Saturday mornings are often my cooking days, I like nothing more than assembling bits of leftover ingredients in the fridge before restocking with the weekly shop.
I say “weekly” shop however I am prone to skipping a week and doing it fortnightly. My habit resolute husband is generally horrifed by this, under the illusion we may be short of food if we don’t dash to the shops every weekend.
But the truth is, if we look deep into our storecupboards, there is often enough food to keep us going a while longer and certainly plenty of lovely things in jars. Certainly there was plenty of proof of goodies hoarded in cupboards in the last Random Recipes round up where food bloggers had been asked to bare their cupboards for readers to see.
I missed out on publishing my cupboard baring post in the post Christmas shenanigans but you would certainly have seen a selection of Maille products. Whenever I scour a French supermarket I can be sure to pop a jar of their Dijon mustard and vinegars in my trolley to bring back home.
I think I’ve mentioned on here before but I was introduced to French mustard from an early age when my uncle married a French lady and thereafter my grandma always placed a jar of brown French mustard on the dinner table alongside the bright yellow one we were familar with. Ever since, French mustard – which is milder than English – has been my preference.
Some of the new Maille products I’ve tried recently include:
- Dried tomatoes with chilli pepper mustard
- Pesto and rocket mustard
- Parmesan and basil mustard
- Sundried tomato vinegar
(I often buy their raspberry vinegar in France as it’s sold in a bottle that’s just the right size for a week’s self catering holiday!)
The good news is, Maille products are widely available in the UK and they’ve even opened their own mustard boutique in London’s Piccadilly Arcade. I’m due to visit this soon and will report back afterwards but in the meantime, do enjoy these easy family lunch dish suggestions each made with Maille mustard.
First up is this easy quiche made using pre-rolled pastry – I have got into the habit of buying one of these at least every other week, they’re excellent for bashing out a last minute puff pastry tart or in this case, a shortcrust pastry tart base. I like making my own pastry and am perfectly capable of doing so but I like shortcuts more 😉
I used miniature peppers in a bag from Tesco to make this but you could just as easily use standard peppers. I like the mini ones because they seem to keep longer and you can make a dish using several colours without using up 3 big peppers at once. By weight I’d say the price was competitive with the 3 packs of “value” peppers.
Each of the dishes in this post would work equally well for packed lunches and picnics.
- 1 sheet pre-rolled shortcrust pastry
- A little butter for greasing
- ½ tub low fat crème fraiche
- 3 large eggs
- 8 miniature peppers of mixed colours (or 1 large one), thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp Maille sundried tomato and pimento mustard
- 50g grated cheddar
- Preheat the oven to 200c / gas mark 6. Toss the peppers in the olive oil and spread across a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes then set aside.
- Meanwhile, grease the tart dish and line with short crust pastry leaving a raised edge of around 7mm to allow for pastry shrinkage.
- Using a sheet of parchment paper and baking beans, bake the case "blind" for 15 minutes.
- Remove the pastry case from the oven and carefully remove the paper containing the hot baking beans. Set aside whilst you prepare the quiche filling.
- In a pint jug, beat the eggs into the crème fraiche, then beat in the mustard.
- Scatter the roast pepper slices into the cooked pastry case. Pour over the crème fraiche, egg and mustard mix and finally sprinkle the grated cheese on top.
- Bake in the top of the oven for 10 minutes at 200c / gas mark 6 then reduce the heat to 180 c / gas mark 4 and bake on a lower shelf for a further 15 minutes.
- The quiche will be raised when it comes out of the oven but will level out upon cooling. May be eaten warm or cold.
Potato salad with mustard and olives
As a bonus today I’m offering you two recipes for the price of one! My mother always used to serve potato salad warm with salad cream, I think it may have been how her German mother served it for her. I am always attracted by potato salads dotted with pink flashes of red onion and studded with olives – I’ve seen similar in Jewish cookbooks. These green olives even have a matching pink tinge at their centres where the stone has been removed.
Rather than salad cream, I used a 50/50 mix of creme fraiche and Maille sundried tomato and chilli pepper mustard to coat the warm potatoes and then scattered over the diced red onion and sliced olives. Â Around 50g (or half a small cup) of this mustard/creme fraiche blend is ample to cover 7-8 largeish Charlotte potatoes chopped into chunks. Anya or any waxy potato would work equally well.
Other serving suggestions for mustard:
In scrambled eggs, souffles, omelettes or frittata
To flavour salad dressings like these by Katie at Feeding Boys
In marinades for meat
As a topping for baked fish or grilled chops
In ham or beef sandwiches
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The list is endless – what is your favourite way to use mustard?
This post featuring Maille products was commissioned by Maille for a fee.
Scrumptious food! This mustard is really original.
Cheers,
Rosa
I can’t believe how many different flavours there are, it’s very versatile stuff.
I love the Maille products and one of my favourite dishes is pasta with sausages and a mustard sauce. Delicious.
That sounds good, I think my son would enjoy it too.
My husband simply love mustard sauce. Can’t wait to try this
I always stock up on my Maille goodies in France (I love the raspberry vinegar too), how wonderful that there is now a boutique in London (the Paris one is just heavenly.)
I visited the London boutique last night! It’s wonderful and I think I know where I’m getting next year’s Christmas presents from now!!
Yum! This sounds delicious.
It all looks perfect Sarah and I am able to buy all if the various Maille goodies in France all the time, so I do get rather blasé!
You’re lucky… although we do have Waitrose 😉
Peppers are just great for their colour, especially at this time of year when we all need cheering up. Like the inclusion of mustard into the quiche.
Yes they’re a little ray of sunshine, especially these dinky ones 🙂
That looks wonderful Sarah. I love mustard esepcially French mustard. I was often caught as a child on the bunker with a teaspoon and a jar of French mustard, digging in.
Trying to work out what bunker is Scottish term for? Pantry? Worktop? Table? On the sly?!
My favourite maille is the honey one…yum!
I love the quiche with the peppers added to it and sundried tomatoes also. Great combination of flavours.
You could use various flavours of their mustard and co-ordinate with different fillings very easily.
OMG a mustard boutique??? My tastebuds would be in heaven!
Janie x
PS I’ve never visited before your site before, so I’m off for a nosey 🙂
Thanks Janie, I’ve just published lots of Maille boutique pics on Instagram, it certainly was mustard heaven 🙂
This looks so delicious! I love all the ingredients so it’s on my list to try in the future 🙂 Sylvia x
Thanks, do let me know how it comes out 🙂
I didn’t bare my cupboards as the world would have been shocked to see the clutter. Love Maille mustard. Great combination of flavours!
You’re too honest – I’d have tidied mine first
peppers, sundried tomatoes, egg, cheese…cant go wrong because it is utterly gorgeous. wonderful recipe x
Thanks, it’s sunshine on a plate 🙂
I love the idea of a raspberry vinegar. Lovely looking quiche.
It’s a pretty pink colour, more interesting than white wine vinegar, less overpowering than balsamic.
Your quiche and potato salad look delicious Sarah. I’m a big fan of maille sauces and even use them in my coleslaw.
Coleslaw is great suggestion! I will try that.
Big Maille fan here, but had no idea of their enormous product range until I saw your Instagrams and this post. Their Dijon is a bit of a staple round here and when I lived in France had a serious addiction to the Maille mayo, thankfully I haven’t seen it here…but don’t want to look too hard. I’m betting the sun dried tommie mustard is sublime, and I do love a quickie quiche!
I had no idea they had 30 odd mustards. I knew there were about 10 but 30+ staggered me. The shop is gorgeous, I will blog some pics soon.
such lovely flavours, my OH is a great fan of English mustard , am going to try one of the new flavours soon! when are u planning on a visit to the Piccadilly Arcade ,would love a browse through with a fellow foodie !