Bread cases - Mini quiches!
Last week I posted some pics of the lunches I had made for the kids, it was bread cases. I then quickly came to learn that perhaps not everyone grew up on mini quiches made in a muffin tin with a slice of bread as a base...
Turns out bread cases are quite a Kiwi and Aussie thing, who would have known!
It's a shame as it's such an easy hack, makes a yummy quick meal for kids and adults alike. So if you haven't done it before definitely give it a go!
Tips and tricks for making bread cases
Choose a white or wholemeal bread, there are very few times when I pick a white bread over a grainy bread. Fairy bread would be one of these times, and so is when I am making bread cases! It will work with grainy bread, but something about it always seems a bit wrong, maybe it's just because I have so many memories of these as a kid
Remove the crusts you can get all fancy and use a cutter to cut perfect circles, but I find just removing the crusts sufficient. Although I do like to trim of the tips of the corners, as sometimes the corners stick up a bit and can burn
Butter the back side of the bread by this I mean butter the side of the bread that you are going to push into the muffin tin. Some people use a spray of cooking oil to grease the muffin tin instead, but a little butter on the bread makes for a tastier golden bread case!
Blind bake the bread cases don't panic, it's not like using pastry, you don't need to use any weights for this, you just need to push the bread buttered side down into the muffin tins firmly and bake for 3-5 minutes before you actually fill them with your chosen fillings
Fillings Ideas
In this recipe, I'm sharing a quick quiche type filling that uses zucchini, The filling is quite similar to my zucchini slice recipe, but you can use the bread cases many ways
- Fancy: For a really delicious filling, I find sautéing onion and bacon with a little spinach in a frying pan, Putting this mix in the bottom of the bread cases topping with some grated parmesan cheese and then pouring on a combination of eggs whisked with cream
- Easy: Fill with baked beans, tinned spaghetti or creamed corn and top with some grated cheese, bake until the cheese is golden
- Familiar: Any quiche type filling you know and love
- Bacon and Egg: Turn the bread cases into individual bacon and egg pies
- Chicken and Leek: The filling that I use in my chicken and leek pie recipe is delicious served this way
Bread Cases Mini Quiches
Bread cases are a quick and easy way to make bases for mini quiches you can make in a muffin tin! Fill them with anything
Ingredients
- 9 slices of bread
- 2 tablespoon butter
- ¼ onion
- ½ medium zucchini
- ½ cup grated cheese
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Check out the tips and tricks section in this post for little bits of extra info that make these bread cases perfect
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C (400 F)
- Remove the crusts from the bread, you can cut the bread into a circle, I leave it square but I do trim the tips of the corners so that they don't burn
- Flatten the crustless bread by rolling it out, you could use a rolling pin, jar, wine bottle
- Butter one side of the bread
- Press the bread butter side down into a muffin tin
- Bake the empty cases in the oven for 3-5 minutes until they just start to toast
- While the bread cases are toasting, grate the onion and the zucchini I roughly mix the two together
- Pop even amounts of the onion and zucchini into the bottom of each bread case
- Add the grated cheese
- Whisk the egg, milk and salt & pepper. I do this in a measuring jug as it makes it easy to pour the mix into the cases
- Pour the egg mix into the cases, do this carefully so that you don't overfill the bread cases
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until the quiche filling is cooked
- Allow them to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tray before you remove them
- Cool them on a rack
- You can serve them warm or cool
Notes
- If you have the time and you want these quiches to be even better, sauté the grated onion and zucchini before adding to the bread cases, It isn't essential and I skip this step often as I'm always in a rush lol! If you are sautéing the veggies a little chopped bacon is a nice addition too
- There are lots of things you can fill the bread cases with, they don't have to be quiches, I provide some ideas in the blog post
- You can keep these in the fridge for 2-3 days, great to throw in a lunch box
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 9 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 164Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 76mgSodium: 277mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 7g
Please know this nutrition analysis is based on the ingredients only, this recipe has not been sent to a laboratory for independent testing
These look great! And I'll bet you have a recipe for all those crusts too