Mini Courgette and Potato Quiches

©

I'm in the midst of baking canapés for Christmas, so I thought I'd share a couple of recipes with you. These little vegetarian quiches can be baked in advance and frozen until needed. Defrost for a couple of hours then warm up before eating...simples!

Makes approx 24 mini quiches.

• 4oz/100g potato, peeled and grated
• 4oz/100g courgette (zucchini), grated
• 1 medium onion, diced finely
• 4 fl oz/100ml double cream
• 1 medium egg
• 2oz/50g vegetarian Parmesan cheese or mature cheddar, grated
• 1 tsp chopped. fresh basil or parsley
• black pepper and nutmeg to season 
• 10oz/250g (½ pack) ready-made shortcrust pastry

Preheat the oven to 190C/180C Fan/Gas 5/375F.
Heat a drop of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onions for a few minutes until softened.

Add the grated vegetables, herbs and seasonings and cook on a low heat for around 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Beat the egg and cream together in a jug.

Stir the grated cheese into the cooked vegetables.

Roll out the pastry on a floured board, to around the thickness of a one pound coin (about 3-4 mm or a 16th of an inch).

Lightly grease a 24 hole mini muffin pan.
Cut out 24x3.5"/9 cm circles...you may need to re-roll the pastry scraps for the final few!
Pop the pastry circles into the pan and press down (I used the end of my rolling pin for this, but you can buy this nifty little gadget from Amazon which is purpose made for the job!)

Add a teaspoonful of the vegetable mixture to each pastry case and top up with the egg and cream mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from the pan. Serve straight away or cool and freeze until needed.