Easy Salmon and Asparagus Quiche

Craving the bright flavours and vibrant colours of spring? This Easy Salmon and Asparagus Quiche is just what you need! With tender pink salmon and delicate green asparagus nestled in a creamy egg filling, every bite brings a taste of spring to your table. Perfect for brunch, lunch, or a light supper — it’s as beautiful as it is delicious.

In our family, eating salmon is always special. Our food budget rarely runs to fish, but when it does, we always choose salmon. This quiche is made extra special with the addition of asparagus. Asparagus is one of the truly seasonal vegetables here in France – you simply cannot get it out of season. You can of course buy it frozen, but it is not the same!

Eating seasonally has many benefits. Not only is it better for the environment, but produce that is in season tastes so much better, as well as being more nutritious. I find that it also helps me to slow down in this instant gratification society. I love asparagus, but I never look for them out of season, and when that season finally comes around, I am so happy!

Making Pastry from Scratch

Most people here buy their pastry ready-made from the supermarket – there is a huge choice! Puff pastry, sweet pastry, shortcrust pastry… It comes ready rolled on baking parchment in a round shape that is the perfect size for a quiche or tart. It is so handy, most people don’t even consider making their own.

But I’m going to let you in on a little secret… I have never actually liked quiche! That is, until I started making my own pastry. Now I enjoy it as much as every other person here in France! There is something about the flavour of shop bought pastry that I just really don’t like, so when I realised how easy it is to make my own, I stopped buying the ready-made pastry and found that I enjoyed quiches and tarts a lot more!

If you are looking for a gluten and dairy free quiche recipe, check out this one. I will also explain below how to make this Salmon and Asparagus Quiche gluten and dairy free.

Ingredients Needed to Make Salmon and Asparagus Quiche Recipe

• 1 portion of homemade shortcrust pastry (find my favourite sourdough version here)
• 350g salmon filet, boneless and skinless
• 150g fresh or frozen asparagus
• Salt and pepper
• 4 eggs
• 400ml milk
• 3tbps flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 100g grated cheese (comté, cheddar, emmental…)

Pastry

I recommend using shortcrust pastry for this quiche, but you can really use whatever you prefer. Many people here in France like to use puff pastry for quiches. However, that can be a real fuss to make from scratch. I have made Farmhouse on Boone’s sourdough puff pastry recipe in the past and it has worked very well!

The shortcrust pastry I prefer to use is this Sourdough Discard Pastry Crust recipe. I find it extremely easy to roll out, I enjoy the slightly tangy flavour, and I appreciate the health benefits of letting it ferment in the fridge for several hours.

If you are not into sourdough, BBC Good Food has a good standard shortcrust pastry recipe. And if you are looking for a gluten free version, the pastry in this Gluten Free Quiche recipe has a lot of flavour.

Salmon

You can use fresh or frozen for this recipe, just make sure you defrost your salmon before baking it if you are using frozen.

Asparagus

I prefer to use green asparagus for this recipe as I find it has a good texture and adds more colour and flavour to the finished quiche. You can use frozen asparagus but you may need to parboil it for a minute or two longer than if you were using fresh.

Eggs

I prefer to use organic eggs if I can get them, and at the very least free range. The eggs I use are quite large, so if you have smaller eggs you may need to add an extra one.

Mustard

I like to smother my pastry crust with mustard to add extra flavour. This is optional, but I highly recommend it! I use Dijon mustard and I recommend avoiding sweetened mustards.

Grated Cheese

The key here is to grate your own cheese! Ready-grated cheese is coated to stop it sticking and I find that the flavour is not the same.

I personally like to use Comté in this quiche (a famous cheese from my husband’s native Franche-Comté) but Gruyère works well, as does Emmental or Cheddar.

Equipment Needed to Make Easy Salmon and Asparagus Quiche

• 28-30cm ceramic pie or quiche dish
• Baking beans or dried beans
• Baking parchment
• Rolling pin
• Sheet pan
• Medium saucepan
• Medium bowl
• Whisk

How to Make Easy Salmon and Asparagus Quiche

While it looks and tastes impressive, this is a very straightforward recipe. Keep reading to see how easy it is to make!

