitchen phenomena that I’ll have to dig into before I can explain what’s going on.
What about the garnish?
Pre-cook your vegetables, red peppers and red onions, by frying them in a pan in olive oil. Feel free to add garlic and herbes de Provence. It will give a fantastic South-France Provencal taste.
A few variations for this quiche
- The tart here is vegetarian, but you can of course add bacon or cubes of ham, or even more interestingly, diced chorizo.
- For the cheese, I opted for Parmesan, without using too much to let the vegetables be the star of the dish. You can replace parmesan with goat or feta cheese. You can even use grated cheese (Comté or Emmental), the kind of ingredient a French would always have in the fridge
- If you’d like to give this quiche a little Basque flair – after all, peppers are the hallmark of this cuisine – you can add a bit of Piment d’Espelette pepper (or replace it with cayenne pepper).
How do the French store and serve quiche
First when out of the oven, let the quiche needs to cool down on the kitchen counter at room temperature.
The batter will set and it will be easier to cut.
The quiche will keep for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator. Preferably cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Very trendy in France nowadays is to use bee wraps. Do you have such reusable covers in your country?
Serve ideally warm or at room temperature. In summer it can also be proposed a bit cold right out of the oven.
Quiche can be served in many ways:
- At l’apéro predinner drink. Make small cubes to grab.
- As a starter, then a whole quiche won’t be for 4 as mentioned in the recipe card but you will make 6 or 8 shares.
- As a main dish eaten with a green salad and vinaigrette or assorted crudes. It’s the perfect dish for a quick lunch. And is great in summer when you are not too hungry.
- Quiche is also perfect for picnics. Easy to bring and to eat with your fingers.
My food and wine pairing
The wine served with our meal was Château de la Clapière, a South France Côtes de Provence AOP Cru classé produced by one of Provence’s oldest estates. The vineyard sits on superb terroir bathed in an exceptional micro-climate with influences from the Mediterranean coast.
The château is a charming Florentine-inspired bastide. It has an England-related story as in 1892, the château was visited by the British Queen Victoria. The Queen loved the site’s beauty, the grounds’ fragrances, and particularly the violets, her favorite flower. You can read the full story of the chateau’s heritage on their website.
From this story comes the name of this Cuvée La Violette (the French word for violet flower). It is characteristic of the terroir and surprises with its floral side with delicate notes of violets. Also combined with wonderful roundness and light spicy character.
Other savory dishes with bell peppers
Although we can find bell peppers all year long in some supermarkets in France, it really is the kind of vegetable the French like to eat in season. Poivrons as we call bell peppers in French are a staple of South France’s Provençal cuisine.
- Absolutely delicious sautéed, you will also like my mum’s recipe or a thin tart covered with a thin layer of tomato sauce and a lot of bell pepper, neatly presented with three colors of pepper-making strips.
- Another classic of daily cuisine is cake sale savory loaf. Often prepared with ham, cheese, and olives; or tuna and feta, I like to give a twist to the recipe by adding bell pepper to this cake salé as we call it in French.
- If you like spreads for a charming appetizer, just mix previously sautéed bell pepper (in olive oil with onion and garlic) with cream cheese.
Other quiche recipes on this blog
- There’s of course the classic quiche Lorraine (with no cheese if you want to keep to the tradition) and many variations:
- My daughter’s favorite, with caramelized onions and bacon.
- The quiche that made my daughters eat green vegetables when they were little with spinach.
- A quiche test with zucchini and corn that came out to be a great success.
- If you want to surprise your guests, try adding smoked haddock to the quiche.
French Quiche with red peppers and red onions
Ingredients
- 1 shortcrust pastry readymade or follow my shortcrust pastry recipe
- 3 LARGE onions (red)
- 1 red bell pepper 1 big or 2 small
- 5 eggs
- 200 ml cream or heavy cream
- 100 ml milk or eventually plant base milk
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- salt
- Pepper
Optional
- 50 gr parmesan cheese
- 1 pinch Espelette pepper or a pinch of Cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
Prepare the vegetable garnish
- Wash bell pepper and cut it into strips after removing the stalk and seeds. Peel and slice the onions. Peel and mince garlic.
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Sear the red bell pepper and garlic, then a few minutes later add the onions (the bell pepper needs more time). Season with salt and pepper. Sauté for about ten minutes.
Prepare the quiche batter
- In a bowl, break the eggs and whisk them with a fork as you would do for an omelet with a fork. Add cream and milk and combine again until smooth.
- Add the sautéed vegetables and, if you want, a bit of Espelette pepper. Combine.
Finish preparing the quiche and bake
- Roll out the pastry in a tart tin. Pour in the quiche batter. Make sure vegetables are evenly arranged. Possibly sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 40 minutes at 180°C.
Hi! I made this the other day and it is delicious! Thank you for posting this!