A quiche is most often associated with picnics but is also great to have as a dinner with a crisp salad or some vegetables.  There are many variations of quiche, the most well-known being quiche lorraine.  Don't be afraid to experiment and try something new, as long as you've got your cheesey eggy mix you can pretty much line or top your pie with anything.

Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 10 + 10 mins (pastry)  10 mins (filling)
Cooking time: 15 mins (pastry) 30 mins (filling)

Ingredients

Pastry:
8oz/225g plain flour
pinch of salt
4oz/100g butter or marg, cubed
2 tablespoons cold water to mix
baking beads or rice

Filling:
1 can corned beef, cubed
300g low fat cottage cheese
3 large eggs
1 onion, chopped
1 tomato, sliced
1 pinch mixed herbs
salt & pepper to taste

Method

Make your pastry in advance by measuring the flour in to a mixing bowl, then add the salt and cubed butter.  Rub lightly with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs then add cold water and start bringing your dough together.  Knead in to a ball, cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for 15-30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 190c (Gas mark 5).  Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, using a rolling pin, roll out to the required thickness and size.  You'll probably need to dust with flour every now and then to stop it from sticking.  Place the rolled out pastry in to a flan dish, I used a 9 inch round glass flan dish.  If using a flan tin grease it beforehand, there's no need to grease a glass flan dish.  Line the base of the pastry with baking parchment, fill with baking beads or uncooked rice and trim the edges of the pastry.  Bake blind for about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare your filling by mixing the cubed corned beef with the chopped onion until evenly mixed.

Place the corned beef mix in to the cooked pastry base, spread evenly and press down.  Only fill until it's up to about one third high - you don't want to have too much corned beef filling.  Beat the eggs and cottage cheese together, add herbs and season to taste.  Pour on to the corned beef base, top with sliced tomato and bake for 30 minutes until set and golden brown.

Serve with chips or potato wedges and a green salad.

TIP  You may find you have some left over corned beef filling - add some mayo and chopped onion to it and use as a sandwich filling.