It’s pumpkin season again! This year we celebrated the arrival of the bulky vegetable with a new quiche recipe of my own invention which turned out just delicious. A drizzle of maple sirup and caramelized pecans add a sweet touch which is counter-balanced by the earthy and woody flavors of goat cheese and rosemary.

Sanni

• 1 butternut pumpkin (approx. 800 grams)
• 1 to 2 twigs of fresh rosemary, very finely chopped
• approx. 50 ml of maple sirup
• approx. 1 to 2 teaspoons of sea salt flakes
• olive oil
• 180 grams of fresh goat cheese (e. g. Chavroux), diced
• 50 grams of pecans
• 400 grams of crème fraîche
• 3 eggs
• freshly ground pepper, salt
• 1 fresh red chili

Preparation:

Preparing the dough:

1. Pass the flour through a fine mesh onto the clean kitchen counter or a baking mat. Cut the cold butter into small pieces into the flour. Rub the butter and the flour between your hands until you have a crumble.
2. Add the salt. Form a depression in the center of your flour mix and add the egg yolk. Quickly start kneading the ingredients adding tablespoons of water one by one until the dough is smooth, but not sticky. Should the dough become too sticky, add a bit more flour.
3. Form a ball, wrap it into cellophane and let the dough rest in the refrigerator for approximately 15 to 30 minutes.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan oven).
5. Butter a quiche pan and press the dough into the bottom and up the sides. If you do not use pie weights (see next step), prick the bottom with a fork all over.
6. Cut out a round piece of parchment paper the size of the bottom of your cake pan. Place over the dough on the bottom of your cake pan. Place pie weights on the top (if you do not have pie weights, you may also use dry foods such as dried chickpeas, dried peas or rice).
7. Put the quiche pan into the oven and bake only the crust for 15 minutes (blind baking). Take the crust out of the oven and set aside. Continue with roasting the pumpkin (see below).

Preparing the filling:

1. Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds and chop it into dices (approx. 1 cm).
2. In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin dices with the chopped rosemary, 1 tablespoon of the maple sirup and some olive oil (approx. 4 to 5 tablespoons).
3. Roast in the oven for approximately 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (fan oven). Remove from the oven and let cool down a bit. Reduce the oven temperature to 160 degrees Celsius.
4. Set aside several pecan halves for decoration (8 to 10 pieces). Finely chop the remaining nuts.
5. In a non-stick frying-pan, heat up the maple sirup over medium heat until it bubbles, add the chopped nuts and toss several times. Then remove the nuts from the pan and set aside.
6. Repeat the same procedure with the whole pecan halves (if necessary, add a bit more maple sirup). Set aside.
7. Prepare the filling by mixing the crème fraîche with the egg. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Cut the chili lengthwise and remove the seeds and membrane. Then cut into 8 to 10 fine strips approx. 7 to 8 cm long.
9. Now spread the pumpkin dices over the bottom of the quiche crust.
10. Sprinkle the caramelized nuts over it and then the goat cheese.
11. Pour the filling over the pumpkin.
12. Decorate with the chili strips and caramelized pecan halves.
13. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for approximately 50 minutes.
14. Let cool down a bit before serving in order to allow the egg to settle properly. Enjoy!