This rich quiche is just the thing for the upcoming autumn season. Pulled chicken, sweet potatoes, and sour cream team up to let you almost smell the BBQ in the garden of you lake country cabin or townhouse backyard.

The recipe requires quite some preparation time. You can make the chicken and the dough for the crust the night before. This way, all that is left for you to do is to roast the potatoes (even that could be prepared the night before) and bake the crust and the quiche on the day of consumption.

For a further short cut, you can use ready-made rub and marinade for the chicken, but it’s easy enough to make it yourself (some ideas in the recipe below).

For the filling, I used a mix of sweet and baking potatoes as to balance out the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, which may turn overpowering otherwise. The filling further sports sour cream, which is unfortunately difficult to get in Europe (the stuff they sell you in the supermarkets as „sour cream“ definitely has nothing to do with it). I find that half-fat crème fraîche comes closest to „real“ sour cream. It is from the same family of soured cream products and has a similar fat content as sour cream. Another alternative would be smetana which is heavier, though.

Sanni

Ingredients:

For the Pulled Chicken:

• 1 Chicken Breast
• Barbecue Rub (e.g.: Colombo Powder, Jerk or Braai spice mix mixed with 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil)
• Marinade (e.g.: juice of 1 lime, cranberry juice, maple syrup)

For the crust:

• 200 grams of flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground dried rosemary
• 100 grams of butter (cold), cut into cubes
• 1 egg yolk
• ca. 30 ml of water

For the potatoes:

• 1 (small) sweet potato, cut into quarters
• 1 (small) baking potato, cut into quarters
• sea salt flakes
• 1 teaspoon of ground dried rosemary
• some olive oil

For the filling:

• 500 grams of sour cream (alternatively, half fat crème fraîche or smetana)
• 3 eggs
• 50 grams of ground cheddar cheese
• freshly ground black pepper, salt
• 4 slices of sheep cheese log

Preparation:

Preparing the Pulled Chicken:

1. Inject the chicken with marinade making use of a marinade syringe. Set aside some of the marinade for mopping the chicken during the roasting process.
2. Generously rub with the BBQ rub.
3. Wrap tightly into cellophane and let the spices infuse overnight in the fridge (minimum 2 hours).
4. Place in a non-stick roaster. Slow-roast at 110 degrees Celsius for approximately 2 to 2.5 hours – mopping it with marinade every 30 minutes – until the inner temperature reaches 85 degrees Celsius (use an oven thermometer for determining the temperature).
5. Remove from the oven and pull into small shreds making use of two forks. Set aside.

Preparing the dough for the crust:

1. Pass the flour through a fine mesh onto the clean kitchen counter or a baking mat. Add the salt, the rosemary and the butter. Rub the butter and the flour between your hands until you have a crumble.
2. 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.

Preparing the potatoes:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan oven).
2. Place the potato quarters on an oven tray. Sprinkle with the salt flakes, the rosemary and the olive oil. Shake the oven tray a couple of times, so the potatoes are well covered with the mix.
3. Roast in the oven for approximately 30 to 40 minutes until well done.
4. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Baking the crust:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan oven). Better even, bake the crust when the oven is still hot from roasting the potatoes.
2. Butter a quiche pan. Roll out the dough into a circular shape large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the quiche pan. Transfer into the pan, cover bottom and sides and cut off any dough hanging over the edge with a knife.
3. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. 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). Alternatively, prick the bottom of the raw crust with a fork all over.
4. Put the quiche pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Take the crust out of the oven and set aside.
5. Reduce the oven temperature to 160 degrees Celsius.

Preparing the filling:

1. Mix the sour cream with the eggs. Season with plenty of black pepper and salt. Gently fold in the ground cheddar.
2. Place the potato quarters on the bottom of the crust forming a wheel.
3. Place the chicken shreds between the potato slices.
4. Pour the sour cream and cheese mix over the potatoes and the chicken. Spread evenly.
5. Place the a slice of sheep log on top of each quarter of the quiche.
6. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for approximately 40 to 45 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool down a bit, thereby permitting the filling to firm up.
8. Serve hot.