If you have made your own pastry, remove it from the fridge 30 mins – 1 hr before you need it to let it soften enough to roll out easily.

Preheat your oven to 200°C and grease your pie/quiche dish.

Roll Pastry and Blind Bake

On a lightly floured surface, roll your pastry out into a disc big enough to cover the bottom and the sides of your dish. Place your pastry disc into the dish and gently press it so that it takes on the form of the dish. Prick the pastry with a fork several times.

Place a piece of baking parchment on top of the pastry and pour baking beans, or dried beans, on top. This will prevent the pastry from puffing up during the blind baking.

Bake at 200°C for 15 mins along with the salmon filets (see below).

Prepare the Filling

Drizzle the salmon filets with a little olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake with the pastry for 15 mins at 200°C

While the pastry and salmon are baking, prepare the filling as follows.

Bring a medium saucepan of unsalted water to the boil. Place the asparagus in the water and parboil for 3-5 mins depending on how big they are and whether or not they are frozen.

Whisk the eggs, flour, milk, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper together in a medium sized bowl.

Grate the cheese and add it to the egg mixture.

Build the Quiche and Bake

After 15 mins, remove the pastry and salmon from the oven. Smother the bottom of the quiche with 1 tbsp mustard.

Next, break the salmon into medium sized chunks and add to the quiche, making sure that they are evenly distributed over the base of the quiche.

Then pour over the egg, milk, flour and cheese mixture, distributing the cheese as evenly as possible.

Arrange the asparagus on top of the egg mixture. I like to keep them whole, but you can cut them up first if you prefer.

Bake the quiche in the oven for another 20-25 mins until golden brown.

Serve warm or cold with salad or a soup.

Tips for a Successful Quiche

For my top tips for a perfect pastry crust, check out this recipe.

• Blind bake the pastry before adding the filling: this is an important step that will give you a crispy pastry crust, even underneath. It will also help to prevent the filling from escaping.
• Pricking the pastry before baking will prevent the pastry from puffing up.
• Smother the base of the quiche with mustard: this adds a huge punch of flavour to the finished quiche!
• Use milk and flour: this quiche recipe differs from other more traditional recipes in that it uses milk and flour instead of cream. I prefer the lighter texture and flavour this brings to the quiche.
• Adding the grated cheese to the egg and milk recipe will help to distribute the cheese throughout the quiche, which improves both flavour and texture.
• Let your quiche cool completely before cutting it up if you want a clean slice of quiche, this will give the filling a chance to firm up.

Can I Make this Easy Salmon and Asparagus Quiche Gluten and Dairy Free?

Yes! it is very easy to make this Salmon and Asparagus Quiche gluten and dairy free.

• Use a gluten and dairy free pastry crust (check out my recipe for a Buckwheat Pastry here.)
• Use cornflour to thicken the egg mixture instead of all-purpose flour.
• Use a vegan milk alternative instead of the normal milk for the filling.
• Leave out the cheese – the quiche will still have a huge amount of flavour from the other ingredients. You may, however, need to add more salt.
• Check the ingredients in your mustard – some may contain gluten or other allergens.

How to Store Salmon and Asparagus Quiche

Once the quiche is cooked and cooled, it will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze it. It is possible to reheat the quiche from frozen by covering it with aluminium foil and placing it in a preheated oven at 180°C. See this tutorial for more info. Be careful not to overcook your quiche when warming it, otherwise the salmon will become dry.

Pin it for later!

What Variations Could I Make to this Quiche Recipe?

The possibilities for variations to this recipe are endless. If you take the pastry, and the egg/milk/flour/cheese mixture as your basis, you can really add whatever other ingredients you think would taste good! Simply pre-cook any meat and vegetables and add them to your quiche!

Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to take a photo and tag me on social media @candleinthekitchen!

If you liked this recipe, you may also like: