Cheese and onion quiche

The 8 year old vegetarian is giving me a headache; she has also given me an excuse to indulge my latest passion - buying cookery books from eBay. As I usually shop with one eye on the telly, the books that arrive can be a bit of a surprise, but what an education! Anyone for minced tongue and bacon with hot beetroot relish, liver sausage flan or hydropathic pudding?

Today's recipe for cheese and onion quiche is from an old favourite, The Big Food and Drink Book, which accompanied the tv series (remember Jilly Goolden's mad hair and mad wine descriptions?).

No liver sausage in this flan

Cheese and onion quiche   

Ready made pastry

a large knob of butter

225g onions, peeled and thinly sliced

150g Gruyere/Leicester cheese, finely grated (I used half Cheddar, half Gruyere)

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

100ml milk (I used up some double cream mixed with skimmed milk)

Pre-heat oven to 220/gas 7. Fry the onions gently in the butter until they are soft and sweet, but not browned. Line a 20cm (8inch) metal flan dish with the pastry, spread the onions across the base and top with the grated cheese. Beat the eggs, yolk, and milk together and pour them over the cheese and onion. Cook for about 25 minutes, then turn down the oven to 190/gas 5 and cook for another 10 minutes until the top is brown. 

Prawn and pea risotto

I heart prawns

A warming one-dish family favourite. Make it with:

1.5 litres liquid
(I used a veg stock cube and a carton of fish stock mixed with water, but any fish/chicken/veg stock would be ok)
half a red chilli, finely sliced
1 onion, chopped
300g risotto rice
1 glass white wine
200g frozen peas
zest of 1 lemon, grated
juice of half a lemon
400g uncooked prawns (better for flavour, but cooked prawns are fine)

Put the stock in a pan with the chilli and bring it slowly to the boil, then turn the heat right down and let it simmer. Meanwhile, fry the onion in a generous splash of olive oil and a bit of butter until it's soft.  Stir in the rice and mix thoroughly. Pour in the wine and stir well. When it has evaporated add the stock, a ladle-full at a time, stirring well in between. Near the end, add the peas, lemon zest, juice and the prawns and cook until they are pink.

If you want, stir through some parmesan/chopped parsley or coriander/a knob of butter, and garnish with strips of lemon zest.