H is for horseradish and Beef quiche

 

To rescue the situation from complete disaster, I took inspiration from Collinsville, Illinois. Collinsville hosts the annual International Horseradish Festival and claims to produce 60% of the world’s horseradish each year. This is an event which endows celebrity status on the horseradish root. There are root-tossing and root-sacking competitions and a little Miss Horseradish beauty pageant. (All of the children looked delightful - I could see no resemblance to the stingnose). They promise "a root-in tootin good time". Now when a town is prepared to put this much effort into a vegetable, you have to sit up and listen. I wanted a root-in tootin good time in my kitchen. Alongside a host of horseradish recipes was the advice that when cooked, the horseradish loses a little of its bite. This was worth trying. The children had so far been unimpressed with horseradish but I devised a quiche recipe that might rescue the root's reputation.
BEEF AND HORSERADISH QUICHE
375g readymade shortcrust pastry
3 eggs
150ml milk
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and ground pepper to season
5 wafer thin slices of roast beef
2-3 tbsp of creamy horseradish sauce

Bake the shortcrust pastry blind in a quiche baking tin. Fry the finely chopped onion in a pan with a little olive oil until soft.
In a bowl, mix together the beaten eggs, milk and creme fraiche. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter the onions around the base of the blind-baked pastry case. Cut the slices of beef into thin strips and scattter evenly around the case. Pour over the egg, milk and creme fraiche mixture. Depending on your sensitivity to horeradish, carefully stir in 2 - 3 tbsp of the creamy horseradish sauce.
Cook in the oven for 25 minutes at 180C. It should be a golden brown colour.

I didn't tell Freddie and Alexandra that this was another horseradish recipe because they would have written it off before tasting it. They both scored it 8 out of 10. And that was after I told them the truth. Collinsville would be proud of us.
We still had half a root left in the fridge and we did what any self-respecting horseradish fan would do. We went to the local park and held our own root-toss. It wasn't exactly as impressive as tossing the caber but it was, as they say in Collinsville, root-in tootin good fun.