I made this dish a couple of weeks ago when we were lucky enough to have some fantastic sunny spells and unusually hot weather, which now seems like yonks! Whatever happened to that beautiful weather? It has been nothing but freezing wind and hail ever since we crossed the Spring threshold.
This dish is incredible simple to make and hardly take any time at all. Kind of the sort of cooking that is made for when the weather is good and the last thing you want to do is to be coop up in the kitchen over a hot stove.
The idea came about because of my recent obsessions over Comté cheese. I simply cannot walk past the French Cheese stall in Borough market without succumbing to the allure of these nutty cheese. Hence there's always a considerable amount of Comté lying around in my kitchen.
I was after something easy, nothing that will take up took much of my time. Soon, rummaging around the kitchen revealed a couple of firm and healthy looking courgettes, some smokey pancetta and a block of Pecorino.
As an amid fan of wild garlic, I also have bundle of these lurking around. Eggs - surely everyone will have fresh eggs in their kitchen - were gathered.
All these ingredients made up the core of this dish.
As far as prepping goes, gathering the ingredients were the tedious bit, the rest is a doddle.
Everything is more or less grated, sliced, chopped and then thrown into a large mixing bowl. The combined mixture is then transferred into an ovenproof pie dish and bake until cooked.
Serve warm, it oozes rivers of golden melting cheese.
See. Simple as that.
Perfect for an easy supper to enjoy in the sun with some chilled wine.
Now let's just hope the good weather return soon.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
6 medium free range eggs
2 large courgette, grated
a handful of wild garlic, chopped
1 medium red onion, sliced
100g smoked pancetta, chopped
200g self raising flour
200g Comté, grated (alternatively use Cheddar or Gruyere)
200g Pecorino, grated (alternatively use Parmesan)
2 tsp good quality curry powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli flakes or cayenne pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
butter, for greasing
Method
Preheat the oven to 170ºC.
Lightly beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl.
Throw in the courgette, wild garlic, red onion, pancetta, flour, comté, pecorino and mix to combine. Add the curry powder, turmeric, chilli and olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Give the mixture another stir to mix throughly.
Pour the mixture into a ovenproof pie dish lightly greased with butter and bake uncover for 40-45 minutes, until cooked.
Leave to cool slightly before serving with either some steamed vegetables or a light salad.
